Fan Film Mondays - The Jedi Hunter Review

 

Today's May the 4th Be with You! Now I could've reviewed a Star Wars movie or season three of The Mandalorian what with the upcoming movie (don't worry I'll still do that but at a later date). But I decided I wanted to celebrate with Fan Film Mondays!

But before we get into the review I do want to tell you my personal history with this one. Back when I was a kid I remember getting into Star Wars because of Genndy Tartakovsky's Star Wars: Clone Wars and watching the old movies thanks to my Grandpa. I not only watched the movies and show but I also explored the internet to see other Star Wars related material. Don't worry little Michael didn't see anything naughty involving Twi'lek women, that came later in life 😏. But seriously I wanted to see more of Star Wars, and I got that not only in the form of the upcoming Revenge of the Sith, but by watching fan films. And this one was the very first Star Wars fan film I ever watched. But more importantly then that, it exposed me to the world of fan films. So in a way, you guys kind of this movie to thank for Fan Film Mondays.

The Jedi Hunter is a 2002 fan film that spoofs both Star Wars and The Crocodile Hunter. It was produced by Z-Team Productions, with John E. Hudgens directing and writing the story along with Lowell Cunningham and Denny Humbard.

The story is, Boba Fett invites us to join him as he travels in throughout space to hunter Jedi. It's a gonna be a wild ride so ya better strip in and let the best bounty hunter in the galaxy do what he does best.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Now typically I don't go too hard when it comes to effects. It goes without saying but for the longest time fan films had to use what they got because there were no crowd funding sites. With The Jedi Hunter there are a lot of good effects, blasters and lightsabers are pretty good. But there are times when things are rough around the edges. The biggest example is whenever Boba Fett flies you can plainly see it's CGI. But once again, let me reiterate, I won't give Hudgens and co. too much grief because again, this was 2002 and Kickstarter wouldn't be a thing until 2009.

• Positives

First let me praise the concept. Making Boba Fett, a badass, ruthless bounty hunter and turning him into space Steve Irwin is pretty funny. Especially since they made a good call by having Boba have Irwin's iconic Australian accent. I don't know why but it's just funny hearing "Crikey!" come out of Boba Fett's mouth.

Speaking of funny I also want to give credit to the humor. There's a lot of funny moments throughout. Like the beginning having mock commercials, some good one-liners, or the fact that Boba's treating his Jedi killing in a very lighthearted manner despite some pretty brutal kills. And of course Boba Fett just being Steve Irwin. Of course if none of you ever heard of Steve Irwin then shame on you! Stop reading this review right now and go watch some Crocodile Hunter! In all seriousness, I think even if you haven't seen Irwin's work you'll still get a laugh over how hokey Boba Fett is acting.

The last thing I'll praise is the pacing. Now this isn't a very long fan film. It's only six minutes and that's not counting the end credits and post-credit scene, but counting those then it's only eight minutes. Either way, this is a breeze.

Guys, if you want to get into the world of Star Wars fan films, then The Jedi Hunter is one of many good starts. Especially if you're curious what fan films were like during the early 2000's.

My final rating is, Good.

That's all for now. I hope you all enjoyed May the 4th. Come back on Thursday, May 7th, where I'll begin the Road to Street Fighter (2026). Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Deep Water Review

 

First Thrash now this, is it gonna be shark season in 2026? Alright jokes aside, let's get to it.

Deep Water is a survival movie that's produced by Magenta Light Studios (who are also the distributor too), Arclight Films, Simmons/Hamilton Productions, Nostromo Pictures, Aristos Films, and DW Film Holdings. The screenplay was written by Pete Bridges, Shayne Armstrong, S.P. Krause, and Damien Power, with Renny Harlin directing.

The story is, it was all suppose to be a simple flight for passengers going from Los Angeles to Shanghai, but it that all changed when their plane is damaged and the pilots are formed to make an emergency landing in the middle of the sea. Now they all must come together to get help and more importantly survive the sharks that were drawn to the wreckage.

Initial Reaction

My reason for wanting to see this is as simple as it gets. It looked like it might be a fun turn off your brain movie. And I am not above seeing a popcorn flick.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

The mix bag stems from our characters. Other than Aaron Eckhart's character, I didn't really care for some. Some of them either learn into decent enough well others are just plain one-dimensional. Then there's the special effects. The plane crash sequence looks really good. Definitely some top notch work there. Some of the effects are the sharks are good, other times you can plainly tell there was some pretty obvious CGI. It also doesn't help there was times when you could tell a green screen was involved. The other mix aspect was the kills. If you were expecting Harlin to bring the same brutal shark attack action he brought to Deep Blue Sea, well then you're only gonna get that in a small dose. Some kills are brutal, others happen too quickly, and some happen off screen. The last thing I'll touch on is the story. Now it'll come as no surprise but this isn't gonna break any new ground. It's a very simple, formulaic story. But I think it provides enough thrills that you can forgive it, if only slightly.

