Tag: Jorma Taccone

‘Cold Storage,’ ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin,’ ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ and More (2026) | Bite-Sized Reviews

Top Row: Cold Storage (StudioCanal); The Wizard of the Kremlin (Gaumont); Over Your Dead Body (IFC / Amazon Prime Video).
Bottom Row: Mortal Kombat II (Warner Bros. Pictures); The Devil Wears Prada 2 (20th Century Studios); Propeller One-Way Night Coach (Apple TV).

In this edition of Bite-Sized Reviews, I want to share my thoughts on six films released this year. This time around, I want to talk about 1) an underseen zombie-adjacent film with a surprisingly strong cast, 2) a political drama about Putin’s rise to power, 3) a genre-blend from the director of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, 4) Mortal Kombat II, 5) the long-awaited sequel to a beloved fashion-focused film, and 6) John Travolta’s directorial debut. If you follow me on Letterboxd, do know that some of these bite-sized reviews have previously been posted on my Letterboxd profile (either partially or entirely). Should you wish to get a sneak peek at what films I see, I advise you to follow me on that social media platform.

Continue reading “‘Cold Storage,’ ‘The Wizard of the Kremlin,’ ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ and More (2026) | Bite-Sized Reviews” →

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) | REVIEW

Miles Morales as Spider-Man (voiced by Shameik Moore) in Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation’s SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE.

Directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson — Screenplay by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Dave Callaham.

With 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a vast team of storytellers caught lightning in a bottle, as they managed to make a film that not only captured what makes superhero and Spider-man films so electric and fun to watch, but they had also made an animated film with a groundbreaking animation style. At the same time, they managed to introduce the world to Miles Morales — a once lesser-known Spider-Man — in a way that made him an instant fan favorite. Into the Spider-Verse is one of the best animated films of the 2010s and arguably the century at the time of writing. Since then, a lot has happened. The idea of a multiverse film has become so mainstream that the Academy Awards has even given Best Picture to a multiverse-focused film. To add to that, we even got a live-action Spider-Man multiverse film with Spider-Man: No Way Home. It would be totally understandable to think that the idea of multiverse storytelling is played out and that no one is clamoring for more Spider-People. Thus, recapturing that same lightning in a bottle was not anywhere close to being simple. And yet, that is exactly what has happened with Across the Spider-Verse, the direct sequel to the 2018 animated hit. Across the Spider-Verse is not just more of the same.

Continue reading “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) | REVIEW” →

REVIEW: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

Theatrical Release Poster - Universal Pictures
Theatrical Release Poster – Universal Pictures

The following is a short updated review (2022) of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016).

Mockumentaries can be absolutely hilarious. I love the general idea behind that entire genre, in that it can lampoon the level of gravitas that documentaries can sometimes have. The excellent original Borat film managed to be both outright funny, but also revealing about the reaction real people have to their jokes and characters. So when I found out that the brilliant The Lonely Island guys were doing a mockumentary somewhat inspired by Justin Bieber’s musical documentary and concert film Never Say Never, I was as excited as I could possibly be. This felt like a great kind of documentary to have fun with. For some reason, when I first saw the film, it didn’t really click for me, and so my original review indicated that it was merely ‘okay.’ However, on subsequent viewings, it has improved significantly for me. I think it’s brilliant.

Continue reading “REVIEW: Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)” →