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4 1/2 Stars Movies

28 Years Later (2025)

Whether it was at the age of 10 when I discovered the idea of zombies through the OG Resident Evil games (and later, the atrocious movies), my brief obsession with The Walking Dead (I stopped watching not long after Carl was killed off), or only recently catching up with the 28 days films, I have come to one solid conclusion: I would not last long in a zombie apocalypse. 

There are too many factors to consider, but the main reason is that without the meds I normally take, I’m a goner. Nevertheless, the idea of a zombie apocalypse has been lodged in our society’s psyche since the days of George A. Romero. Now, director Danny Boyle (along with Alex Garland as a script writer) have come back to the universe they created in 2002, with 28 Years Later, the third in the series (both were absent for 28 Weeks Later).

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3 1/2 Stars

Materialists (2025)

I won’t lie and pretend I know the history of online dating apps, but I am pretty sure that the last 15-20 years or so are when they began to explode in popularity (two of my brothers met their wives that way).

The thing is, I can not think of every coming across anyone in my life who used an in person match making service like the one shown in Materialists. Still, that is focus taken by writer/director Celine Song (who, I have learned, was once a match maker herself for a few months before becoming a film maker).

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1 1/2 Stars

Lilo & Stitch (2025)

While I never saw the full movie, I saw enough clips on YouTube to see why most people agree movie remakes don’t get as unnecessary (let alone bad) as 1998’s remake of the Hitchcock masterpiece Psycho

Apparently, when asked why he did the (nearly) shot for shot remake in the first place, director Gus Van Sant responded “So no one else had to.” This mindset is the only silver lining I can think of for Disney with their live action remakes, whether good or bad, and the remake of Lilo & Stitch falls in the latter category.

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3 Stars

Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning (2025)

Recently, the married couple of my church went on a (much deserved) sabbatical. I also learned that their three sons (who are amazing) are fans of sorts of the Mission Impossible movies.

Well, by the time they come back from their sabbatical, I may finally be able to explain the plot of Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning.

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2 1/2 Stars

Sinners (2025)

A few hours prior to seeing Ryan Coogler’s newest feature, I was in a conversation with my co-worker Dante.

He accused me of conforming with the critics. He challenged me to supply him with films that I disagreed with the majority of the critics (and in which nostalgia could not play a factor). Well Dante, what timing you have sir, because I am here to say I am not the biggest of fans of Sinners, possibly my hottest of takes since my original view of Get Out in 2017 (note: I rewatched Get Out, and atoned for my mistake.)

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4 1/2 Stars Movies

Warfare (2025)

There is a moment in the classic Citizen Kane where elderly Jed Leland (Joseph Cotten) says to the young reporter “I remember everything. That’s the greatest curse ever inflicted on the human race: memory.”

This quote ran through my head not long after the opening of Warfare, which tells us that what we are about to see is not based on any documented story so much as it is the memories of those who engaged in it. It won’t take long to have you agree with the idea of memory being a curse after the events unfold in the film.

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2 1/2 Stars Movies

Snow White (2025)

In the last decade of Disney Live Action Remakes, there was a time where I thought remaking Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was forbidden.

The House of Mouse would not even exist today if the 1937 classic (the first of its kind) did not prevail the expectations, so naturally one would suspect that all of Disney knows that some form of respect is due it.

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Movies

Mickey 17 (2025)

I never thought I would say this, but I am now steadily considering watching the Twilight series.

The casting of Robert Pattinson of Edward Cullen (as well as his relationship with co-star Kristen Stewart) was thankfully not the first I had seen or heard of him (he of course was Cedric Diggory in the Potterverse), but it was not until the last few years in films like The Lighthouse (2019), The Batman (2022), and (in voice over) The Boy and the Heron (2023), that I realized the obvious truth: he is a rather proficient actor.

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2 Stars Movies

Captain America: Brave New World (2025)

“Don’t die. Copy that.”

This is more than a repeated piece of dialogue that Joaquin Torres’ Falcon says to Sam Wilson’s Captain America. It could also be reflective of the MCU offices these days, making sure their movies (and TV shows, for that matter) are not being sent out without a thought of survival.

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4 Stars

DJ Ahmet (2025)

(This is the first of two films from this year’s Sundance Film Festival I got virtual tickets for.)

Am I alone in saying that the majority of what I learn about other cultures is from art?