Pros

The only two real praise I can give is to Aaron Eckhart's performance. No this isn't one of his greatest performances ever, but he brings enough stoic heroism to keep you interested. The other is Harlin's craftsmanship. The guy really knows how stage chaos and bring you some thrills, even when working with a small budget.

Overall while I'd wish Deep Water was more like Deep Blue Sea where it embraces its shlock factor more, this can be worth viewing as a rental or streaming.

My final rating is, Okay.

So that's gonna do it for now. Come back on Monday, May 4th, for a brand new Fan Film Mondays. And we'll be celebrating May The 4th Be With You by reviewing the very first fan film I ever saw. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Looking Back at the Films of 2025 Part Four - Shiver Me Timbers, G20, and Sinners - Quick Edition

Before I get into the review, there's two things I want to go over.

1) What do I mean by quick edition? Well this means is as suppose to those long reviews I do when reviewing multiple films at once, this is gonna be quick. I'll give tell you the story then my thoughts on it. No why I didn't see it, no what kind of movie it, or who produced/distributed. I'm doing this because if any of had review my delay post, then you'd know I wasn't feeling very well. Thankfully I got better but at the cost of this post. But I found a way around that. So if you prefer my more longer post, well I'm sorry but that's not gonna at least for this post.

2) I swear this is the last Popeye horror film from 2025. I don't what it was about 2025 that filmmakers felt like we needed three of these from month to month to month, but thankfully this is the last one...until 2026 decides to give us a new one.

Alright, now that I got all of that out of the way, let's get to it.

Shiver Me Timbers - The Story

The story is, it's the summer of 1986 and a group of friends are hoping to have a good time to see a rare meteor shower from Halley's Comet. However what they don't know is a meteor from this shower has changed a fisherman into a grotesque, superhuman killer. Now the friends must find a way to survive and live to see the next summer.

Shiver Me Timbers - My Thoughts

I've have seen all three of these Popeye horror films and I gotta say, this is the worst of the trio. I thought Popeye's Revenge was terrible, but this one dethroned that movie. I mentioned how the filmmaking in Popeye's Revenge was poor but this one takes the cake. Revenge looks like a B-movie, Shiver Me Timbers looks like a student film. The cinematography is atrocious. I'll show you with a screenshot.

And this isn't any sort of pre-production or behind the scenes shot, this is actually in the movie. And this is just nighttime shot, you don't what to know how bad it looks in the day. And when we're not dealing with bad cinematography then we have bad editing. When we get to the big final fight, there's so many quick cuts and shaky cam that it'll honestly make you feel like your having a stroke. That's how badly that scene was put together. Then we have the characters. They're bland and there's not much to say. Other then they talk about college and other (and much better) movies. And when it comes to Popeye, holy crap. What is with these horror flicks and just making him a dollar store Jason Voorhees? All three films have done this. If you take out what little dialogue these horror versions of Popeye have, they'd just be a Jason Voorhees character...only not as entertaining. Then we have the acting. I'll give Popeye's post-transformation actor [Tony Greer] credit, he was pretty good just with his body language. But everyone else is soooo wooden. There's hardly or not emotion behind any of their lines. Lastly there's the gore. Some practical effects are okay, but when the CGI comes out, oh boy is an eye sore. PlayStation 2 graphics look better than what this movie has. And yes I know it's low-budget just like the other Popeye horror movies, but if I saw special effects this bad when putting the movie together, there's no way I would release it like this, I'd delay it till next year.

Oh and I just thought of something. I love how this movie is suppose to be set in 1986 but there's nothing to indicate that. They could've said this was set in the 90's, 2000's, 2010s, or even set 2020s and I would've never second guessed it.

Shiver Me Timbers - Final Verdict: Destroy It!

G20 - The Story

The story is, U.S. President Danielle Sutton was heading out to the G20 summit of world leaders. But things take a turn when terrorist Edward Rutledge takes over the summit and uses the world leaders as hostages so everyone will follow his demands to give their money in crypto currency. Now, Danielle must use her military skills to put a stop this and save everyone.

