Movie Reviews

By Bob Garver   When I first heard that there was a movie called “The Pope’s Exorcist,” I thought maybe it was about a guy that performs an exorcism on The Pope. That could be a cool idea – the holiest man in the Catholic Church himself needing an exorcism. But no, it’s just about…

By Bob Garver   Last week, I wrote in my review of “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” that I wasn’t really familiar with the “Dungeons & Dragons” game, and that may have affected my enjoyment of the movie. There will be no such disclaimer for “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” My brother and I…

By Bob Garver               Let me begin by saying that I did not go into “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” familiar with the source material. I certainly knew “of” the famous tabletop game and that it takes place in a world of wizards and magic, but I only knew the broadest of strokes.…

By Bob Garver   There’s something about a fourth movie in a series that tends to be dangerous for a franchise’s legacy. “Batman and Robin” led to the Caped Crusader being taken off the big screen for eight years. “Terminator: Salvation” is better remembered for its miserable production than anything in the finished film. “Indiana…

By Bob Garver   Whether because of the pandemic, the constant comings-and-goings of the DC Extended Universe, or the first movie from 2019 simply not being that memorable, “Shazam!” seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I’m going to be pointing out a number of similarities between this character and Ant-Man from the rival…

By Bob Garver I’m willing to argue that “Scream” is the greatest slasher movie franchise of all time. Not only is the 1996 original a meta-horror classic, but prior to “Scream VI,” three of the five movies in the series were halfway decent. Can any other slasher property with at least five installments boast that…

By Bob Garver A lot of the reviews I’ve seen for “Cocaine Bear” contain some variation on the line, “This movie delivers exactly what it promises.” I’m going to say that’s not entirely true. To be sure, there is a bear high on cocaine in this movie. Nobody is going to say that this movie…

By Bob Garver   I suppose it’s appropriate that movies starring Ant-Man aka Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) have always been rather “small” in the scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yes, he showed up for Captain America in 2016’s “Civil War” and played a role in saving the universe in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” but those…

By Bob Garver   I had never seen a “Magic Mike” movie before “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.” The franchise’s first two installments both missed out on the domestic box office crown in their respective opening weekends in 2012 and 2015, thus not warranting reviews from me. Ironically, “Last Dance” made less money in its opening…

By Bob Garver This past weekend featured a weird toss-up between two new releases at the domestic box office. Horror thriller “Knock at the Cabin” made slightly more money, with an estimated $14.1 million to its opponent’s $12.5 million, but football comedy “80 for Brady” sold slightly more tickets, with an estimated 1.3 million (many…

By Bob Garver   It never found enough of an audience to warrant a review from me, but I really liked “Searching” back in 2018. I would have given it a grade of B, maybe an A- if I was willing to look past some outstanding questions. The taut mystery-thriller followed a father’s search for…

By Bob Garver “A Man Called Otto” has not been a well-marketed film. The strategy of the film’s advertising seems to be, “You know how Tom Hanks usually plays likeable/heroic characters to go along with his reputation for being a nice guy in real life? Come to this movie to get the opposite of that!…

By Bob Garver 2023 is certainly off to an impressive start, movie-wise. Usually the new year allows holiday releases to continue dominating for a week or two before unleashing anything heavy-duty. To be clear, “Avatar: The Way of Water” did still dominate the weekend with $45 million domestic against the $30 million debut of “M3GAN,”…

By Bob Garver We were first introduced to dashing animated feline Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) in “Shrek 2” all the way back in 2004. The character appeared in two more “Shrek” sequels before headlining his own self-titled movie in 2011. Now comes “The Last Wish,” a sequel that depends on audiences still caring about…

By Bob Garver Back in 2009, director James Cameron gave the world “Avatar.” The film about a human going undercover as a member of the Na’vi race on the planet of Pandora only to side with the Na’vi against his greedy fellow humans brought the movie blockbuster to new heights. It was the first movie…

By Bob Garver With “Avatar: The Way of Water” opening next weekend, no new wide release wanted to open this weekend and have only one week to make money before they got squashed. I’ve already reviewed first-place domestic box office finisher “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” as well as runners-up “Violent Night,” “Strange World,” and “The…

By Bob Garver   “Violent Night” doesn’t have it in itself to be the best naughty Christmas movie ever made, so it tries to compensate by being every naughty Christmas movie ever made. Drunken, bitter Santa (played here by David Harbour)? That’s been done before, let’s say most notably by 2003’s “Bad Santa.” Murderous thieves…

By Bob Garver Like the “World” of a certain movie, the holiday weekend at the domestic box office sure was “Strange.” It’s not so strange that “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” continued its dominance in first place. But it was strange the forgettable “Strange World” was able to take the second-place spot when there was clearly…

By Bob Garver In 2018, “Black Panther” became the biggest hit of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It even made more at the domestic box office than that year’s “Avengers: Infinity War.” Since then, King T’challa (Chadwick Boseman) of the African kingdom of Wakanda died at the hand of Thanos, came back in “Avengers: Endgame,” and…

By Bob Garver     NOTE: This film is available in both “Subbed” (Japanese spoken with English subtitles) and “Dubbed” (English spoken with no subtitles) versions. This review is based on the Subbed version.   This past weekend was a slow, awkward one at the domestic box office. With surefire hit “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”…

By Bob Garver Good for “Ticket to Paradise,” keeping its #2 spot at the domestic box office over Halloween weekend despite the challenge of so-called “scary” movies. It really speaks to how poorly the horror slate was handled this year when every Halloween-friendly release loses out to not only the second weekend of the undeniable…

By Bob Garver It makes perfect sense to cast Dwayne Johnson as a superhero. Actually, it might make too much sense. Like, it’s a little too on-the-nose. Here’s a guy that is tremendously built and athletically gifted, with a seemingly unlimited arsenal of charisma, money, and fame. Heck, the guy spent years convincing arenas full…