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3 1/2 Stars

Alien: Romulus (2024)

Regardless of your knowledge of the Alien franchise, it is basically general knowledge that the first two films occupy the top tier. Personally, I feel good about that as I have recently only seen those two along with 2012’s Prometheus.

Obviously, this makes me not at all an expert of any kind about the franchise, but that does not mean I can’t try to enjoy the films individually, which brings us to Alien: Romulus. Oddly enough, the events of this film actually take place between the first two films, while paying homage (both effectively and not effectively) to them.

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4 Stars

Didi (2024)

One of the main reasons I’ve always been a fan of coming of age films is simply the idea of character development.

The second decade of our lifetimes has arguably more life lessons learnt than any other time in our lives (or at least the most memorable ones). That makes that time of a life ripe for picking when it comes to drama. Whether it takes place in the rebellious 1950, the  John Hughes 1980s universe, or the tech driven 21st century, teen life is hard all around.

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3 Stars Movies

Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

It is weird timing for a film like Deadpool & Wolverine.

Ever since the end of Thanos in Endgame, a majority of the shows and films have been, at best, just good (I exempt No Way Home). A lot of super hero fatigue can play into this, along with the termination of Jonathon Majors as Kang and both a writers and actors strike. The film also needs to live up to being not only the MCU debut of both it’s title characters, but the first MCU film to be rated R (more on that later).

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4 Stars

Twisters (2024)

Call it divine intervention or whatever you want, but it is worth noting that between revisiting the 1996 hit Twister and the sequel, there was at least two nights of pretty bad weather here in the Midwest.

Of course, being that I have grown up in the Midwest, it was nothing too new to me. Still, tornadoes are nothing I would dream of getting near (the closest I ever got was a few years ago driving home, not aware until later that a twister had touched down about a mile away). Thinking of it, the original Twister (which was always a go to rental for me at a point in my childhood) had a small bit of the “stay away from this force of nature” effect that Jaws had on me (as well as the whole world.)

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"Top Tens", and others

2024 Halftime Report

It is clear that we are feeling the true effects of last year’s strikes.

I supported the strikes, but as a cinephile it came at a cost: This year’s movies would not be strong. As of this writing, I’ve seen just under thirty movies that were released this year (I have yet to see certain titles such as Challengers and Kinds of Kindness), and none of them were five stars (though some were close).

Still, I have hope, as the second half will give us the likes of Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Sing Sing, Longlegs, Alien: Romulus, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and plenty more (I don’t care what the reactions were at Cannes; I am still stoked for Megalopolis.)

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3 1/2 Stars Movies

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (2024)

Prior to watching Kevin Costner’s first directed film in over two decades, I looked at my Letterboxd account to realize that this film would only be the eleventh western film I have ever seen in the theater.

Granted, this is largely due to my age (which is why my first “western” experience in the theater was sadly 1999’s infamous Wild Wild West), so it is safe to say all the westerns I have seen have been on a smaller screen. It was with this lack of big screen western experience and the fact that Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 has a 40% score on rottentomatoes (it was not screened for many critics, which is rarely a good sign) that I went to see the film,…and was actually surprised at it.

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4 Stars Movies

The Bikeriders (2024)

You know how you can sometimes be oblivious to any form of accent you have when speaking?

As someone who has grown up in the midwest his whole life, I definitely never picked up on having an accent of any kind. Even so, it was impossible for me to not notice the accent work of Jodie Comer is using in The Bikeriders.

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4 Stars

Inside Out 2 (2024)

The best of the Disney/Pixar films have been able to somewhat shape our views of the world, regardless of age.

As a kid, the aftermath of Toy Story had me admittedly silently trying to sneak a look at my toys, to catch them in the act of being alive. It took me a while to stop looking at a fish tank in a doctors office differently thanks to Finding Nemo, or what it would be like talking with my ancestors after Coco. And yes, even after nearly a decade, I still sometimes wonder what the emotions in my head are like after the original Inside Out.

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3 1/2 Stars

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

In the week or so I spent catching up and rewatching the previous Mad Max films, a rather unrelated film scene popped into my head.

In 1941, there was a film released called Hellzapoppin’. While I have not seen the film, I have seen what is arguably the film’s most popular scene when the characters do a dance called “The Lindy Hop”. When you watch it on YouTube, you will most likely have trouble concluding that these talented people are not being sped up on film: they are just that bleepin’ fast.

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3 1/2 Stars Movies

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)

Sadly, it was only until a few years ago that I finally saw the OG Planet of the Apes from 1968.

My reasoning was mainly due to the fact that I had already had the famous plot twist spoiled for me as a kid (most likely from The Simpsons), and was unfortunately introduced to the idea of talking apes in Tim Burton’s disastrous 2001 film. Thankfully, the 2010s gave us a trilogy (all of which I just recently revisited) that was nothing short of solid entertainment, to the point I was worried this new film would be a de-evolution, as it were.

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