G20 - My Thoughts

Oh boy, where do I even begin? Let's start off with the fact the writers tried using current tech stuff without having much of an idea of what they're talking about. Anytime they enter the subject of crypto it all sounds like a bunch of gibberish. And they definitely don't know A.I. deep fakes, because when there's footage of the leaders saying stuff they didn't say we're supposed to believe Rutledge used A.I. when that's clearly not the case. A.I. has come a long way from the early days, but it still hasn't come to the point where it perfectly replicates people's movements and voices. Then we have our villains. When they're not being generically evil they're making stupid decisions. Reminder that Rutledge big plan is to make their crypto currency huge. But...here's the thing...HE HAS WORLD LEADERS AT HIS MERCY! He could be forcibly making these people do whatever he wants! But no we gotta focus on that crypto bro 😆. Keep in mind this isn't a comedy, it's supposed to be a very serious action movie. Lastly there's Viola Davis. Listen, she's a very talented actress and she's got the talent and awards to prove it. But nobody's believing she's this action star. Not only is she not in shape but when this was made and released she was in her late 50s. So when she's fighting men who are younger, twice her size, and in shape you not buying she's kicking their asses, you thinking the stuntmen are putting in the work to make her look good. The only real positive I can give is Anthony Starr as Edward Rutledge. He's trying to make this work despite the writing being really bad, so bless his heart.

G20 - Final Verdict: So Bad, It's Good.

Sinners - The Story

The story is, in 1932 twin brothers named Smoke and Stack have returned to Clarksdale, Mississippi after working for the Chicago mob for several years. The brothers were planning to use the stolen money to set up a juke joint, but when vampires plan to feed on the brothers along with other people. Now it's a fight for survival if the brothers ever want to make their dreams come true.

Sinners - My Thoughts

Let's get into the real good stuff. Starting with how the movie looks. The cinematography is absolute gorgeous and does a fantastic job capturing the 1930s look and feel whether through smaller details or some top notch set pieces. I'd also like to praise the atmosphere. We get a nice build up to the vampires but even before then there also seems to a gritty feeling throughout the movie, and if you know me you know while I like my lighter movies I also love when a movie nails a darker tone. Now there's the story elements. Yes there is a more racial theme going on, at first I was dreading that because as we all know modern Hollywood seems to be obsessed with that stuff because they want to look morally superior and get a couple pats on the back from terminally online activists. However I think Sinners does it better because it's not trying to beat over the head with that theme, especially since the story as much more going for it. Such as how music brings people together even when your from a different time period. But we also have other themes such as temptation, human flaws, and guilt. Then we have the acting from both Michael B. Jordan and Jack O'Connell. Michael B. Jordan has to pull double duty by playing the twin brothers and he does a terrific job. He's able to bring the characters two very different personalities whether it'd be with drawl variations, facial expressions, and body language. Then there's Jack O'Connell as Remmick. He provides both charisma and intimidation, and sometimes he's just entertaining to watch no matter what evil his character is committing. The only downside is the pacing. The first half is a lot of setup and the ending does feel like it's dragging, and with both those elements there'll be times when you can feel that 2 hour runtime.

Sinners - Final Verdict: Great.

So that's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this version of Looking Back and if not don't worry because the next part will be more traditional. With that being said, due come back on Saturday, May 2nd, for my review of the newest shark survival movie, Deep Water. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Looking Back at the Films of 2025 Part Four Has Been Delayed

 Hey guys, so yes, originally you were supposed to have the next part of the Looking Back at the Films of 2025, but sadly plans had to change.

The reason being I'm currently not feeling good right now. Usually I'd tried to fight it off but right now it's best if I get some rest and take a break for the time being.

So instead of Monday I'm gonna try to shoot for Thursday. And if I'm not feeling well by then then I'm canceling it. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. Anyways, I hope this update was helpful.

Road to Avengers: Doomsday - Iron Man: Doomquest

 

We're once again back on the Road to Avengers: Doomsday. Only this time we adventure outside of the Fantastic Four and instead have a story of Iron Man vs. Doctor Doom.

Iron Man: Doomquest is a 1981 storyline published by Marvel Comics and can be found in issues #149-150 of the 1968 volume of Iron Man. David Michelinie wrote the story while John Romita Jr. was the artist.

