 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.
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 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.  Warner Bros. Pictures, 2025. When a movie based on the popular sandbox video game "Minecraft" was announced nearly a decade ago, fans cheered. Moments later, many of them thought, "Wait...what?"
Despite it's tremendous worldwide popularity - it is in fact the #1 best-selling video game of all time, outselling even games like Super Mario Bros. and Tetris - its open-world format doesn't necessarily come with a minable (pun intended) storyline suitable for a feature film. How would a Minecraft movie even work? What would it be about? Well, now we know. And the result is that "A Minecraft Movie" isn't all bad, in that it's a complete romp that both makes fun of and honors the blocky-universe it is based on. It's silly, ridiculous and ends up being a bit better than it has any business being. Albeit, it was a very low bar...video game movies have generally been awful, and expectations were minimal. Ironically, it's the hard-core Minecraft gamer, not the casual movie-goer, that may take issue with this movie the most. In aiming it at the masses, it obviously becomes a more accessible movie, but it simultaneously risks losing the adoration of those that made it popular in the first place. Review: 'Thank You Very Much' doc a celebration of Andy Kaufman's genius, or whatever it was3/26/2025  Drafthouse Films, 2025. A lot has been said about the one-of-a-kind comedian Andy Kaufman. But somehow, the new documentary about his life, "Thank You Very Much," seems to put a fresh spin on what we've come to know, while also examining the methods of his madness.
 Warner Bros. Animation/Ketchup Entertainment, 2025. While the beloved Looney Tunes characters are familiar and respectful, these aren't exactly your parents' Looney Tunes.
"The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie" is shockingly the first all-animated Looney Tunes movie ever released in movie theaters. It's also not being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures...that duty is being handled by the much smaller Ketchup Entertainment, which is why this film might feel a bit "under the radar" for most. And while this weird, zany sci-fi story is quite harmless, it also feels a bit uninspired. It's been nearly 100 years since the release of the very first Looney Tunes animated short...and this is what we've all waited for?  Sony Pictures Releasing, 2025. Everybody loves Pattington, the Peruvian talking bear that winds up living a proper British life in London with his adopted human family, the Browns. So much so, that he's appeared in nearly 30 books since 1958, when he first appeared in the classic novel "A Bear Called Pattington," by author Michael Bond.
This is the first Pattington film since Bond's death in 2018, and the third in the surprisingly great film series that has not only been a success at the box office, but also with critics ("Pattington 2" held the rare 100% RottenTomatoes rating with over 250 reviews, until some boob famously posted a rotten score, surely to grab personal headlines).  Marvel Studios/Disney, 2024. Two of the most popular Marvel characters on the planet see their worlds collide, in a wild, ridiculous mash-up appropriately titled, "Deadpool & Wolverine."
 Paramount Pictures, 2024. It's cute, innocent and means well, but "IF" - an acronym for "Imaginary Friends" - leaves a lot to the imagination.
 Netflix, 2024. Viewed through the right lens, Jerry Seinfeld's directorial debut, "Unfrosted" (now streaming on Netflix) is a harmless diversion. Much like its subject, the Pop Tart, if you're looking for nuance, exquisite flavor or any level of complexity, you are probably sniffing in the wrong toaster. But if you want something fast and edible, this may be the comedy for you.
 Universal Pictures, 2024. While Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt are undeniable super-stars and the sort of actors you'll always find yourself rooting for, "The Fall Guy" fails at becoming the romp-action-comedy it's aiming to be.
It's not all bad and as a comedy, it contains plenty of laughs, albeit there are more misses than hits. But as an on-the-nose love-letter to the long-ignored stunt community, it is less effective despite its efforts. It gives the under-appreciated stunt men and women their due, but hold this up to other stunt-heavy films that REALLY should be applauded - think "John Wick" or the "Mission: Impossible" movies - and it's no question that "The Fall Guy" falls way short. |
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