The Grinch was released in 2018 and was a massive hit, making over 270 million domestically. The movie is an animated version of the classic story by Dr. Seuss. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Cameron Seely, Rashida Jones, Pharrell Williams, Kenan Thompson, and Angela Lansbury.

I enjoyed The Grinch a lot. I wanted to see it when it came out but never got around to it. I thought it was very well done and a fun holiday movie. It captured the spirit of the book very well. Benedict Cumberbatch did a good job as the Grinch. The movie is funny, and it is heartwarming. It is also not too long. It clocks in a little under 90 minutes.

One strong aspect of the movie is the relationship between The Grinch and his dog Max. They make a good pair. A little time is spent on the Grinch’s backstory. It is enough to answer why he hates Christmas so much. The movie is mostly set in the present and doesn’t harp too long on flashbacks. The movie is pretty faithful to the original story. It adds enough to differentiate it from the live Jim Carrey movie.

The Grinch is a good holiday movie that is both faithful to the book as well as doing enough of its own thing to set it apart. I think what worked best for the movie was making it animated compared to the live version that Jim Carrey did in 2000. It seems the best Dr. Seuss adaptations are the ones that are animated.

Based on the Spider-Man villain from Marvel, Kraven the Hunter tells the origin story of Sergei Kravinoff and how he becomes Kraven the Hunter. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana Debose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe.

I enjoyed Kraven The Hunter for what it was. I thought it was a good movie. There were elements of the movie that were silly. This isn’t much of a spoiler because it was revealed in the later trailers, but I found the final design of the Rhino to be silly. In the Spider-Man comics, the costume is silly to begin with. Given the tone of the movie is supposed to be serious, that’s where the design felt off a bit. It seems the Rhino has not been nailed down quite right in live versions. The last attempt was in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 when Paul Giamatti played the role. That design was different and could have worked if there was an Amazing Spider-Man 3 or Sinister Six movie. The Rhino in Kraven The Hunter had a substantial role. I thought Alessandro Nivola did a good job as the character.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson did a good job. I thought he was good as Sergei and really did well as Kraven the Hunter. It would have been interesting wat else Aaron Taylor-Johnson would have been able to do with the role. Kraven the Hunter is the final film in the Sony Spider-verse for now. Unless there is a Kraven 2, this will probably be the only time Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays the character. I thought the rest of the cast did a good job in their roles.

Kraven is a lot more violent. The movie is Rated R and I felt the violence and the R rating worked for the movie. It is not substantially more violent than other Marve properties. It’s just a little bloodier, although Deadpool & Wolverine seems to top it in terms of blood level. The film also has language. Again Deadpool & Wolverine seems to top it in terms of F bombs.

As an origin story, I thought it was good and a little better than Madame Web. From the opening minutes of the film, I was rooting for Kraven. I was invested in him from the first few minutes. The film was fairly predictable, but it was still enjoyable. It isn’t too long. It clocks in a little over two hours. I think that was an appropriate length.

The film does not have any credit scenes following in the footsteps of Madame Web. Only the Venom movies and Morbius had credit scenes in the Sony verse.

I thought Kraven The Hunter was an enjoyable fun origin movie for an iconic Spider-Man villain. It was good for what it was. I am curious to see what happens with the character and if Marvel will be able to use the character in the MCU now that Sony is done with their Spider-verse for the time being.

Red One is about Callum Drift who is Santa’s Head of Security and must team up with Jack O’Malley, a famous tracker to save Santa who has been kidnapped. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, J.K. Simmons, Bonnie Hunt, Kiernan Shipka, Wesley Kimmel, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Nick Kroll, and Kristofer Hivju.

I enjoyed Red One a lot. I thought it was a fun holiday action movie. The cast does a good job. Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans have good chemistry. It was nice to see Chris Evans in a different type of role for this one. Chris Evans is most known for his role as Steve Rogers aka Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. His character Jack O’Malley is more similar to previous roles he used to play before landing Captain America. The movie relies heavily on the chemistry of Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans which helped make it enjoyable.