The story is, after finding out some of his electronics have been being sold to Latveria, Tony Stark aka Iron Man plans to go to Latveria and confront Doctor Doom. But as the two are caught up in their fight, someone takes advantage of the chaos and send the two past in time. Now, enemies must put aside their differences if they want to go back home.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

The one of two mix elements is the story. First let's go over the good stuff. The dynamic between Iron Man and Doctor Doom was a great aspect. They maybe two brilliant minds in suits of armor, but once you read their dialogue and thoughts, you notice just how different they are beyond just your plain good and evil. Not to mention but they interactions, banter, and fights are very true to their characters. But the slight issue stems from the lack of balance. While Iron Man is still involved in the story one way or another, when reading these two issues back-to-back, this definitely leaned more towards Doctor Doom then Iron Man. His arrogance and tragic hubris shine in these issues. I mean sure it's great that it shows Doctor Doom is capable of being a villain outside the Fantastic Four, but if you're an Iron Man fan you'll be pretty bummed out your hero didn't get enough of the spotlight.

My other mix feelings come from John Romita Jr's artwork. Now Romita Jr. still provides some great splash pages, great details to characters and buildings, and everything's very clean and smooth. Having said that I don't think I'm gonna remember a lot of the art in this storyline. Sure it's looks good, but a lot of stuff didn't leap out of the page for me. Now I can't solely blame JRJR for this. Because during this time Marvel Comics was still going by a very strict "house style". Artists back then couldn't really express their style too much because the editors at the time wanted everything clean, dynamic, and standard. Say what you will about JRJR's more blocky style, but I would much prefer that then something that blends in with everything else.

• Positives

So do I have anything truly and 100% nice to say? Yes, yes I do. While the pacing is the greatest thing ever, this is still a pretty quick read to get through. You can read these right now and next thing you know, you're done.

Now I don't hate these issues by any means, I still did enjoy this story for what it was. It's just there were somethings I didn't agree with.

Having said that, I'm gonna give this storyline a rating of, Good.

So that's going to do it for me. Come back on Monday, Apr 27th, for part four of Looking Back at the Films of 2025. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Lee Cronin's The Mummy Review

 

It's Saturday night which means it's time to review a brand new movie. Let's dive in.

Lee Cronin's The Mummy or simple just The Mummy, is a supernatural horror and another reimagining to The Mummy franchise. The movie's produced by New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, Blumhouse Productions and Wicked/Good with Warner Bros. acting as the distributor. If the name didn't give it away, Lee Cronin both wrote and directed.

The story is, Charlie and Larissa's eldest daughter Katie was kidnapped by mysterious stranger. Eight years later they daughter has returned but she's found in a sarcophagus and has been mummified yet somehow still alive. Soon, Charlie and Larissa will learn that their once innocent daughter is now possessed by ancient demon.

Initial Reaction

My simple reason for wanting to see this movie is because I was curious. I was curious how Lee Cronin was gonna tackle The Mummy. I really dug what he did in Evil Dead Rise, so I figured he bring new elements to this franchise as well.

Cons

The biggest con to this movie was the lack of Mummy elements. I mean they're there. We get to see some lore behind the ancient evil, the people behind it who worship or fear it, and Katie is mummified, but when watching this movie I got more of an Exorcist vibe. Which wouldn't have been a bad thing had this movie gone by another title, but since it has The Mummy as it's title, ya can't help but feel like the movie has an identity crisis.

Middle Ground

My only mixed feelings was with the story, or to be more specific the parent element to it. I get what Lee Cronin was going for. Despite Katie's appearance and some HUGE red flags, the mom and dad just wanted to bring their little girl home since she was gone for eight years. The story is touching on themes of grief, loss, and the fear of their child has been changed even though they've returned to them. But man, sometimes it's hard to get into the story when the parents make some very questionable choices. Sure there's the possibility Katie is now the spawn of Satan, but mom and dad are pretty certain it's okay to leave her with her younger siblings. So I do admire the story's thematic ambitions, it's just some of the character choices can be a little frustrating.

Pros

The biggest praise I can give this movie is it's special effects. Their the movie's biggest highlight. Ya got Katie's mummy appearance where she looks all decayed and nasty looking, other good body horror moments, and plenty of gore to go around. I reminded me very of Cronin's Evil Dead Rise. So if you liked the elements of that movie, then you'll like what happens here. The last thing I'll credit is the acting. The cast truly ground the movie and can make the stakes, especially the family stakes, very convincing. But I gotta give the most praise towards Natalie Grace as Katie (the Mummy one, not the child one). She was incredible. She killed it when the character had to give an eerie vibe or whenever she had to go full blown demon mode. She was spectacular in this and I hope she gets the chance to star in more projects.

So overall Lee Cronin's The Mummy isn't bad, it's just an okay movie. I didn't hate after I was done watching, but I don't think I'll be revisiting it anytime soon.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's a wrap. Come back on Monday, Apr 20th, because of that day we return to the Road to Avengers: Doomsday! Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Road to Scary Movie (2026) - Scary Movie 3 Review

 

Alright, we're back on the Road to Scary Movie (2026). Only this time we don't have the Wayans Brothers, so that begs the question. Will this be any good or are we looking at a dud?

