Movies Merica

In 1941, we got the classic Lon Chaney Jr./Bela Lugosi “The Wolf Man.” Chaney looked more like an angry psychotic meth head with a Justin Timberlake haircut back then. Now in 2025, we get a much updated hairy, scary dude with “Wolf Man” directed by Leigh Whannell. This isn’t Whannell’s first classic monster movie re-make rodeo. He also directed the 2020 “The Invisible Man” which was a critical and...

In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of this classic from director David Fincher, it’s IMAX showing & its release on 4K, I’m doing a retro review of “Se7en.’ Brad Pitt plays Detective David Mills, who moves to a crime-ridden city with his wife, and is paired up with retiring detective William Somerset, played by Morgan Freeman. Thanks to a serial killer that appears to be preaching and forci...

This week’s movie had to be financed by multiple prepper supply companies because I wanted to go buy a bomb shelter and some remote land as the end credits rolled. That movie is “Homestead” which tells the story of a group of people that hole up in a self-sustaining remote survival compound known as The Homestead, after a nuclear detonation in L.A. It’s owned by Ian Ross, played by Neal McDonough...

J.R.R. Tolkien gave us the book “The Lord Of The Rings” 69 years ago and creators are still adapting that legendary work. Do they always respect his work and not mangle it to reflect their worldview? Definitely not. See “The Rings Of Power” TV series. This week we get a movie adaptation of a very brief side story to “The Lord Of The Rings” in anime form. That movie is “The Lord Of The Rings: The W...

Many people think that Lethal Weapon with Mel Gibson is a Christmas movie. This week I retro review a Mel Gibson movie, Fatman, that leaves no doubt that it’s a Christmas movie. I mean, Gibson plays Santa Claus so come on! Now this isn’t your fantastical, wondrous North Pole that you see in Rudolph, The Red Nose Reindeer or Elf. Gibson’s Santa lives on a very northerly remote farm location instead...

Has your Christmas season ever consisted of a squirrel terrorizing your family, a rusty eyesore flea-bitten RV parked out in front of your house, putting up so many Christmas lights you blackout the rest of the city, a SWAT team attacking your house during a kidnapping, etc., etc.? That’s just what’s in the stockings, not to mention what’s under the Christmas tree, in this week’s movie, National L...

It’s been 24 years since “Gladiator” took the world by storm and spawned a whole new era of swords and sandals movies. Will it’s sequel “Gladiator II”, our movie for this week, do the same? We shall see. This time the main character is Lucius, who we met as a young boy in the original “Gladiator.” He’s the son of Lucilla, and it’s revealed in the trailers, the son of Maximus, Russell Crowe’s chara...

In anticipation of the upcoming release of “Gladiator II”, I’m retro-reviewing the Best Picture Oscar-winning original “Gladiator” this episode. You will not have to ask if you’re entertained with this review because “Gladiator” is one of the most beloved movies of all time. It’s the movie that made even your Grandma aware of who Russell Crowe was. It launched a whole era of swords and sandals mov...

Hugh Grant is most well known for his comedic and gentler performances in “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “About A Boy.” That’s not what you’re getting from ol Hughie in this week’s movie I’m reviewing, “Heretic.” In this movie he comes off like he’d be right at home being roommates with Hannibal Lecter. He plays the mysterious Mr. Reed, who two Mormon women visiting his home to perhaps convert...

Remember a scant 12 years ago when, if you wanted to see election stupidity, you likely had to watch a comedy movie? A movie like the subject of this week’s review, “The Campaign”, where you see all kinds of crazy hi-jinks. Of course, most of the zany stuff you see in this movie seems quaint compared to what you see in our elections nowadays. This year’s presidential election is why I’m reviewing...

I don’t know if you know this but you’re lucky to be alive. Everyone in the universe was on death’s door on January 6, 2021. Even the Death Star quaked in fear when grandma’s stormed the Capitol rotunda and an armed insurrection, minus the arms, shocked the universe. Now the Babylon Bee, because love to cuddle with democracy is bringing us the documentary that Darth Trump and his evil Empire that...

If you’re one of those people that tell others that they should smile more, you likely stop doing that after watching the Smile movies. The latest installment is “Smile 2” which carries on the grin win that was 2022’s “Smile.” In this sequel, we pick right up after the events of the first movie which then introduces us to Skye Riley, a world famous pop star, who is the next in line for the smile c...

In this episode, I discuss a sequel that may or may not have really been needed. That sequel is “Joker: Folie a Deux” which means Joker: two people sharing a delusion. The original “Joker” from 2019 was a movie that most people weren’t looking forward to but ended up being a $1 billion dollar surprise at the box office. It wasn’t just a great movie based on a comic book character. It was a great m...