One thing that was nice for me was that there was a new theatrical Christmas movie. There are a lot of holiday movies, but they are either on the Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, or Netflix as well as other streaming services. There have not been many theatrical holiday movies in a while. I hope there will be more holiday movies in the future, but time will tell. Also, I did enjoy the fact that Red One is a more grown-up movie. Families can go to see it, but it’s not a movie just geared toward children. It can be enjoyed by all ages. The humor itself is more adult given some of the language that is used in the movie.

The movie does have a nice plot. It is pretty self-explanatory but there is also some heart in the film too. It’s just a fun action movie. It also has good effects. It gets the job done for what the movie is.

Red One is a fun modern holiday movie with two great leads. It has fun action, some heart, a few twists here and there, and some humor. It is definitely worth checking out for anyone who wants to go to the movies and see something Christmasy but that is also a little different than what’s on Hallmark and Lifetime as well as most of the movies on Netflix.

Wicked is based off the Broadway Musical about the origins of Elphaba and Glinda and how they first met. The film stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Marissa Bode, Peter Dinklage, Andy Nyman, Bowen Yang, Bronwyn James, and Keala Settle.

Wicked was one of the movies I was most excited for 2024, and I was not disappointed. I read the books that the musical is based off of. There were four books in the series. Wicked was the first book. Subsequent sequels followed various characters after Wicked. I never got a chance to see the Broadway show. I was hoping to see it before the movie, but it just did not work out. I enjoyed Wicked immensely. The cast does a fantastic job. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande really embody their roles. Ariana Grande really shines as Glinda. Cynthia Erivo shines vocally especially with her performance for Defying Gravity. The whole cast does a great job vocally as well.

The sets are spectacular. It was said that there were a lot of practical sets which I think helped immerse the audience into the world of Oz. It is nice that not everything relies on CGI or greenscreen. The costumes are also fantastic.

It looked like the whole cast enjoyed themselves filming the movie. That energy shows and I think helped make the movie more enjoyable.

Wicked clocks in around three hours including twenty minutes of previews. It was not noticeable at all. The movie holds the audience’s attention from the opening moments. The whole cast does a stellar job, but the heart of the movie relies on Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. They really shine carrying the whole movie. Their relationship really is the centerpiece of the movie.  

Wicked is a fantastic movie and one of the best musicals in a long time. It is funny, heartwarming, heart wrenching, emotional, and spectacular. I am excited to see where the story goes and what happens next with the characters in Part Two.  

Code Name: The Cleaner was released in 2007 and bombed at the box office only making around eight million domestically. The plot is about a guy who wakes up next to a dead FBI agent and has amnesia. He doesn’t know if he is a janitor or a secret agent. The film stars Cedric The Entertainer, Lucy Liu, Nicollette Sheridan, Mark Dacascos, Callum Keith Rennie, DeRay Davis, Niecy Nash, and Will Patton.

I thought Code Name: The Cleaner was a fun stupid movie. Sometimes you just want to watch a stupid movie. It was surprisingly fun and had some funny moments. It was a nice length. It clocks in around an hour and a half. It was straightforward and pretty fast paced. The cast does a good job. Nicollette Sheridan had a fairly substantial role in this. This was released while she was still on Desperate Housewives. Lucy Liu had done similar projects before with the most obvious being the Charlie’s Angels movies. In fact, the movie was similar to the Charlie’s Angels movies, specifically the ones with Lucy Liu. Cedric the Entertainer played his role well and had his usual brand of humor.

I do understand why the movie bombed. It was released in January and as I recall, there was not much promotion for the movie upon its release. If it had better marketing maybe it would have done slightly better. However, I feel it would have probably bombed regardless of how big of a marketing campaign it had gotten.

Code Name: The Cleaner is a fun dumb movie and sometimes that is all anyone can ask for. It does not make the audience think and it provides a nice way to give the brain a break for an hour and a half.