Scary Movie 3 is a parody and the second sequel to the franchise. Where as the first movie spoofed Scream & I Know What You Did Last Summer, the second making fun of haunted house films, this one spoofs the movies The Ring, Signs, among others. Production was done Brad Grey Pictures with Dimension Films being the distributor. Craig Mazin and Pat Proft wrote the screenplay while David Zucker directed.

The story is, Cindy now working as a local reporter has come across a cursed video tape that when watched will kill you in seven days. Meanwhile George and his widowed pastor brother Tom have discovered crop circles and learn that aliens are coming. Soon, they realize these two are somehow connected and they need to find out how to put a stop to both.

• Negatives

I've got nothing.

• Mix

Much like the previous Scary Movie flicks the humor can be a mixed bag. Let me praise some of the good stuff first. Now initially I was worried going into this the quality would drop significantly because as previously stated the Wayans Bros. weren't involved in anyway and I also found this was rated PG-13 while the previous two were rated R. But thankfully the movie is still pretty funny. Under David Zucker's direction Scary Movie 3 has a vibe similar to his previous works like the ever classic Airplane! We truly do get some very funny moments, my absolute favorite being a character's funeral going horrible wrong. However there were moments that I couldn't really get behind. Sure the 8 Mile parody had it's moments but that along with some Matrix Reloaded spoofs kind of felt tacked on. Sure the previous two Scary Movie movies had jokes about other films in there but they were mainly just one and done gags not part of the plot.

• Positives

The pacing is good. I won't go another further than that because I'll just be repeating what I've said from the first two reviews. So yes, much like the previous ones, the pacing is handled well.

But I will continue to praise Anna Faris. Once again she's great as Cindy Campbell, continuing to deliver that ditzy but lovable character we've loved since the first movie. She also has great chemistry with Simon Rex giving romantic but goofy romance, but mainly goofy. Then you have great performances like Charlie Sheen who despite not being in this too much, still gives us good laughs with a lot of his delivery being deadpan reactions or laugh out moments like when his character is having one last moment with his dying wife. The cast whether it's Regina Hall or a scene stealer like the late, great Leslie Nelson also do a tremendous job with the material regardless of how big their roles are.

So yeah, I actually really enjoyed Scary Movie 3 far more than I thought I would. It still isn't perfect but definitely felt like an improvement from Scary Movie 2. Although that may not be a fair state considering Scary Movie 2 was rushed while this one was given more time to breath during it's production stage. Regardless, this is a fun watch.

My final rating is, Good.

Alright that's all for now. Sorry I uploaded this so late, but my dad needed help with raking leaves and thanks to the slight rain making everything humid thus making everything hot and unbearable, by the time I was done I needed to take a long break before writing this review. But hopefully you'll come back on Saturday, Apr 18th, for my review of Lee Cronin's The Mummy. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

Thrash Review

 

Alright Netflix is giving us a shark. Will be a huge hit that'll become a classic like Jaws? Doubt it, but hey as long as it's fun.

Thrash is a survival thriller movie that's produced by Sony Pictures and Hyperobject Industries with Netflix being the distributor. Tommy Wirkola both wrote and directed.

The story is, a coastal town has been hit by category 5 hurricane thus making the streets completely flooded. But the residents of this town will quickly realize it's the storm that they should be trying to survive, but the swarm of hungry sharks.

Initial Reaction

Now originally there wasn't a long term plan to review this. Not because I wasn't interested but because I didn't know about this until like Tuesday or Wednesday. At first I wanted to see because it looked like it could be a fun shark movie, but then I found out it was directed and written by Tommy Wirkola, and he brought my newer favorite Christmas watch traditions [Violent Night]. So now I truly wanted to see it more then ever.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

One grey area is the characters. They're very basic people. You got the kids, you have your character with a troubled past, and so on and so fourth. I didn't hate them by any stretch, well expect maybe the foster parents because they were awful people, but other than those two I didn't hate these characters. If anything they served their roles just fine. The other mix bag was the special effects. Now the hurricane and flood were great. They felt very immersive. The CGI on the sharks however aren't exactly bad but I don't see anybody overly praising them. The effects are slick and look better underwater, but when it came time for the sharks be in the light, you can tell it was CGI. Nothing I found laughable like with an Asylum or SyFy original movie, but you know it was CGI.

