Tim Story’s “Fantastic Four” (2005) was the first big-budget adaptation of Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four.”

It arrived 20 years ago and serves as a warning and a sign of things to come.

We meet Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) and Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) as they work together on a research project that blasts them into outer space. Upon re-entry, their newfound super-powers are immediately on display, and their roles as media stars are established.

Alliances and personal tensions are established, leading the four to determine themselves as superheroes, while the villainous Victor Von Doom (Julian McMahon) aims to destroy them.

The 2005 “Fantastic Four” isn’t offensively bad, as some claim, nor a misunderstood classic worthy of defense. The result is a comic book film in capital letters, a jokey, cornball “event movie” with good qualities but an indifferent filmmaking approach.

From the start, it feels rushed. The characters aren’t given proper introductions. The sole topic of conversation is the plot exposition. We’re only given broad strokes, both in terms of story and in what we’re told about everyone on screen.

Even after the transformation begins and the Fantastic Four begin to embrace their metamorphosis, I was still asking myself, Who are these people?

McMahon has the looks and manner to suggest villainy at first glance, long before the character becomes Dr. Doom. Gruffudd is pleasant, handsome and bland as Mr. Fantastic. Alba is cute as a button but doesn’t have either the acting chops or the role to showcase anything beyond her appealing presence.

What almost puts the movie over are Chiklis as The Thing and Evans as Johnny Storm. Having established himself as a heavy-hitting dramatic actor, as well as always-game (having previously played both John Belushi and “Curly” Howard), Chiklis can play anything and manages to make Ben Grimm sympathetic and touching.

Evans is very funny, playing his character’s party-boy attitude to the hilt. It’s especially fun seeing Evans cut loose, since he later went on to play one of the squarest superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Even with (for their time) high-caliber CGI effects and a well-funded production, the tone is too lightweight to suggest the grand qualities of the source material. As a comic book, The Fantastic Four may be goofy, but there’s always something majestic about them.

They deserve an awe-inspiring motion picture. This is a children’s film.

Silly and pat, it puts the emphasis on cute quips and episodic/ FX-driven scenes, instead of building momentum in either the narrative or the heroes. It’s so loose, you wonder if all the real, in-depth scenes were cut out.

The overall result is like a highlight reel.

Evans’ Human Torch is constantly talking about how to make their brand a commercial commodity, which is exactly what the movie is doing as well. Few out-of-the-gate franchise films are as open and on-the-nose about how happy they are to sell out.

Comic book movies don’t need to be “dark” by default. If anything, it’s refreshing to see a comic book movie that wants to have fun, doesn’t take itself so seriously and is fairly enjoyable, if insubstantial.

Story never makes a clear decision if he’s making a comedy or an action/fantasy, as the tone constantly wavers without purpose. The brief, edgier moments (which earn the PG-13 rating) are undercut by scenes that would be silly in a “Beethoven” sequel.

Story doesn’t make it personal. A more risk-taking filmmaker of vision should’ve taken this on.

RELATED: ‘FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS’ REVIEW

The subsequent “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007) also has its share of problems, but at least aimed for “Superman II” (1980) stature. At the very least, the 2005 “Fantastic Four” is superior in every way to the infamous, 1994 Roger Corman-produced version. I’ve seen it, in all of its cringe-inducing glory, and can report it’s awful in ways few bad movies truly are.

As for the universally loathed 2015 “Fantastic Four” from director Josh Trank, I was in that film’s corner for the first act. There comes a point where you can tell where major edits and creative compromises permanently handicapped it.

Perhaps The Fantastic Four was never meant to go in a Christopher Nolan or David Cronenberg direction, though I give Trank credit for trying, even unsuccessfully, to nudge it that way. The new “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” clearly sprints in the opposite direction, making Trank’s interpretation such an anomaly and an easy pick as a cult movie in less than 10 years.

Story’s “Fantastic Four” wants to entertain and succeeds. Yet, it should be remarkable and riveting, but the end result is so easy to digest, it’s as pleasurable and forgettable as a sip from a juice box.

The post Why ‘Fantastic Four’ Fizzled the First Time Around appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

It’s darn near sacrilegious to reboot “The Naked Gun” without David Zucker.

The comic maestro gave us three glorious “Gun” movies that captured his iconic, rapid-fire style. The first film’s umpire sequence is one of the funniest moments in any ’80s comedy.

But funny is funny. And “The Naked Gun,” the Zucker-less reboot of the comic series, delivers a steady stream of laughs in a style that’s close enough to the master’s blueprint.

It’s not the same, and the new “Gun” can’t match the howls provided by Zucker’s 1988 “Gun,” but it’s been too long since we laughed this hard in a theater.

Liam Neeson takes over as Frank Drebin, Jr., son of Leslie Nielsen’s cop from the original saga. He’s just as clueless as his pappy, and he has a “Dirty Harry”-like disdain for the rules.

The opening sequence teems with comic violence, a far cry from Zucker’s zany original. Things improve dramatically from there, especially when Pamela Anderson enters the frame.

She plays Beth Davenport, a grieving sister who thinks her brother’s death wasn’t a suicide. Lt. Drebin is on the case, one that leads him to a sketchy tech billionaire (Danny Huston, avoiding any Elon Musk comparisons) who might be part of the coverup.

That’s all you need to set the crush of jokes in motion. And, once again, it’s a nonstop barrage of sight gags, running gags, silly gags, and bawdy gags.

Some, not all, land hard. A few miss by a country mile. Yet the percentages work in our favor. It’s also refreshing to see a comedy that pokes fun at the so-called Male Gaze without flinching.

Woke takes another hit with this reboot. That matters.

Credit the curvaceous Anderson, whose breathy voice is perfect for her character and the overall tone. This is an old-school comedy with minor tweaks for GenZ-Nation, including that violent shtick that would make Team Zucker shudder.

It’s hardly enough to chase longtime “Gun” fans away or anyone who misses big-screen movie comedies. They’ll be snorting about too much over the tart screenplay, partially credited to director Akiva Schaffer (“Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping”).

The silver-haired Nielsen spent years as the stoic straight man in films like “Forbidden Planet.” Throwing him into the “Naked Gun” chaos proved a master stroke.

Here, Neeson’s action resume offers a similar perk. He can’t wait to deconstruct his tough-guy image, and it makes the jokes funnier. CCH Pounder clicks as Drebin’s no-nonsense boss, but the great Paul Walter Hauser needs more screentime as our hero’s partner.

Perhaps the best part of “The Naked Gun” is its running time – 86 tight minutes. That’s what a comedy should aim for – a not-so-hidden message to the team behind “Happy Gilmore 2: We Needed Two Hours to Include All the Gratuitious Cameos.”

Get in. Get out. Leave us laughing.

“The Naked Gun” clears that low bar. Hopefully, it’s a sign of very funny things to come.

HiT or Miss: “The Naked Gun” apes the comic chaos created by David Zucker in the ’80s. The results, while imperfect, are undeniably funny.

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Sophie Brooks’ “Oh, Hi!” gets its title from a cornball pun on Ohio and a sign visible in a small town where our young lovers are on a getaway.

Isaac (Logan Lerman) and Iris (Molly Gordon) have been going out for some time, visibly affectionate in their relationship and on a road trip to an isolated cottage.

It begins as a sweet, unironic and straightforward romantic comedy, develops into a collection of intimate moments, then takes a wild turn. Without spoiling the twist, Isaac and Molly discover a closet with contents that shock the young lovers.