The Rundown was released in 2003 and did decently. It made around 47 million domestically and around 80 million worldwide. The movie is about a bounty hunter who does one final job to retrieve his boss’s son from the Amazon where they wind up teaming up to find a lost treasure. The film stars Dwayne Johnson, Sean William Scott, Rosario Dawson, Christopher Walken, and Ewen Bremner.

I thought The Rundown was a fun action movie. This was one of Dwayne Johnson’s earlier movies. It was released a year after The Scorpion King. This also came at a time when Sean William Scott was most known for starring in the American Pie movies and seemed to be actively starring in movies. Dwayne Johnson and Sean William Scott had good chemistry. They played their parts well as did everyone else.

The movie is not too long. It’s just about right. There is a basic plot but nothing too complicated. It would have been a bit too tedious if it was any longer. The movie is fun but it’s nothing special. It’s fairly generic. The main cast plays typical roles of what they are known for. Christopher Walken is the main antagonist in the movie, and he pretty much does what Christopher Walken does. Dwayne Johnson played the role of action star well. Sean William Scott was essentially Stifler from the American Pie movies just in an action movie.

The Rundown is a good length and an easy watch. It has fun action scenes and there is good chemistry between the leads. It is not the greatest action movie but it’s not the worst either. It falls somewhere in the middle. It’s a cool movie to watch if there is any interest in seeing Dwayne Johnson’s early works.

Friday The 13^th was released in 2009. It had a huge opening weekend making over forty million. The movie is about a group of friends who go on a weekend getaway where they face off with Jason Voorhees. The film stars Jared Padalecki, Amanda Righetti, Danielle Panabaker, Travis Van Winkle, Aaron Yoo, Julianna Guill, Ryan Hansen, Willa Ford, Arlen Escarpeta, Jonathan Sadowski, Ben Feldman, Nick Mennell, America Olivio, Richard Burgi, and Derek Mears.

I thought Friday the 13^th was pretty good for what it is. It’s a good slasher movie and its nice and short. It clocks in a little over ninety minutes. There is somewhat of a plot but the main attraction with any slasher film is the body count. I am very familiar with Friday the 13^th but I have only ever seen Jason X years ago and I did see Freddy vs. Jason. I have seen bits of various Friday the 13^th movies on television.

Friday the 13^th is a remake/reboot of the iconic franchise. It is also currently the last movie that has been released. There have been talks of making a new one but there seems to be complications with the rights to the property. This Jason Vorhees is a lot faster and seemed to be more vicious in this one. There is a high body count which is always expected in these types of movies. The cast does a good job in their roles. Slasher movies are more about the kills and the killer than it is about the characters or the acting. Everyone plays their parts well. There is a decent plot about a brother played by Jared Padalecki who is looking for his missing sister played by Amanda Righetti.

Friday the 13^th is a solid slasher film that achieves its goals within the genre. It will be interesting to see what a new film will be like when it eventually happens.

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is about a couple whose car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and they have to stay in an Airbnb where they are terrorized by three masked people. The film stars Madelaine Petsch, Froy Gutierrez, Matus Lajcak, Olivia Kreutzova, and Letizia Fabbri.

I thought The Strangers: Chapter 1 was interesting. I saw the original movie, back when it came out in 2008. That one starred Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman. It did seem like The Strangers: Chapter 1 followed a lot of the same beats from the original. There are some differences, but a lot of the main components are relatively the same. Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez do a great job as the leads. They have good chemistry.

The movie clocks in around 90 minutes. It’s about 91 minutes to be exact. There were times throughout the movie, where it felt like it was going to end, and it kept on going. There were also periods where the film started to get a little boring. There were times the film felt a little too slow at parts.

When the movie was released earlier this year, it did not do that well. It did alright but nothing earth shattering. It seemed there was not that much interest in the movie. One thing that was stated prior to the movie’s release was that this was going to be the first part of a trilogy and the whole trilogy was already filmed. It will be interesting to see how the second and third parts do box office wise.

The horror genre is hit and miss for me when it comes to being scared. There are horror films I have enjoyed like the Scream and Saw franchise. However, those films do not scare me. The original movie, The Strangers made me a little nervous, but I was not scared. This movie did not scare me. I didn’t even feel nervous much either. I think there was one part where I had a jump scare so to speak. I’m curious if I had seen it in theaters if I would have had a different experience.