Pros

I give credit for the use of humor. I don't know what was going in with Tommy Wirkola's mind when he was writing this, but given his track record use tongue-in-cheek absurdity mixed with action and gore, I think even he knew this movie was gonna be a very pulpy B-movie so he added in some humor. Which again, I didn't find bad, especially since there were some pretty funny moments sprinkled throughout. Another praise I'll is the pacing. This is a breeze to get through. It starts off with a nicely slow build up but once the disaster strikes that's when the shark attacks begin and the thrills and humor never stop. Lastly I'll give credit to the performances. Nobody is gonna win any awards for this, but everybody did provide a sense of fun and energy to their roles, so whether it'd be the acting or shark kills I can't really say I was bored when watching this.

Thrash is by no means a perfect movie. However I think if you want to sit down and watch some turn off your brain popcorn flick entertainment, then give this a chance.

My final rating is, Okay.

That's gonna do it for me. Come back on Monday, Apr 13th, cause of that day we're going back on the Road to Scary Movie (2026) with my review of Scary Movie 3. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day. 

Cinematic Disasters - The Babe Ruth Story

 

Alright, a brand new Cinematic Disasters. Only this time it's a movie about one of the most iconic baseball players and his "true" story. You'll soon find out why I put true in quotation marks.

The Babe Ruth Story is a biographical sports film about the iconic baseball star Babe Ruth, with production being done by Roy Del Ruth Productions and distribution was done by Allied Artists. Bob Considine and George Callahan wrote the screenplay with Roy Del Ruth directing.

The story is, George Herman Ruth Jr. was once just an ordinary kid but by the time he turned 18 he's incredible baseball skills are discovered. Soon he called "Babe Ruth" and before we know it he won't be just another baseball player, he'll become of the legendary baseball stars.

My Thoughts

Oh boy...where do we even begin? Let's start off with William Bendix as Babe Ruth. First let me give you a side-by-side.

William Bendix (left) and Babe Ruth (right)

Yeah you'll notice this two don't even come close to looking alike. But even if we can ignore that Bendix's performance is way off. Movie Babe Ruth is childlike, kind of bumbling, and can be an innocent simpleton. But the Babe Ruth in real life had a far more complex and flawed personality. I guess they didn't want to showcase that flawed personality what with Ruth's rapidly declining health from esophageal cancer. But come on, you could've showed some of his flaws.

Now let's get into some story elements or lack there of. What I mean is this movie focuses so much on his baseball career that it's easy to forget that Babe Ruth has a personal life. We don't spend that much time with his friends and family. The filmmakers completely skip over his wife Helen, and what love interest we do get with Claire it's barely mentioned. Hell, there were times I forgot Babe Ruth and Claire are suppose to be a couple in this movie. I know more about Babe Ruth saving a dog's life then his marriages!

Then we have the tone of this movie. It's so squeaky clean and sugar coated it's actually insulting then uplifting. When making a biopic you're suppose to tell us the story of the person behind the fame. We as an audience both from 1948 to now want to see how our idols overcame struggles. And Babe Ruth had a lot of issues to touch upon. There was his womanizing, his temper issues, heavy drinking, among other things in his life. What's funny is they could've easily had these issues in the movie and still give us an inspiring, uplifting tale but the production was being rushed because Babe Ruth was dying from his previously mentioned cancer and wanted this out while he was still alive. So both Hollywood (and Ruth's estate) gave us a tribute that made Ruth a quirky hero without any scandal they felt could tarnish his legacy. I get it was only for good intentions (or hopefully good intentions) but the problem is we have a movie that's so polished that it feels like it's talking down at us because apparently the filmmakers thought nobody could handle any "adult" subject matters.

Now let's get into the baseball scenes...there's none of them! No I'm seriously we get no baseball in this baseball biopic. Sometimes we'll see Ruth up to bat and then cut to somebody saying "Oh wow! Did ya see that swing! That was amazing! I've never seen anything like it!" A matter of fact most of Babe's games are told through newspaper transitions! No I'm serious, we don't get to see a single game we get newspaper clippings. How exciting! And when it's not baseball scenes that we barely or don't get to see, it's scenes like how Babe Ruth got arrested for starting a bar fight and how it took twenty-four policemen to arrest him. Well at least the movie did actually if even slightly touched on the anger issues thing, too bad we didn't get to see it!

Lastly let's touch upon how the movie portrays Babe Ruth. Yes I mentioned how his personality in this movie is nothing like his real personality but there's also the other thing. What's the other thing? Well...apparently...Babe Ruth is Jesus Christ. Not only does he go out of his way to save a dog's life but he can cure a paralyzed kid by saying "Hiya kid" but he can also cure a boy's cancer by winning Game 3 of the 1932 World Series. I shit you not this actually happened in the movie! Babe Ruth is so great at baseball he can perform miracles! That's why I was putting true in quotation marks folks. This brings the movie from frustration to unintentionally hilarious.