Their curiosity and shared comfort with one another ease into a night of unguarded honesty and wind up being a terrible idea. The elevator pitch is “Before Sunset” (1995) crossed with “Misery” (1990), but even that doesn’t really cover it.

I managed to see “Oh, Hi!” without any promotional materials spoiling the second act, and I’d advise everyone else to do the same. The element of surprise is key, though it needs to be said that the film is consistently funny and engaging, not punishing.

Not a horror film, as it never stops being funny, but there is a sustained tension in the second and third act. Call it genre fluid, as it manages to shift tones and alter our perspective on the gradually changing scenario without losing our interest or collapsing into anarchy.

Lerman, best known for the “Percy Jackson” films (2010-2013) and his terrific lead turn in “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (2012) is first rate and so is Gordon, who co-wrote the story with Brooks and is a standout in the FX on Hulu series, “The Bear” (2022-Present).

The actors made me root for Isaac and Iris in the first act, then kept reversing my feelings for them once secrets kept unveiling.

I wanted the ending to be stronger and harsher in its assessment, if not outright punishment, for both characters. It’s strange that a film would take this many chances and succeed at juggling them, then visibly worry that the audience will walk away uncomfortable.

Sophie Brooks is clearly not Ari Aster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The biggest success in “Oh, Hi!” isn’t just the two pitch-perfect lead performances but how well the screenplay introduces familiar tropes, setting up plot strands that seem to be going in a familiar direction, then doesn’t.

Walking out of “Oh, Hi!,” I wish the ending was stronger and more impactful. Yet, the film is unpredictable, daring and leaves you thinking, which is more than I can say about most romantic comedies.

I’m glad I saw “Oh, Hi!” but wish the screenplay, for all of its audacious touches, had gone even further in the final moments. Is this a date movie? It depends on how well you know your partner and if you’re both able to laugh at the tricky complications depicted.

Brooks’ film is like a lower key but equally provocative companion to, well, “Companion” (2025). Both films begin like rom-com fodder, take bold, dark turns and manage to balance laughs with insightful observations on why long-term relationships either go the distance or shatter.

Add the upcoming “Together” and the remake of “The War of the Roses” to the batch, and you’ve got a good year for squirm-inducing anti-rom-coms.

Two and a Half Stars

The post ‘Oh, Hi!’ Takes Rom-Coms in Bracing New Direction appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Sean Penn’s “The Crossing Guard” (1995) marked the star’s second film as writer/director (the first being 1991’s “The Indian Runner”) and his first collaboration with Jack Nicholson.

The film arrived with critical acclaim that was lost in a busy Christmas movie season (the likes of “Toy Story,” “The American President,” Goldeneye” and “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls” dominated the movie month). If you’re a fan of Nicholson, it’s a major find and an underestimated work.

Nicholson stars as Freddy, a jewelry store owner with a self-destructive night life and a temper that easily comes to the surface. He’s a character who fascinates as much as he seems unpleasant and quite dangerous.

One morning, Freddy randomly shows up at the home of Mary (Anjelica Huston), his ex-wife, causing a ruckus and putting everyone on edge. His extraordinary reason for suddenly appearing: Freddy has learned that the man responsible for the death of their daughter is getting out of prison soon and Freddy happily announces that he’s going to kill him.

We meet the ex-con, who goes by John Booth (David Morse) and has a reserved way of dealing with people. Freddy turns up at John’s trailer, puts a gun in his face and warns him that his days are numbered.

Penn’s flawed, self-indulgent film has terrific performances and powerful scenes that elevate it over the missteps. There’s too much slow motion, too many stripping scenes (yes, a movie can have too many of those) and an opening that doesn’t work.

Once we get to the scene where Freddy confronts Mary for the first time in years, which is also Nicholson’s first scene with Huston, the plot is set firmly in motion. In fact, this potent encounter, an incredible scene, ought to have been the film’s opener as well.

Nicholson’s ferocious yet vulnerable turn is another acting milestone, while Huston has fewer scenes but always matches him in focus, honesty and intensity.

I liked Morse’s straightforward turn, Robin Wright’s utterly natural acting and was delighted to see Robbie Robertson and John Savage turn up and acquit themselves well.

Another major plus is Bruce Springsteen’s “Missing,” a thrilling, beautifully written song he wrote for the film that doesn’t sound like anything he’s done before (likewise, Springsteen’s fantastic “Lift Me Up,” another out of character jewel that he wrote for John Sayles’ superb 1999 drama “Limbo”).

Penn’s subsequent and final collaboration with Nicholson, “The Pledge” (2001), even with its hard-to-take ending, is preferable to “The Crossing Guard.” If anything, “The Crossing Guard” kind of feels like a tryout for the uncompromised darkness of their second and superior vehicle.

The upbeat finish that Penn’s arrives at in “The Crossing Guard” may have felt like a welcome, even commercially preferable touch, but I still find the final scene impossible to buy.

Material this unpleasant needs more focus, less side characters and fewer cliched journeys into urban muck. The best scenes here reflect universal dread and find truth in character details, while the worst feel like Penn is trying too hard and being too obvious in his efforts to mimic the anguish of John Cassavetes.

Freddy’s late-night phone call to Mary and the scene that follows (again, Nicholson and Huston give master class work here) are so extraordinary, it salvages the scenes that don’t work or feel underdeveloped.
Nicholson, who had just previously stolen “A Few Good Men” (1992) for Rob Reiner and donned fur and fangs in “Wolf” (1994) for Mike Nichols, gives Penn and us the kind of emotionally generous, painfully vulnerable and searing performance that marks some of his best work.

Nicholson will always be celebrated for his acting in movies like “The Shining” (1980) and “The Departed” (2006), but he’s also the star of “About Schmidt” (2002), “Ironweed” (1987), “Carnal Knowledge” (1971) and “Chinatown” (1974),

Yes, Nicholson’s performances can be stylish and showy, but he can also dig deep and deliver frank, unflattering and startlingly real work.

His performance in “The Crossing Guard” is up there with his very best.

Penn’s finest work as a director remains his terrific adaptation of “Into the Wild” (2007). As is, Penn’s efforts here, to make the kind of character driven, commercially tone deaf, ’70s era drama that Nicholson might have made in his “Five Easy Pieces” (1971) days (there’s even a scene here with a waitress and a ring that mimics his chicken salad scene from that movie) are strong enough to recommend but hit and miss.

The acting, overall and individual moments in “The Crossing Guard” give it a power that lingers afterwards. Yet, as much as this little-seen Nicholson vehicle needs to be rediscovered, it’s “The Pledge” where Penn and Nicholson go full dark and emerge triumphant.

The post How Penn’s ‘Crossing Guard’ Brought Out Best in Nicholson appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

The “Fast & Furious” franchise is all about family … and driving cars through massive holes in logic and physics.

“The Fantastic Four: First Steps” takes the baton from that flailing franchise and delivers the first must-see MCU movie in ages.

And, by ages, we mean 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”

It’s a smart, sophisticated and fizzy blend of comic book seriousness and relatable drama.

We’ve already seen the Marvel clan’s origin story, so director Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) adds it to the film’s opening montage. It’s a crash course in all things Fantastic Four, from its pop culture footprint to the key players.

The 1960s setting is glorious. Retro fashions. Old-school TV technology. A score that feels rooted in the past but never stodgy.

Right away, Shakman establishes the film’s tone, comic sensibility and aura. This isn’t another MCU flop sweat affair, desperate to ape past successes with post-production tweaks.