Are you sick of watching feel-good, heart-warming movies? I think I’ve got the cure with “The Substance.” Demi Moore plays an aging actress, not so unlike herself, named Elisabeth Sparkle who’s Oscar-winning movie career has plummeted. It’s plummeted so much, she’s the host of a Jane Fonda-type workout show. Now, because of her age, she’s even in danger of being fired from that. Also, she doesn’t...

You are not supposed to say the name “Beetlejuice” three times, otherwise he will appear. Someone must’ve said gone and said it because he’s back in theaters 36 years after we last saw him in 1988 in “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” Michael Keaton reprises yet another one of the characters that made him the star that he is along with Winona Ryder, as Lydia Deetz, and Catherine O’Hara, as Delia Deetz, fr...

When people make a list of iconic American presidents, the subject of this week’s movie is on most of them. Dennis Quaid plays our 40th American president, Ronald Reagan, in the long-coming movie “Reagan.” This movie doesn’t just tell the tale of the presidential years of Reagan. It spans his life from when he was a young boy up until his death. We see his humble beginnings in Iowa to him realizin...

In the original movie “The Crow” in 1994, there’s a prominent refrain of “It can’t rain all the time.” of course meaning sometimes it rains and sometimes there’s sun. Is this new retelling of “The Crow” in 2024 going to bring us rain or sun? Is it going to disappoint or will it entertain? You’ll have to watch this episode to find out. The new “The Crow” stars Bill Skarsgard (It, Barbarian, John Wi...

In 1979, director Ridley Scott got caught up in the “Star Wars” hype and knew he needed to direct a space movie. That movie ended up being “Alien.” Now 45 years later, the Alien franchise is still alive and kicking with the new movie, “Alien: Romulus.” In this latest installment, we start out on a space mining planet with our main character, Rain, played by Cailee Spaeny. She’s trying to find a wa...

Some people go to the mountains for vacation, for a little rest and relaxation, not for a sinister and terrifying experience, like the one you see in “Cuckoo.” This movie from German director, Tilman Singer, is about a teenager, Gretchen, who ends up moving with her Dad, her stepmom and much younger half-sister to a mountain resort in the German Alps. There, they are greeted by Herr Konig, who run...

It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Josh Hartnett star in a prominent movie, but after his prominent role in “Oppenheimer”, he’s back and starring in “Trap.” This is the latest movie from M. Night Shyamalan, the famous director of “The Sixth Sense”, “Unbreakable” and “Signs.” In “Trap”, Hartnett plays Cooper, a Dad who’s taking his daughter to a big concert for a mega-popular singer named Lady Raven...

The hero that loves to eat chimichangas while executing a perfect superhero landing is again knocking at your door! The merc with the mouth himself, Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool, is back and he’s bringing a “friend.” You thought he was dead at the end of “Logan” but the Disney Marvel money was just too sweet and so Hugh Jackman as Wolverine comes back to join our indestructible hero in “Deadpool and...

In 1996, a summer blockbuster movie blew into theaters and knocked everybody off their feet. That movie was “Twister” and starred Helen Hunt and the late, great Bill Paxton. Now 28 years later, we get a long awaited follow-up to that tornado-terrific, earth-moving box office hit, called “Twisters.” Now instead of Bill Paxton, the rapidly rising star Glen Powell tries to fill his boots. He plays Ty...

There have been some bizarre movie trilogies but the Ti West-directed “Pearl Trilogy” tries to take the bizarre trilogy crown. “Maxxxine” is the final movie in this bloody, murderous trilogy where all the movies feature two dynamic, driven, crazy ass women who will do anything for fame. One is Pearl and the other is Maxxxine. Mia Goth plays both parts in a provocatively intriguing way. We first sa...

Motorcycle clubs get some attention this week on Movies Merica with the new Jeff Nichols movie “The Bikeriders.” You may know Jeff Nichols from his previous movies “Mud” and “Midnight Special.” This movie stars Tom Hardy as Johnny, the founder of the Vandals bike riding club and Austin Butler as Benny, another member. Butler is like a younger “rebel without a cause” member to Hardy’s older, settle...

We go rough and tumble this week on Movies Merica with a retro review of the gritty cop drama End Of Watch. Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena star as LAPD cops, Brian and Mike,  who patrol one of the worst, if not the worst, crime-ridden parts of L.A. This film shows the seedy world they have to protect and serve the citizens of, all while not getting killed by any number of criminal scum. Gyllenha...