So that was The Babe Ruth Story. Oh boy, if you want advice on how not to make a biographical movie here's your guide. It's just so bad as a biopic, a sports movie, and as a Babe Ruth film. If you want to know the story of Babe Ruth then either watch the flawed-but-much better 1992 film The Babe starring John Goodman or watch some documentaries. Watch this if you just want a good laugh.

My final rating is, So Bad, It's Good.

That's all for now. Come back on Saturday, Apr 11th for my review of the newest Netflix survival thriller movie, Thrash. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

A Look Back at The Boys - Season 4

 

A the final season of The Boys will be arriving soon. So it's time to look back at the previous season one last time.

The Boys is a comic book TV series based on Garth Ennis' comic series of the same name with production by Sony Pictures Television, Kripke Enterprise, Point Grey Pictures, Original Film, Kickstar Entertainment, KFL Nightsky Productions and Amazon Studios, the later of which is also the distributor. The show is developed by Eric Kripke with this season consisting of eight episodes.

The story is, it's been six months since the events of the last season and the stakes are ramping up. Homelander is a mission to supes to rule the entire country and achieve the supes supremacy he's been wanting. Meanwhile, The Boys are trying everything they can to put a stop to this. But personal issues from past sins and one of their own only having months to live is putting the team is dark and hopeless spot.

• Negatives

Oh boy...where to begin. Let's start with the most obvious and frequent thing this season has been getting criticize for, the not so subtle politics. If you thought it was bad in the previous two seasons you haven't seen nothing yet. The show wants you to believe it's still tackling both sides of the political parties but that's clearly not the case. The writing is so obviously only poking fun at the right aka Republicans that it because not only annoying to watch, but boring to watch. If you're gonna do satire, you need to target everyone! That is the basic rule of comedy! And you don't believe count how many times that make fun of Republicans' belief like abortion. Because of this terrible way of writing Eric Kripke feels like his taking a page out of James Gunn's book. Where he wants to oh so edgy, but at the same time he wants to be woke. And even if you can ignore that, which I don't how you could, the dialogue just isn't good. Count how many times people talk like a Reddit post and not actually people. I mean for crying out loud, they actually had Butcher say "incel". I kid you not. The bad only gets worse once you think about characterization. Something that use to be the show's strongest points even in a weak season, but here it's just plain garbage. Starlight started out fine at first but as the show went on she only got worse. She actually victim blames Hughie despite the fact he was tricked in a very brilliant way. The writing is made even worse when this season Hughie himself is an assault victim not once, but twice in this season. M.M. was useless in this season. You'd think it would be because of the stress he's under what with now being the leader, and yes that does play apart, but it's also because the writers just make incompetent. Frenchie has a mess of a story arc. At first he's feeling bad for his past sins, then he just spends time in prison for awhile, and then his right back with the time like his prison time meant nothing. Which begs the question, what was the part of him trying to serve time if you were just gonna bring him back an episode or two later? At first Kimiko seems like she was gonna have a pretty good story about the people she hurt during her terrorist days, but by episode four that storyline is just dropped and never talked about again. And things on the Seven's side aren't any better. The newest additions to the time those being Sister Sage and Firecracker suck. Sister Sage is suppose to be "The Smartest Person in the World" but it's clear as day that Eric Kripke and co. didn't know how to write a genius character. Because the only reason any of her plans worked is because time and reality got warped. Logically speaking nothing she did should've worked. Like how she plans to misdirect The Boys yet every single one of those plans gave them the information they needed. Not to mention her origin story for hating humanity is just so stupid. Basically she found the cure for cancer at the age of ten, showed the doctors, and they didn't believe her. Note, she's suppose to "The Smartest Person in the World" and yet she didn't thin for one moment that maybe a ten year old saying this wouldn't have been a smart idea. Now I think I said enough about so let's move onto Firecracker. Not only is she the show's not so subtle way to poke fun at Republicans, but there's really nothing else to her character other than having a rivalry with Starlight during the beauty pageant days and being a Homelander simp. Then we have Homelander's son Ryan. The writers really need to decide what they're doing with this character and stick with it! One moment he's Homelander Jr., then he feels remorse for what he's done, then he's Homelander Jr, then he's bonding with Butcher, then he's Homelander Jr., then he's this, then he's that! Either turn him into villain or don't! Speaking of Homelander what happened to him? Sure he had a good moment in episode 4, but instead of being an interesting villain he's now been reduce to being the Donald Trump stand-in. Which as we all know is just a daring, brave, and brilliant story element that hasn't been going on since 2016. The only saving graces were Victoria Neuman and Billy Butcher. Victoria was actually a pretty fun political character who's willing to do evil deeds to make her political campaign a success. Then we have Butcher, I was really enjoying his story of coming to terms with dying and that plot twist (which I won't spoil for you) was actually really good.