We also watch Reed Richards and Sue Storm (Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby) learn they’re about to become parents after two long years of trying. He’s super smart but awkward, and she’s optimistic and open.

They’re a perfectly imperfect couple with killer chemistry. 

And they’ll have to band together when a new threat emerges. A silvery surfer named Shalla Bal (Julia Garner) warns the Earth that the mighty Galactus (Ralph Ineson) has targeted their world for destruction.

Who’s Galactus? He’s a classic Marvel Comics villain who snacks on planets for lunch. Our heroes must find a way to defend their home, prepare for the birth of a remarkable new baby, and, of course, make us forget about those other Fantastic Four films.

Done and done. Phew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Let’s start with the quartet in question. Yes, Pascal is overexposed, but he’s also excellent every time he pops up on screen. His Reed Richards isn’t a natural leader, but he’s so smart and inspired that you can’t help but line up behind him.

Kirby’s Invisible Woman isn’t the Girlboss we feared. She’s a Mama Bear who will do anything to protect her child. It’s the most fiercely maternal role since Ripley stood between young Newt and an Alien army.

Sue’s protective nature comes alive in the third act, a fiercely pro-family theme that never feels forced. Earlier in the film, she flexes her invisible powers to let Reed see their developing baby in her womb.

That simple, brief sequence offers a powerful pro-life visual. It’s undeniable. 

Ebon Moss-Bachrach gets seconds of screen time in his human form as a pre-transformation Ben Grimm. The rest finds him providing The Thing’s vocals.

His voice is oddly gentle, a complement to the character’s immense size and strength. The sound design team makes Ben Grimm’s every move matter. We can hear rock-on-rock friction, giving the character a sense of gravity and heft.

It’s the kind of small detail that makes “First Steps” matter. And there are dozens here under Shakman’s watchful eye. Think H.E.R.B.I.E., the team’s helpful robot, or the foursome’s appearance on an Ed Sullivan-style show.

Disney knew it had everything riding on this film succeeding, and it shows.

Joseph Quinn gets the most playful assignment as the brash Johnny Storm/Human Torch. He resembles a young Robert Downey, Jr. at times, both in his face and boundless energy.

“The Fantastic Four” could use more action, and some of the major plot beats have a comic book level of explanation. That’s not a compliment.

Even worse? The brief appearance by the Mole Man (Paul Walter Hauser). His screen time fits the evolving story and proves borderline embarrassing. The “Richard Jewell” standout deserves better.

While too many modern films can’t stick the landing, “The Fantastic Four” offers a rousing finale. It helps that the special effects are just that, from Galactus’ stunning size to The Thing’s craggy exterior.

Heck, Galactus is the best MCU villain since Thanos. Ineson makes him menacing in ways few previous villains achieve. His glower alone packs a sense of menace that marries Ineson’s expressions with FX trickery.

A post-credit sequence leaves audiences eager to see what happens next in the MCU saga. When was the last time viewers felt anything close to that?

HiT or Miss: “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” finally gets a key Marvel Comics property right.

The post ‘Fantastic Four’ – Pro-Family, Pro-Life and Pro-MCU appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon has some company.

“Monster Island” features a sea creature who bears a striking resemblance to that beast from ’50s era cinema. It’s mean, green and scaly, and you don’t want to meet it on a beach retreat.

Two WWII soldiers get up close and personal wth the beast in this intermittently engaging romp. The problem? The film isn’t sure what it wants to be from one scene to the next.

A text crawl explains how Japanese soldiers commandeered Allied prisoners in a less than humane fashion during the Second World War. One such prisoner, A Brit named Bronson (Callum Woodhouse), finds himself next to a Japanese soldier named Seito (Dean Fujioka).

Both have run afoul of the Empire, but before they can face their punishment their ship is attacked by Allied forces.

The soldiers jump overboard and wash up on a nearby island. They’re lucky to be alive, but they quickly realize they’re not alone. A creature appears on the horizon, and the duo must join forces to fend off its attacks.

Simple. Direct. Effective?

At times, yes. The film lets the leads bond as a survival tactic, each learning to trust the other in small measures. Different worlds. Different cultures.

What they have in common is clear. They both want off this island, and fast. And neither wants to end up as the creature’s next meal.

The monster attacks eventually take center stage, and it’s clear the FX team had a tight budget. Think vintage Madonna squeezed into a corset tight. Later, we get an extended glimpse of the creature and realize that ‘50s suit remains superior.

A general rule in monster movies applies here. The less we see of the beast, the better. It’s something Steven Spielberg accidentally learned when Bruce the Shark wouldn’t cooperate on 1975’s “Jaws.”

That lesson didn’t reach “Monster Island” director Mike Wiluan (“Buffalo Boys”).

Inspired by Creature from the Black Lagoon, the World War II monster movie Orang Ikan has been titled MONSTER ISLAND for its US release. It’s premiering as a @Shudder Exclusive on July 25, 2025. pic.twitter.com/9tY67cq9VA

— Bloody Disgusting (@BDisgusting) June 18, 2025

“Monster Island” wears its genre trappings like a badge of honor … until it doesn’t. The film tries to be profound, especially during a mawkish epilogue, but its strength lies in leaning into B-movie realities.

Read the title, folks. This isn’t complicated.

The leads work well together, pushing past their anxieties about the “other” and their fading loyalties. It’s a shame they couldn’t spend more time on that part of the narrative. A slow burn would have made the eventual creature attacks pop.

The “B” expletive is used twice in the third act, and it strips away some of the gravitas marshalled along the way. Even B-movies have tried and true rules, don’t you know?

“Monster Island” offers a fresh scenario, a retro monster and the good sense to deliver action when it needs it most. The film’s split personality does it few favors, but it can’t drain the fun from this “Island.”

HiT or Miss: “Monster Island” boasts a B-movie name and thrills, but it sometimes aspires to something more profound. Bad choice.

The post ‘Monster Island’ – The Creature from the WWII Lagoon appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Brandon Routh’s character is far from super in the horror-comedy “Ick.”

He plays a nebbishy science teacher standing between his hometown and a gooey menace with a singular name.

“Ick.”

Director Joseph Kahn’s film savors ’50s horror tropes while taking a long, hard look at today’s Gen Z mindset. The cultural Left takes it on the chin early and often. So does the Right.

In between, “Ick” provides a fun if exhausting romp led by the erstwhile Man of Steel. Don’t be surprised if it becomes a cult favorite.

In fact, bank on it.

Routh stars as Hank Wallace, a high school heartthrob whose glory days end after a brutal football injury. He loses his gridiron dreams and girlfriend (Mena Suvari) in brutal order. Some modest CGI de-aging fleshes out his sob story.

The movie zooms to the present, showing Hank as a depressed science teacher with a limp from his old injury.

All the while, a mysterious shrub-like growth invades the neighborhood. The curious weed, dubbed the Ick, becomes part of the small town landscape. It’s odd, but harmless, and locals give it little thought.

Until one day the Ick gets hungry.

Now, Hank and a handful of students – including one who might be his biological daughter (a spunky Malina Weissman) – scramble to save their town.

That’s Genre Storytelling 101, down to an homage to “The Blob” (1958). Director/co-writer Kahn brings a twitchy vibe to every part of “Ick.” Visually, it’s a stunner, with dazzling set pieces that outkick the film’s budget coverage.

Think director Edgar Wright’s style, but with more heart and narrative fidelity. The script is relentlessly hip and wise, boosted by a retro soundtrack of early 2000 tunes.