The movie also has a midcredit scene which seems to be par for the course for any movie part of a franchise. This is the first part of a trilogy.

The Strangers: Chapter 1 is an interesting movie that doesn’t really do anything to differentiate itself from the original. The two leads do a great job and really carry the movie. It will be interesting to see what the second and third chapters do and how it builds off of this movie.

Death Becomes Her was released in July 1992 and is a dark comedy about an aging actress who drinks a potion to regain her youth. The film stars Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, Bruce Willis, and Isabella Rossellini.

I thought Death Becomes Her was a fun movie. It was released when I was two years old. It looks like a 90s movie, but I thought it held up pretty well today. The cast does a good job. Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn have good chemistry. Bruce Willis stood out a lot. I am used to seeing Bruce Willis in action type roles and this was a different character for him. I thought he did a great job with the role. The movie has a basic plot. There are not many twists and turns. The fun of the movie is the shenanigans between the characters.

The movie is a good length. It’s not too long. It clocks in a little over 100 minutes. The effects seem a little dated, but they do hold up pretty well.

Death Becomes Her is a fun dark comedy with a great cast. Meryl Streep, Goldie Hawn, and Bruce Willis all do a fine job, and they have great chemistry together.

Venom: The Last Dance sees Eddie and Venom on the run from Venom’s creator who was imprisoned by all of the symbiotes. The film stars Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Clark Backo, Stephen Graham, Peggy Lu, Rhys Ifans, Alanna Ubach, Hala Finley, Dash McCloud, Jared Abrahamson, and Cristo Fernandez.

I thought Venom: The Last Dance was a good movie. I enjoyed it. I liked the first Venom but was not a fan of Venom: Let There Be Carnage. I enjoyed Venom: The Last Dance a lot more. Tom Hardy does a great job as Eddie Brock, and I like the relationship between Eddie and Venom. That is really the heart of the story.

The rest of the cast does a good job. Tom Hardy is really the one that shines the most. There are not many characters in the movie. Some characters seem a bit random, but it seems to work for the movie. For Marvel aficionados and fans of any of the films, there is no multiversal explanation about Chiwetel Ejiofor and Rhys Ifans’ characters. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Karl Mordo in Doctor Strange. Rhys Ifans played Dr. Curt Connors aka The Lizard in the Amazing Spider-Man and reprised the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Whether their characters in Venom: The Last Dance, are variants of their past roles remains to be seen. In fact, the multiverse is not really dealt with at all in The Last Dance. The focus is more on Eddie and Venom’s relationship and learning more about Venom’s creator.

The movie can be silly at times. As hinted at in the trailers there is a dance scene between Venom and Mrs. Chen played by Peggy Lu. It’s fun and silly and a little bit random but that seems to be part of the Venom charm. There have been complaints in the past from some audience members in regard to Venom trying to copy Deadpool when it comes to the humor. There may be similarities however, I think it works fine. The Venom movies are meant to be fun comic book movies. It doesn’t necessarily take itself too seriously.

Even though this is billed as the final film in the Venom trilogy, there are two credit scenes. There is a midcredit scene and a post credit scene.

Venom: The Last Dance is a satisfying conclusion to a rocky trilogy. I personally enjoyed Venom but did not care for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The heart of the story is Eddie and Venom’s relationship. It will be interesting to see what happens next with the characters. A big question is now that this franchise is over, will Tom Hardy finally get to share the screen with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Another big question is what will happen to the Sony Spider-Verse going forward? Could there ever be a Venom 4? Maybe. If the other Sony Spider-verse movies continue to perform poorly then there is a good chance a Venom 4 might become a reality. There was never a really clear picture of what Sony wants to do with their Spider-verse. This movie does not really help make it any clearer.

I enjoyed Venom: The Last Dance. I thought it was fun and it gets emotional at times. It’s a good final chapter for the characters. I would like to see Tom Hardy hop over to the MCU properly and meet up with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man.