Then there was the humor. I already talked about the political stuff so I want bother going over it again. But all of the shocking stuff this season just didn't work. It was so bad the shocking stuff now just feels like a parody of edgy comedy instead of actually being funny.

• Mix

The mix bag is the action. There was time when it was alright, but then there where times when you could tell things were choregraphed or a quick cut was used not for excitement but because the editing just wasn't good that day.

• Positives

The only real praise I can give is the acting. Despite how awful the material was, everyone still did a great job performing. But it's just sad to think how these people deserved better storytelling.

So yeah folks, it goes without saying but I hated this season. Hated it so much there were actually times when I took a day or two of not watching episodes because I just needed a break to get away from the crap I was witnessing.

My final rating is, Bad.

You know what's worse than watching this season, it's I have no faith for season five. I'll still hope for a miracle but after watching what I just watched I doubt we're gonna get one. Anyways, sorry to bum you out, but thankfully that's all for now. Come back on Thursday, Apr 9th, for a brand new Cinematic Disasters review. Don't worry, that one's gonna be pretty funny...only not in the way the filmmakers intended it to be. But until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Review

So we've got another Mario movie. But it is just as good as the first or is this sequel a bust?

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is an animated adventure comedy movie that's based on Nintendo's broader Mario franchise, but the story takes influence from the 2007 video game Super Mario Galaxy and it's 2010 sequel. The movie also serves as a sequel to 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie. This was produced by Illumination and Nintendo with Universal Pictures serving as the distributor. Returning to write the story is Michael Fogel and also returning to direct are Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

The story is, Princess Rosalina is the ruler of the Comet Observatory and mother to the Lumas, and she's just been kidnapped by Bowser Jr. who plans to both free and avenge his father. After receiving word of what's happened, Mario along his brother Luigi and their friends head off to outer space to save Rosalina and put a stop to Bowser Jr.'s plans.

Initial Reaction

So the reason why I wanted to go and see this was because the first movie was a fun surprise. I wasn't expecting it to be so good. So once more and more information of a sequel was released and then later a trailer, I was looking forward to this.

Cons

I've got nothing.

Middle Ground

There is one slight problem with the story. Now all of the space adventures, action, and comedy are very well done, those were the biggest highlights. But I feel as though Bowser's story was rushed. Now if you feel like I'm heading into spoiler territory then feel free to skip to the Pros section of the review! Okay, so at first it does seem like Bowser is turning over a new leaf. He has moments of out burst but he later apologizes for them. He also helps Mario & Luigi and shows worry/guilt for their safety and/or well being. But the moment he's reunited with his son Bowser Jr. and Bowser Jr. takes him down memory lane it's right back to villainy with him. Now I totally get it, Bowser is a recurring villain of the franchise so of course he was gonna turn back to his evil ways soon enough. But it felt like a little bit bummer when they dangled that story element over you and then just threw it away. Again, the story is still good, it's just that part felt rushed.

Pros

First praise will go to the pacing. This movie was a breeze to get though. It's a nice tight and brisk watch and not one minute is wasted. I also want to yet again give props to the voice cast. Once again Chris Pratt and Charlie Day are very entertaining as Mario and Luigi. And Anya Taylor-Joy also did a great job with Princess Peach, and even though she's not in it that much Brie Larson was also very good as Rosalina even getting rid of my originally fear she'd either be insufferable, wooden, or both. But I think my favorite newcomer was Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr. He was wonderfully charming in a very chaotic way. I just couldn't get enough of him. The last thing I'll praise is the animation. Wow, I hope the animators were paid well because they did a fantastic job. The space parts were incredible and captured the cosmic charm of the Mario Galaxy games. There were two moments that are stuck in my head. One was a beautiful moment where the characters are watching shooting stars and another was when Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi were out running a castle crashing right behind them. That was an awesome action moment.

This isn't a perfect movie, but I think professional critics saw a totally different film then the one I saw. Because the one I saw was a blast.

My final rating is, Good.

That's gonna do it for me. Come back on Monday, Apr 6th, for my Look Back at review of season four of The Boys. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day, and tomorrow, I hope you all have a very Happy Easter. 🐰