Yes, there will be Hoobastank.

The pulpy horror comedy, ICK, from acclaimed director Joseph Kahn is coming to theatres nationwide July 27, 28, & 29! pic.twitter.com/WfGQBzNuMX

— Fathom Entertainment (@FathomEnt) July 10, 2025

Routh has worked steadily since his 2006 “Superman Returns” closeup, but he never became an A-lister. He’s older and more vulnerable here, qualities the film embraces while alluding to his super audition. Routh instinctively “gets” the film’s fizzy tone, which makes even the few quiet scenes pop.

Very few, to be specific.

“Ick” is like listening to a podcast on 1.5x speed. The visual rat-a-tat is delirious, while the banter brings modern America to life. It ain’t always pretty.

The screenplay pokes fun at false flags, conspiracy mongers and more. Meanwhile, some teens speak as if Lena Dunham demanded they sound as woke as possible. Those characters don’t realize they’re the butt of the joke.

We do. How refreshing.

Kahn’s sense of cultural balance is impressive. Take the Alpha Male gym teacher who overdoses on Alex Jones-style messaging. That “South Park” blueprint – hit both sides – wins the day. Again.

Best of all? The locals aren’t exactly running scared from the Ick, even when it’s hungry. They’re more concerned that they might cancel Prom. Priorities, priorities.

RELATED: ‘ANOTHER EVIL’ DIRECTOR SHARES HORROR-COMEDY SECRET 

The beauty of “Ick” is how easily viewers can process the titular threat. The dangers of social media run wild? Check. Ignore Climate Change at your peril?

Check-check.

It’s breezy and open-ended, letting viewers make the final call.

“Ick” can be overwhelming and self-aware, but those feelings never last long. There’s also a perfectly executed quip or clever kill to win us over.

It’s smart, spooky and relentlessly fresh even if some plot beats make less sense than others. No matter. Kahn’s exuberant “Ick” demands repeat viewings.

Here’s betting it’ll generate just that.

HiT or Miss: “Ick” is exactly what the title promises, a gooey horror-comedy with humor, heart and a dizzying sense of real-world chaos.

The post ‘Ick’ Delivers Culture War TKO appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Curtis Hanson’s “Wonder Boys” (2000) is my college movie, the film I look to when I think back to not only the professors who inspired me as a student but also those I worked alongside as a young college lecturer.

The last time I saw “Wonder Boys,” it was three years ago, at a point when its characters were all very real figures in my life.

I was working on my master’s degree and had to write an extensive analysis on the film, comparing it to Michael Chabon’s source novel. At the time, I was also working as a film lecturer at a Colorado university.

I was knee deep in the world of academia, spending my days either in front of a classroom or typing madly and working on papers for my professors. The experience of being a student, while teaching my classes and spending time with teachers who were both my instructors and my colleagues, made for a multi-faceted perspective on campus life.

If there’s anything that “Wonder Boys,” both Chabon’s casually brilliant 1995 novel and Curtis Hanson’s terrific movie, understands is that college life has a hermetically sealed feel.

When you’re having rich conversations with academic giants on Faulkner, Proust and Eisenstein, witnessing great student films and feel inspired just being around people who ache to write, let alone read, The Next Great American Novel, the rest of the world feels bland in comparison.

The film’s protagonist, Grady Tripp, is someone whose spirit has been embodied in a handful of mentor/colleagues I’ve known. He’s the classic college professor, dressed in a rumpled jacket, who wears a scarf even when it’s unneeded and seemingly never speaks a word that isn’t carefully, cleverly chosen.

Michael Douglas plays him, and it’s a real beauty of a performance. Alongside his work in “Wall Street” (1987), “Falling Down” (1993), The Game” (1997), “Solitary Man” (2009) and “The War of the Roses” (1989), Douglas once again conveys his character’s painful flaws and tender vulnerability.

He allows us to see why Tripp, this wounded lion of a man, is brilliant, loved and respected.

Co-starring as James Leer, his deeply troubled but extraordinary student, whose messy life makes Tripp’s existence even more impossible, is Tobey Maguire. The soulfulness in Maguire’s work matches the pathos in Douglas’ characterization.

Together, they create a teacher/student equivalent of a platonic “Harold and Maude” (1971). As if that weren’t enough, there’s also excellent, juicy character turns by Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand, Rip Torn and Richard Thomas.

Katie Holmes plays Tripp’s other star student, a gifted writer who recognizes the brilliance and shortcomings in Tripp, her mentor and crush. Holmes has deservedly received acclaim for her work in “Pieces of April” (2003) and “The Gift” (2000) but this is her finest work as a character actress.

She and Maguire come across like bright-eyed students with bohemian hearts, not the Hollywood actors we know them as.

I can’t help comparing Hanson’s film to Chabon’s novel and will briefly mention that the film makes changes that don’t help it. A lengthy passage from the book, involving Jewish customs and Tripp’s horrible approach to relationships, is missed. So is the book’s ending, replaced here with an Everybody Wins fadeout that replaces Chabon’s perfectly sad-but-true conclusion.

“Wonder Boys” just misses perfection as a film but the end result is so rich in character, unpredictable and frequently hilarious, it stands as a nice companion to the novel.

It didn’t do well in theaters but deserves to accumulate a cult following. When the plot includes a bizarre shooting, a whirlwind of runaway book pages, a pot-smoking college professor and a jacket worn by Marilyn Monroe play into the story, a cult following is practically inevitable.

Aside from its stature as a rare example of a comedy both funny and uncommonly intelligent, I loved the film because it knows its characters and the world they inhabit, capturing campus life with astute observations.
This movie takes me back to the colorful teachers and students I’ve known, both intimately and barely.

There’s something vivid, and familiar about the passions, tortured secrets and flower power beauty of these characters.

I’ve known all sorts of college Wonder Boys, with their grandiose ideas, jazz-like ability with casual conversation and their contradictory blend of optimism and self-defeating doubt. It’s a joy to be a part of that world, something this movie gets completely.

The post ‘Wonder Boys’ at 25: The College Mindset, Defined appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

If “The Goonies” was written by Carl Sagan, it might have resembled “Explorers,” the 1985 fantasy that director Joe Dante chose as his follow-up to “Gremlins.”

Unlike that widely popular film, which was released in 1984 by Warner Bros., “Explorers” was an expensive flop poorly managed by Paramount Pictures. It’s worth noting that, to date, Dante has never made another movie at that studio again.

Ethan Hawke (in his film debut), Jason Presson and River Phoenix play grade-school kids who, in different ways, are outsiders and not well-liked at school. Their home lives are equally complicated, with parents who are either affectionate, odd or irresponsible.

When their shared, recurring dreams of an alien circuit board (which resembles the Flux Capacitor from “Back to the Future”) become increasingly vivid, they decide to build the thing. What begins as the discovery of a new, powerful, spherical force field leads to the inspiration to build a spaceship.

The early scenes evoke a sense of awe and Spielbergian feel of urban restlessness. This is about growing up in the suburbs, longing for adventure and an acknowledgement of the possibilities that are outside of your neighborhood.

As the poster tagline put it so perfectly, “An Adventure That Begins in Your Own Backyard!”

While “Explorers” has a distinctly ’80s look and feel (coming mid-decade, of course it does), it achieves what Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” TV series or the ’80s version of “The Twilight Zone” did in their best episodes: present its story in a nostalgia-fueled glow and twist the extraordinary out of the ordinary.

“Explorers” may be silly, but it’s filled with wonder.

