Review: 'Zootopia 2' a worthy follow-up and the best Disney animated film in recent years11/25/2025  Disney Animation, 2025. It's been nearly a decade since the release of the Academy Award-winning Disney animated film, "Zootopia," a movie that defied all expectations and went on to gross over one billion dollars worldwide. It was praised not only for being a fun family film with many memorable scenes and characters (who can forget Flash the sloth?), but for its depth, exploring themes of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination. (Read my review of the first "Zootopia" film here).
With "Zootopia 2," Disney has come a long way from its cash-grab, direct-to-video sequels from a few decades ago. This is a worthy, insightful, and still fully accessible follow-up that reunites all of our favorite characters from the first film while adding in some solid newcomers. It builds on the deeper themes of the original, exploring empathy, trust and how history is often written by the winners. Mix in an all-star voice cast and vibrant, colorful animation, and Disney has delivered one of its best animated features in years.
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 Universal Pictures, 2025. The sequel and final chapter to one of the best films of 2024, "Wicked For Good" sticks the landing in a truly wondrous way. Anyone who cannot get swept up in this magical, fast-paced adventure may be missing the brains and heart...or worse, the courage...to admit that this is one of the most impressive musical-to-film adaptations - across two movies - that has ever been put on screen.
In truth, most of the criticism aimed at "Wicked For Good" is really criticism of the source material. If you walked out of the stage production feeling Act II was the weaker half, you will likely leave this movie with the same thought. But most moviegoers don’t speak in those terms. Nobody is stepping into the lobby asking, "So what did you think of the Second Act?" They leave with a feeling, an instinctive reaction to whether the film moved them or not. And for the vast majority, "Wicked For Good" will deliver that feeling in full, giving fans everything they hope for while also offering newcomers who only know the first film and have never seen the musical a truly wonderful time.  20th Century Studios, 2025. Full disclosure: I don't have vast knowledge of the Predator Cinematic Universe, nor am I a dedicated fan of this series. What I can tell you is that the Predator franchise has now spanned six live-action stand-alone movies, an animated film (2025's "Predator: Killer of Killers") and two crossover films. They've collectively grossed over 550 million, and on the heels of "Predator: Killer of Killers" and Hulu's surprisingly great 2022 entry, "Prey," the series seems to be headed in a positive direction.
The new life breathed into the franchise can perhaps be credited to Dan Trachtenberg, the writer/director of "Prey" and "Predator: Killer of Killers," who now brings us "Predator: Badlands." Unfortunately, this latest effort feels like a blatant, soulless attempt to try to broaden the series' appeal.  Disney, 2025. When Disney released the original "Tron" back in 1982, it wasn't considered a financial success when all things were considered. It was groundbreaking for its special effects, even landing a pair of Oscar nominations for Best Costume and Best Sound, and over time has undeniably become a cult classic.
Disney was so committed to keeping the Tron IP alive, it released a 2010 sequel, "Tron: Legacy," which was a modest box office success, despite a lack of critical enthusiasm (it currently holds a 51% Rotten rating on RottenTomatoes.com). It even opened a Tron roller coaster at its theme parks, further proving that Disney has no intention of moving on from this seemingly promising franchise. "Tron: Ares" carries on the unfortunate Tron tradition of being visually dazzling without containing even a modicum of soul beneath the hood. With a loud, pulsating, high-octane score by Nine Inch Nails (apparently not just composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, but the whole band), it is a nonstop onslaught on the senses...a merciless, relentless attack that may have been worth the punishment, had it been attached to anything remotely resembling human emotion. NETFLIX Review: 'A House of Dynamite' a slow-burning thriller that ignites our deepest fears10/8/2025  Netflix, 2025. Director Kathryn Bigelow ("The Hurt Locker," "Detroit," "Zero Dark Thirty") is a true master of immersive, high-tension realism. The stakes have never been higher in her newest film, the harrowing "A House of Dynamite," a control room thriller that examines what it may look like if the United States was on the brink of an actual nuclear holocaust.
 Sony Pictures Releasing, 2025. Don't be lured onto this mundane and awful journey simply because of its stars.
The collective charm of two sensational actors, Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell, is not nearly enough to make this painful film worth the trouble. The script doesn't allow for any chemistry between them, and there's not a hint of emotional authenticity. Are the characters dead and in some sort of weird, flowery purgatory? Did we die and go to movie hell? Does any of this matter? Let me answer that last one for you: No. "A Big Bold Beautiful Journey" could have been generated with AI, given its lack of humanity and its hollow emptiness. It's one of the worst films I've seen this year, or any year, so consider yourself warned.  Paramount Pictures, 2025. When we're talking about "The Naked Gun" franchise, we're on sacred ground.
The original trilogy of films - themselves based on the short-lived ABC series "Police Squad!" - are without question among my favorite comedies of all time. The first movie, 1988's "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" is a perfect movie. No one will be able to ever convince me otherwise. 1991's "The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear" is held just as closely to my heart. 1994's "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult" is admittedly a step down, but still a beloved classic in my book. OJ Simpson - the NFL star who had appeared in the series as the bumbling, injury-prone Officer Nordberg, and whom you may remember from the Trial of the Century - derailed the rumored fourth installment: "Naked Gun 4 1/4: The Second Final Insult." Add that to the list of things not to forgive OJ for. It's now been over 30 years since we've heard from Police Squad, and i felt extreme trepidation when I heard that ZAZ - the comedy team and creators of the original trilogy (Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrahams - who passed away in 2024) - was not involved in this 2025 reboot. The reins have been passed to The Lonely Island's Akiva Schaffer, who attempts to not only relaunch this beloved movie franchise, but to reinvigorate the all-but-extinct theatrical comedy. Does he succeed? His take on "The Naked Gun" is at times laugh-out-loud funny, and feels reverent enough to the originals. It's a bit inconsistent and redundant, even at a tight 85-minute run-time. There really hasn't been anything quite like this at the movies in what feels like forever. But you can't call a movie "The Naked Gun" without inviting the inevitable comparisons to the previous films. And that's where Schaffer's film feels a bit slight.  Universal Pictures, 2025. "The Bad Guys" - based on the children's book series by Aaron Blabey - has quietly grown into one of the more beloved family franchises in recent years. The first film adaptation in 2022 grossed over 250 million dollars and proved to be a pleasant surprise for the studio. And while I wasn't a big fan (see my review of the first film at the link below), its success led to follow-up Holiday and Halloween specials on Netflix, so a theatrical sequel felt inevitable.
The good news? "The Bad Guys 2" isn't all bad. It's diverse cast of misfits have gone from mildly annoying to surprisingly fun to be around.  Marvel/Disney, 2025. Things have never been worse for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as so-called "superhero fatigue" has seemingly taken over the moviegoing audience. That is, until earlier this month when rival DC Studios rejuvenated the box office with James Gunn's take on "Superman," a movie that has gotten raves from critics and audiences alike, and has grossed (at the time of this writing) nearly half a billion dollars at the box office.
Maybe it wasn't "superhero fatigue," but Marvel burnout instead? With the odds stacked against them, Marvel relies on one of their oldest superhero groups to finally right the ship...and wouldn't you know, the Fantastic Four save the day.  Warner Bros. Pictures, 2025. Superman is not just an alien, he's from another time. And until James Gunn's "Superman," no other filmmaker has had the courage to lean into what has made him one of the most - if not the most - aspirational character in the history of American fiction.
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