Pop Culture Punch

Weekend Movie Review

January 20, 2025January 21, 2025admin

I have been seriously slacking since the New Year, but here is a quick and dirty review of what’s made it in so far.

Final 2024 Movie Review

January 8, 2025admin

I came just a few films shy of my goal this year, but as you are probably aware, I did see a whole lot. Here’s the final push for 2024!

I think as you’ve all come to know, there were a lot of movies in my life this year. 175 to be exact, though unlike other years, there were several repeat viewings this time around! I was also so lucky to take part in so many film festivals this year, both in person and virtually, and I hope the trend continues next year! Here are my favorite films of the year (and see the rest at the bottom!).

Weekend Movie Review

December 24, 2024December 25, 2024admin

Could have done better, but I could have done worse this weekend. All solid films, though!

Two-Week Movie Review

December 19, 2024December 19, 2024admin

Ever since I got back from my trip I’ve been all off balance watching movies. And that’s a bad thing! This is a time of year when all of the good stuff goes to theaters, so I had some work to do.

Y2K – SNL’s Kyle Mooney and all of the greatest hits from 1999 means that this movie was a great time. Was it the best comedy I’ve seen this year? I wouldn’t say so, but it was still lots of fun with a stellar cast to boot!

Gladiator II – Having only seen the original Gladiator in college, I feel like I was a little more fresh on what went down almost 25 years ago. In this film, Maximus’ son is put to the test without knowing who he really is. Denzel Washington stole the show for me, though.

The Order – Watching this film about an extremely radical white supremacist group in the 70s work through a book to start a war with the people who “took everything” from them and how it parallels to the 2020 insurrection was actually pretty scary. Terrific drama that I wish I would have watched at TIFF earlier this year.

The Holdovers – Movie club dictated that I re-watch this, but you know I don’t mind it! I was shocked to hear that the concensus was that this film was “heavy, sad, and depressing.” I still felt a great deal of happiness this second time through. I suppose I took away the found family aspect of it instead. Still a treat!

Kraven the Hunter – Wow. This one was so bad, and projected to be so that Sony Marvel said this is it for them. I would love to see Disney Marvel take some of these characters and expand upon them, but it seems bleak. Even the hotness factor of this film couldn’t save the flimsy characterization and lines like “it’s Kraven, with a K.”

Oh, Canada – Perhaps the most confusing Paul Schrader film I’ve seen, but he still has such a unique and alluring filmmaking style. In this, a dying documentary filmmaker is reflecting on his past which involves a lot of infidelity and abandonment. This guy was a real piece of work.

The Killer’s Game – I would liken this to a lesser John Wick, though it was still fun to watch. Dave Bautista has amazing chemistry with Sofia Boutella, but bulk of his work in this film were him killing fellow assassins after he tries cancelling a contract he put on himself after mistakenly learning he only has three months to live.