The three leads give winning, natural turns, with Phoenix particularly amusing as a kid even nerdier than Matthew Broderick in “War Games” (1983). I liked these characters because, rather than come across as obnoxious, they’re intelligent and resourceful.

Dante is clearly having fun here, as the kid’s school is named Charles M. Jones Junior High, Hawke declares his affection for “This Island Earth” (1955) and “Forbidden Planet” (1956) and there’s a scene at a drive-in with a movie called “Star Killer.”

The actor in the movie-within-a-movie is Robert Picardo, who appears with Dick Miller, another Dante favorite.

Mike Ploog concept art of the alien, Wak, from Joe Dante’s EXPLORERS. Wak was created by Rob Bottin and played by Robert Picardo. EXPLORERS was released on this date in 1985. pic.twitter.com/Kggepp7XbQ

— Body Snatchers (@BodySnatchers79) July 13, 2024

There’s also a hilarious talking mouse, made possible by a voice box that translates its thoughts. We’re introduced to it being harassed by a cat, yelling, “Help!” The cat is shooed away and the mouse replies, “Thank You… I want cheese!”

The special effects are from Industrial Light and Magic and they’re truly beautiful. So is Jerry Goldsmith’s score. The flying and surreal dream sequences are stunning, particularly a final shot of a sky full of young dreamers, soaring through the night sky.

The first act seems like this could be Dante’s masterpiece. Then, around the time a mechanical spider appears, things begin to feel off and become overly jokey. Once the boys travel through space and encounter the beings who sent them the blueprints for their spaceship, it plays like a much different, subpar children’s film has hijacked a great movie.

There is visual beauty in this long sequence, in which TV monitors surround the characters and depict TV as a means of alien communication and fuel for our dreams. However, the cornball execution of the quipster alien characters is cringe-worthy, as is a musical number and a stand-up routine that drags on too long.

There is even a suggestion of TV providing aliens with proof of man’s cruelty, an oddly similar idea that was better handled in the director’s cut of “The Abyss” (1989).

Few moments in cinema have captured the magic of true wonder like Dick Miller watching Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix fly off into space in EXPLORERS.

I wish Joe Dante could’ve finished the movie the way he wanted. It might’ve been his masterpiece.

Happy 40th to a classic. pic.twitter.com/jsNebjjyna

— Joe Russo (@joerussotweets) July 13, 2025

The film mostly course-corrects when it touches back down to earth. It also offers an interpretation that matches the film’s famously being released unfinished and heavily edited. At one point, Hawke asks, “It feels like a dream, doesn’t it?”

It very well could be, as the narrative, as a whole, makes a great deal of sense if interpreted as the dream of an older man looking back on his childhood. Specifically, the story could be the dream of Miller’s character, who tellingly says, “I haven’t had dreams like this since I was a kid.”

The botched alien sequence (which, in addition to being corny, is too elaborate for a movie with an intimate, small-town scope) and the jumbled editing in the third act keep this from soaring as high as it could have.

Yet, the film is still, in its best passages, thrilling and evokes a rich sense of childhood discovery.

I haven’t been a kid in a long time and don’t know if there are still kids who look at the night sky with their telescope, watch monster movies, lay on their roof and gaze at the milky way in awe. This movie was made for kids like that, kids like Hawke’s character, and big kids like me.

The post ‘Explorers’ at 40: How Joe Dante Captured Childhood Awe, Wonder appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for a film celebrating the “good guy with a gun” narrative.

Just as unlikely? A gun-toting rabbi taking the phrase “never again” into his own hands. Unlikely, but not impossible, as it turns out.

The indie thriller “Guns & Moses” follows a fed-up Rabbi who arms himself following a friend’s assassination. It’s a ripped-from-the-headlines yarn created before the events of Oct. 7. Its timeliness couldn’t work any better on its behalf.

Sadly.

“Guns & Moses” doubles as a close-up of Jewish traditions, but the film’s unconventional hero sets this thriller apart. Step aside, Dirty Harry, Rabbi Mo is in town and he’s packing … brownies.

Rabbi Moses “Mo” Zaltzman (Mark Feuerstein, excellent) welcomes an old friend’s contribution to his synagogue. Rabbi Mo has been working out of a storefront for too long, and a donation from benefactor Alan Rosner (Dermot Mulroney) will allow his flock to expand at long last.

An assassin kills Alan during a ceremony honoring that gift. All signs point to Clay Gibbons (Jackson A. Dunn), a White Nationalist who previously tangled with Rabbi Mo.

Open and shut case, right? The Rabbi isn’t convinced of the teen’s guilt, so he starts investigating leads that local law enforcement deemed worthless. And the more he investigates, the more he realizes he needs protection to keep his family safe.

We know what that means.

ScreenRant presents an exclusive BTS clip from Guns & Moses.

The crime thriller starring Dermot Mulroney, Christopher Lloyd, Neal McDonough, and Mark Feuerstein arrives in theaters on July 18. #gunsandmoses pic.twitter.com/smHHFeDvgJ

— Screen Rant (@screenrant) July 15, 2025

Bodies start to pile up, and the whodunnit elements come into sharp relief. Greed, green energy and ambitions collide, and more lives could be at risk.

Can Rabbi Mo solve the murder, or will he be next on the killer’s “to-do” list?

“Guns & Moses” opens with a western-style score, and that’s no accident. Swap the settings, and this tale would fit nicely within the genre. Except director/co-writer Salvador Litvak understands the stakes in play. Jews have been under attack for some time, and their vulnerability makes them a target.

The film benefits from familiar faces lending gravitas to the yarn. Christopher Lloyd plays a Holocaust survivor who memorably recalls his history for a wayward teen. Neal McDonough, suddenly as busy as Pedro Pascal, co-stars as a mayor stunned by Alan’s murder.

Jake Busey isn’t granted much screen time, but he leaves an impression as Clay’s stricken Pa.

“Guns & Moses” spends quality time upending stereotypes, all the while focusing on Jewish culture in ways most movies ignore. That alone gives the film a sense of creative urgency.

Feuerstein’s reluctant hero pushes redemption as well as lead slinging. He’s a very different kind of hero, and the veteran actor never embraces his vigilante potential.

He’s afraid but resolute, unwilling to become yet another statistic.

The film wraps in a way that makes sense on paper, but it still breaks the film’s humble tone. That unfolds in line with the subject matter, but the transition still feels jarring.

The message throughout remains clear. The villains in “Guns & Moses” messed with the wrong Rabbi.

HiT or Miss: “Guns & Moses” suffers from a tonal shift in the third act, but it’s a cautionary tale told with heart and confidence.

The post ‘Guns & Moses’ – The Movie Hollywood Would Never Make appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

“Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” (1985), Tim Burton’s debut feature film, is a perfect synchronization of star and filmmaker.

Burton, the wunderkind ex-Disney animator and director of striking, personal short films, and Paul Reubens, the pleasingly strange comic who became big playing Pee-Wee Herman on “Late Night with David Letterman” and the adored 1981 “The Pee-Wee Herman Show” HBO special, were an ideal match.

Together, they created a vehicle that brought out the best in both of them.

The story plays like a kindergartener’s recitation of “The Bicycle Thief” plot, with Pee-Wee’s search for his stolen bike leading him on a cross-country search. We know from the start who took his bike: the devilish Francis, a privileged, snot-nosed brat, played to the hilt by Mark Holton.

The point isn’t who did it, but where the bike ends up and how Herman can get it back.

“Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” is strange and juvenile, truly one of the silliest comedies of its decade. It’s also one of the funniest films ever made and easily among the most stylish Burton ever crafted.

I realize how goofy it is to be rehashing this story, but really, Pee-Wee’s odyssey is oddly compelling. The episodic plot takes him to the Alamo, a biker bar, the famous Wheel Inn restaurant (where the giant dinosaur still stands), on a train trip and to a Hollywood studio.

RELATED: WILL HARRISON FORD’S ‘INDY’ GO THE FULL PEE-WEE?

There’s a magic to the world of “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,” a sort of Movie Land fairy tale setting where anything is possible. Seeing the film when I was a child, I was delighted from start to finish, though my un-cynical view of the world was in synch with the film’s.

Today, recalling when the film was made, it’s even more special, knowing that an innocent fable about a man-child in search of his bike came out during the Me Decade.

My first real introduction to his most iconic character was seeing a matinee of “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure,” with my family in an old-fashioned, two-story movie theater in Clifton, New Jersey.

Like most children who saw the film in 1985, the famous “Large Marge” sequence is what I remember the most about my initial viewing, as the sequence startled me in a way few horror films have since. The trauma of the Chiodo Brothers’ vividly ghoulish (and hilarious) animation aside, I loved “Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.”

I loved it for how hard it made me laugh, for how cool Pee-Wee’s mechanized home is, how wonderful Pee-Wee’s dance to The Champs’ “Tequila” is and how the story is also about a girl named Dottie, who is infatuated with a weird guy who always wears a suit and bow tie.

Most know the film for either its value as an offbeat American comedy or its stature as Burton’s unlikely and brilliant debut film. Coming out the same season as the enjoyable and ultra-commercial “The Goonies,” the Chevy and Danny nuke farce “Spies Like Us,” the 1950’s nostalgia-fueled “Back to the Future” and the boobs and beer sequel, “Porky’s Revenge,” Burton’s movie was totally out-of-step with every other mainstream comedy.

Looking at it today, I’m struck by how obviously low budget it is (a quality that somehow makes it more dream-like) and the ways it feels like an art movie.

Scenes of Pee-Wee frolicking around his house, utterly embracing how juvenile his existence is (do I even need to mention Reubens was 33 when he made this?) aren’t uncommon in many Adam Sandler films. In ’85, it was as refreshingly weird, so-unhip-it-was-cool and as subversively odd as David Letterman’s show was in the early going.

Pee-Wee’s home, with its Rube Goldberg-esque traps, tacky lawn furniture, pop culture relics and quasi-50’s decor, is part Fellini, part Liberace lawn sale.

The establishing scenes, a dream sequence (which is even funnier today than it was in the eighties) and the character-establishing bits are shamelessly silly and undeniably sweet.

Much like the movie itself.

Each sequence plays like a mini-classic. The screenplay, penned by Reubens, Michael Varhol and the late, great Phil Hartman, is relentlessly silly but never stupid, mean-spirited or raunchy. The onslaught of jokes is surprisingly smart, with the best gags the most surreal ones (like how everyone in Texas knows the lyrics to a certain song).

Every single character Pee-Wee encounters feels like an escapee from a B-movie, a quality the film fully embraces as the climax blurs the line between parodying a Hollywood movie and fully embracing the clichés it teases. It all works, even the bit where Pee-Wee interrupts the filming of a Twisted Sister video.

Burton makes his inaugural film a tour de force of style and tone. Burton, art director David L. Snyder and composer Danny Elfman create a film for children, about children, told by adults who are kids at heart.

The moments of “edge” (particularly the terrific, kaleidoscopically stylish dream sequences) are perfect, which balance out the cotton-candy softness at the film’s center. The closing image, of a boy and the girl he loves, riding off on their bicycles, as their shadows are projected on a drive-in screen, couldn’t be more perfect.

This movie is irresistible.

The post ‘Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure’ at 40: This Man-Child Never Grows Old appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

“DC League of Super-Pets” has become the underrated and not automatically remembered entry in the “Superman” film franchise.

That’s funny, since it’s only three years old and is firmly a part of the DC film universe.  In fact, the film is oddly aligned to another, subsequent DC Comics-based flop (more on that later).

Not only is the film such a spry, funny sleeper, far outshining its initial appearance as kiddie fodder, it actually gave me a lot of something I didn’t get enough of in James Gunn’s new “Superman”: Krypto the Dog!

A terrific prolog retells the destruction of Krypton, only from the perspective of baby Kal-El’s pet puppy, Krypto the dog. As the planet Krypton is falling apart and Kal-El’s parents place the boy in an escape pod, the boy pleads for his dog, who Jor-El sends with him as they hurtle through the cosmos while Krypton explodes.

The animation here and onward is spectacular, but it’s the character details that hit: Krypto the puppy comforts the alone and crying Kal-El as their ship makes its way to Earth. I was about to lose it and cry buckets, until we get a flash cut, showing how things are for the pair in contemporary times.

In modern-day Metropolis, the grown-up Kal-El is now Superman (John Krasinski), and his unfailingly loyal Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) is fully grown and diligently mimics his companion. Their morning walk, in full superhero attire, includes a run through the park, a flight through the clouds and saving Metropolis from Braniac.

Set to Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend,” the tone is clear – it’s cheerful and funny but not kidding around in the way it’s telling a Man of Steel story.

We hear Krypto’s dialog, as do the other animals he encounters, while Superman and all the other humans only hear barking. While Superman adores Krypto, he recognizes that the dog is clearly obsessed with him.

A sight gag I loved is how, while Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde) is having a stolen moment with Superman on a park bench, gazing into his eyes, she looks out and notes that Krypto is sitting yards away, staring at them.

Krypto sheepishly smiles and waves at them.

In addition to having all the same powers and abilities as Superman, Krypto is also as earnest and corny the Man of Steel. One example? He dishes out lots of puns (“Pup, pup and away!”). When Krypto meets another dog named Ace (Kevin Hart) and a slew of rescue pups with real problems, Krypto has no idea how to mingle with them.

Another problem is that Lex Luthor’s guinea pig, Lulu (Kate McKinnon) is, like Krypto, trying to impress her master. The critter has a wild plot for world domination.

Pup, pup, and away!

DC League of Super-Pets is now streaming on @hbo via HBO Max. pic.twitter.com/fjKAVGeaHN

— Actually HBO Max (@StreamOnMax) September 26, 2022

The style of animation sometimes changes to convey flashbacks, like a funny montage where Krypto imagines how Superman favors Lois Lane more than him. There’s also a touching sequence, akin to the “When She Loved Me” sequence from “Toy Story 2” (1999), where we learn why Ace was separated from his home and the child he cared for.

The intro to Ace and his contrast to Krypto sets the plot in motion, but it’s less cynical and crude than expected. Unlike most animated kiddie comedies, the emphasis isn’t on lowbrow humor, aside from the reveal that Krypto’s droppings have the scent of sandalwood.

A nice touch is that, for all the verbal silliness and adorable talking animals, this never feels like either “The Secret Lives of Pets” (2016) or its sequel. In fact, “DC League of Super-Pets” is a lot closer to the smart, exciting “Bolt” (2008), and would make an ideal double feature with this one.

McKinnon’s small but diabolical guinea pig reminded me a lot of Pinky, from one of my favorite Warner Bros. cartoons, “Pinky and the Brain” (1995-1998). Keanu Reeves is hilarious voicing Batman – every single one of his lines garners a big laugh.

While the movie sags a little during the second act and gets a genuine but never terminal case of the cutes, the third act connects and comes roaring to life.

Despite lots of intellectual property and Warner Bros. references, this never becomes an empty IP excuse like “Space Jam: A New Legacy” (2021).

“DC League of Super-Pets” is an ideal vehicle for Johnson as well as Hart, who are both much funnier here than they were in the live-action, underwhelming “Central Intelligence” (2016). The all-star cast is in good form, though it’s Krasinski’s sly turn as Superman, Johnson’s amusing commitment to Krypto’s insane devotion to Superman and especially Reeves’ wildly funny line readings that garner the biggest laughs.

Another highlight: David Keith’s vocal turn as Dog-El, Krypto’s father, who leaves him messages from the grave that are hysterically funny (my hands-down favorite: “Fireworks SUCK!”).

There’s also a great soundtrack, with an ideal Taylor Swift song over the end that is easily my favorite thing she’s produced. The grand finale is spectacular and earns the emotional beats it goes for. Yes, it’s a comedy about superheroes and the genre itself, but the emotional stakes are in place.

Here is a comedy about how insecure the pets of superheroes must feel, while the superheroes themselves carry their own issues. It’s more of a concept than an overall point, though the earnest message seems to be that, whether we’re talking about pets, humans, super-humans or all of the above, there’s someone for everyone.

The only thing that doesn’t work is the post-credit sequence that includes vocal work from Johnson as both Krypto and Black Adam, which was scheduled to open after this movie. The set-up for the dud that is “Black Adam” is a reminder that this leg of the DC Cinematic Universe is now in James Gunn’s hands, with the likes of “Black Adam” (2020) and “Blue Beetle” (2023) a thing of the past.

“DC League of Super-Pets” did okay at the box office ($93 million U.S.) and can be found on streaming channels (most notably HBO Max). I rarely hear it discussed alongside the best movies about Superman. Well, surprise – it may be sweet and geared for kids, but this winning comedy will delight the fanboys and their parents.

Instead of seeing how little screen time Krypto gets in Gunn’s very-PG-13, highly profane and brutal new “Superman,” I recommend going backwards and showing kids the time Krypto was always at Superman’s side and sounded like The Rock.

The post How ‘DC League of Super-Pets’ Laps Gunn’s ‘Superman’ appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

If you like “The Daily Show,” “Saturday Night Live” or even “Airplane!” you can thank Alfred E. Neuman.

“When We Went MAD!” says they reflect the magazine’s precocious mascot. The documentary has a point, one shared with wry anecdotes and historical callbacks. This mash note to the “usual gang of idiots” will delight fans and leave others wondering what they missed.

Plenty, as it turns out.

The magazine’s culture war battles raged without enough fanfare, and its pages inspired some of the biggest comedy names today.

It’s shocking we haven’t seen a similar film on MAD’s impact until now. 

MAD’s humble roots belie its cultural run. The magazine began in 1952 as yet another comic creation, albeit one mocking horror titles. It grew beyond those targets, thanks to the tenacity of co-founders Harvey Kurtzman and William Gaines.

MAD became a glossy magazine, and when it embraced movie parodies its fan base exploded. Along the way, MAD challenged authority, mocked politicians and ribbed all the right people.

The creators may have been left-leaning via their choice of targets, but they hit both sides and didn’t shy from controversy. They even took pot shots at hippies, a no-no in select circles.

Today, the mag would be considered MAGA for those reasons alone. After all, Alfred E. Neuman would never lecture his readers.

The magazine’s rigorously PG-rated humor, inspired by the founders’ Jewish roots, didn’t come without a fight. MAD battled back against lawsuits, helping expand the creative field for fellow satirists.

A sequence detailing the FBI’s fury with MAD is fascinating and prescient. Back then, humor was the target. More recently, concerned parents found themselves in the FBI’s crosshairs.

A few details feel unnecessary, like the magazine’s penchant for group vacations and fanboy anecdotes from folks like Bryan Cranston. Others, like Judd Apatow, “Weird” Al Yankovic and Howie Mandel, suggest the magazine’s reach lives on today, even if MAD essentially shuttered in 2019.

Yes, the film genuflects to the subject, but it admits the magazine’s attempt to conquer the big screen failed. The 1980 comedy “Up the Academy,” presented by MAD, proved a critical and commercial dud.

Fanboy Quentin Tarantino notes MAD should have lent its gravitas to better comedies like that year’s “Airplane!”

He’s not wrong.

Oddly, we’re treated to less than zero reflection on “MADtv,” the “SNL”-style series that expanded on the sketch TV format. That was part of MAD’s “selling out” era, a time following Gaines’ 1992 death.

The film doubles as a love letter to the eccentric co-founder. Gaines proved both cheap and generous in equal measures. His quest to retain creative independence meant MAD wouldn’t sell out or compromise its giddy integrity. That he treated his “idiots” like family suggests why the institution clung to satirical power for so long.

Speaking of death, some talking head segments reveal the film’s long incubation period. Comic Gilbert Gottfried passed in 2022, and MAD legend Al Jaffee died a year later at 102.

“When We Went MAD!” shows how overwhelmingly white and male the magazine’s creative team was over the decades, but there’s no hand-wringing over the dearth of diversity. The finished product speaks for itself, and that should be the final word on the subject.

That, and Blecch, of course.

“When We Went MAD!” is available on most VOD platforms.

HiT or Miss: “When We Went MAD!” offers a fascinating look at a magazine that spoke “truth to power” before it was cool.

The post ‘When We Went MAD!’ Shows What’s Missing from Digital Era appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

James Gunn summons that iconic “Superman” score for his DC Comics do-over.

He needn’t have bothered.

There’s little Gunn brings to the DC Comics reboot that demands John Williams’ golden touch. Gunn’s “Superman” is frantic and eager to please, a lackluster story made smaller by forgettable banter.

It’s good to see the aw, shucks Man of Steel again, but Gunn can’t escape the shadow of Christopher Reeve’s 1978 classic.

To be blunt, Gunn and co. never come close.

A text scroll sets the story in motion. No origin story. No trips back to the planet Krypton.

Our hero (a well-cast David Corenswet) is lying on a snowy landscape, blood trickling from his mouth. He’s rescued by Krypto, a CGI-powered pup who drags Supe to his Fortress of Solitude to mend.

The film is only a few minutes old, and we’re in a very different DC Comics landscape. It’s frothier than anything in the SnyderVerse, with Gunn setting a lighter tone more appropriate for heroes in tights.

We’ll allow it. Heck, it’s overdue.

An early sequence where Superman’s alter ego has a flirty “interview” with Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan) also lands. The two have fine on-screen chemistry, but the frantic story leaves little room for them to grow.

Big mistake.

RELATED: THE CRAZY SUPERMAN-HOWARD STERN CONNECTION

Blame Lex Luthor. Nicholas Hoult looks too young for the role, but he does all he can to make this supervillain his own. Ol’ Lex has it out for Superman, and he targets him on two fronts.

Luthor’s team of meta-humans offers a physical challenge worthy of the Krypton native. A secondary plot has Luthor tied to a clash between a powerful Middle Eastern country and its impoverished neighbor.

Is this an Israel/Palestine riff from oh, so tolerant Hollywood? Likely no. It’s still a clumsy narrative filled with cartoonish figures and one-dimensional politics.

Call it a missed opportunity, and those stack up fast.

We haven’t gotten to the Justice Gang, a smug trio of meta-humans who occasionally rush to Superman’s side. The standout here is Mr. Terrific (Edi Gathegi), who slinks away with every scene in his superhero tights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Gunn’s penchant for subversive comic book takes is mostly missing here. His approach is earnest and sweet to a fault. It still lacks the Man of Steel’s essential depth. This isn’t your ordinary hero. He’s the strongest character around, an eternal Boy Scout who captures his homeland’s core values.

Truth, justice and … eh, you know a Hollywood movie won’t go near that tag line, right?

Corenswet has that Superman swagger, and he looks the part in every way that matters. He still feels small, a God-like character uncomfortable in his own skin. He’s the main attraction, at least on paper, but he never lives up to the billing.

Gunn’s film offers many inventive twists, from fascinating set pieces to wild secondary characters. It’s fun at first, a diversion that eventually fades. He’s swinging for the fences, but the whiffs pile up quickly.

Why should we care about this reboot again?

Jimmy Olsen (a bland Skyler Gisondo) has a cringe-worthy romance with a selfie-obsessed Ms. Teschmacher (Sara Sampolo) that doubles as a dopey plot device. How that storyline made it to the final cut of a movie meant to restart the DC Comics universe is beyond this critic.

Far better is the Clark/Lois romance. They’re having relationship issues, which is understable for all the obvious reasons. Yet Gunn has little interest in this meaty theme. He’d rather stuff in another generic action sequence.

Modern FX makes it easy to believe a man can fly, but “Superman” leans so heavily on ones and zeroes it takes the human touch out of the yarn.

RELATED: ‘BATMAN v SUPERMAN’-WHY SO SERIOUS?

Another potentially juicy theme left in the dust? Superman obsesses over not killing anyway with his heroics, going so far as to save a squirrel from certain doom.

That’s a bit much.

So is the film’s reliance on Krypto to repeatedly save the day and stitch plot threads together. It’s bad enough to use an obviously CGI dog. It’s a new level of disbelief to inject him so heavily into the saga.

Rough.

“Superman” is never dull, features stars dialed into their roles and reminds us why we loved Superman in the first place. Try revisiting Reeve’s pitch-perfect original before being let down by yet another bland remake.

P.S. The two post-credit #Superman scenes are as weak as anything we’ve been served up until now. Oh, and the brief introduction to Supergirl (Milly Alcock) is even more embarrassing than Jimmy Olsen’s love subplot. If that’s possible…

HiT or Miss: “Superman” gets the key casting decisions right, but the film itself doesn’t live up to the pop culture legend.

The post Gunn’s ‘Superman’ Grounds High-Flying Hero appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.

Breitbart News’ John Nolte likely coined the term “sucker punch” for Hollywood storytelling.

A conservative viewer will be deep into a film or TV show, and suddenly the creator attacks their values with a moment meant to insult half the country.

Or, as Nolte calls it, a “sucker punch.”

Consider a throwaway sequence in the 2012 film “The Three Stooges.” The villains are shown reading a conservative magazine in bed. It’s a sly visual nod to their evil nature and a slap against right-leaning audiences.

The 2021 thriller “The Boy Behind the Door” offers another example. The film’s villain drives away from the scene of the kidnapping, and his car’s bumper sticker reads, “Make America Great Again.” Oh, so the kidnapper is both a monster AND a Trump supporter. Got it.

Prime Video’s “Heads of State” has just such a moment.

Spoiler Ahead:

John Cena plays American president Will Derringer, who along with British Prime Minister Sam Clarke (Idris Elba) is attacked and presumed dead. That leaves Vice President Elizabeth Kirk (Carla Gugino) in charge.

One of Gugino’s first scenes finds her sharing a distinct political philosophy – she calls it, “America First.”

Stop right there. VP Kirk appears to be a humble U.S. servant, forced to lead in a time of tragedy. Once she utters that line, audiences immediately know far too much about her.

Does it even need to be typed out given the Right’s real-world embrace of that philosophy? It’s a micro-moment in a frothy action comedy, but it’s far from accidental. 

Why add it to the story if you want to keep President Kirk’s true nature a secret?

Conservatives, or just anyone who understands biology, will loathe another, more consequential part of the film.

Undercover agent Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas) plays a sizable role in the story. She’s both the Prime Minister’s ex-girlfriend and someone capable of keeping the titular heads of state safe.

Chopra Jonas doesn’t have a lengthy U.S. film resume, but she acquits herself nicely in a physically demanding role. She’s convincing as a bareknuckled brawler.

And yet her character outslugs a dozen or more men in the movie, a Mary Sue-esque flaw from 21st-century films.

She doesn’t have any superpowers, nor is she physically imposing like a Gina Carano-style actress. She still goes toe-to-toe with an army of thugs, always coming out on top.

“Heads of State” serves up a dizzying array of silly set pieces, but this Hollywood trend is just … exhausting and anti-science.

Otherwise, “Heads of State” is both deliriously dumb and entertaining. Director Ilya Naishuller (“Nobody”) struggles with his third-act storytelling once more. The film could lose a good 15 minutes, most of it on the back end, and be all the better for it.

The chemistry between Cena and Elba never flags, making this the perfect streaming original. Fun, forgettable and lighter than air.

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Remember the ’90s?

The Internet was so new we had to wade through a series of squawks before going online. Comedians told any joke they pleased, and no one feared cancellation for painting outside the lines.

Musicians toured without lecturing crowds on how they should vote or live their lives.

And trigger warnings weren’t even a thing. Still, the 1994 comedy “PCU” predicted the coming woke revolution. 

And here we are.

The 1998 action comedy “Rush Hour” just got a 21st-century warning, courtesy of USA Network. (Hat Tip: World of Reel)

We all love our buddy comedies … but this movie was created in a different time. FYI certain depictions, language and humor may seem outdated and at times offensive.

Audiences watched the movie for 27 years without any such “protection.” Now, a major cable network deems it necessary. Will it air a similar warning for “Rush Hour 2” and “Rush Hour 3?” What other movies are next?

Yeah, we miss the ’90s. Badly.

It’s why the triple bill at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre Friday got such a warm welcome from the crowd. The night featured the Spin Doctors, Gin Blossoms and Blues Traveler in a lineup dating back to the roaring ’90s.

The Spin Doctors broke out pop gems like “Two Princes” and “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” showing an appreciation for the crowd sticking with the rockers all these years later.

A similar sentiment came from Robin Wilson, the ageless lead singer for The Gin Blossoms. The band saved its biggest hit, “Hey, Jealousy,” for the end of its set. Other bangers like “Follow You Down” and “Found Out About You” kept the crowd on its feet up until then.

Both opening bands were in fine form. They didn’t noodle with their classic tracks, delivering them exactly as the crowd anticipated.

After all, those fans matter the most. And so did the date on the calendar – July 4, 2025. The show couldn’t forget the nation’s birthday, showcasing the fireworks exploding all around the venue.

Blues Traveler hit the stage to strains from “South Park’s” giddy anthem, “America (F*** Yeah)” from “Team America: World Police.” The stars and stripes could be seen on stage and lead singer John Popper played the National Anthem on his harmonica.

He, too, thanked the crowd for joining them on a pristine summer night, hinting at a medical hiccup that nearly derailed his appearance.

The show must go on, and with it killer covers of “Hot for Teacher” and “Mary Jane’s Last Chance” along with the band’s blistering smash “Runaround.”

For one night, the 1990s were back. No woke lectures or trigger warnings. Just old school rock, pop and blues played at a high level.

We don’t always need Doc Brown’s time machine for nights like this.

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