Movies Merica

If you weren’t alive to know, or old enough to comprehend, how massively popular Michael Jackson was in the 80s, just picture the biggest music star today and times it by five, at least. This week’s movie, “Michael”, tries to give you an idea about how big he was, but you really had to be there to know. This movie shines a bright light on the turbulent childhood the Jackson boys, particularly Michael, went t...

When you think of some small town in Minnesota, do you think of action, intrigue, explosive excitement? No? Me neither. I think of ice augers, hot dish and grumpy old men, not automatic weapons, rocket launchers and C4 explosives. This week’s movie, “Normal”, might just blow your mind about small town Minnesota. Bob Odenkirk stars as Sheriff Ulysses Richardson who is serving as the temporary sheriff in the small t...

There’s been more than a few movies surrounding a character down on their luck trying to punch, kick, jab, grapple, or all of the above, their way to success or back to success. Think “Rocky”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Warrior”, etc. In 2026 we get a new entry into that movie genre, “Beast”, that revolves around MMA fighting. Oscar winner Russell Crowe plays Sammy, a MMA trainer a...

The movie adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel, “Project Hail Mary” is a big box office hit. However, the first movie adaptation of a Andy Weir novel, that was a big box office hit, was “The Martian” starring Matt Damon in 2015. That’s what I’m retro reviewing this week. Damon plays astronaut/botanist Mark Watney, who’s part of a NASA mission on Mars. His team has to suddenly evacuate Mars...

In the movie “Project Hail Mary”, scientists learn that in a few years, planet Earth will become unlivable and they need a way to prevent that. Who do ya call? Ken from the “Barbie” movie or rather, Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace. Dr. Grace is a sheepish, introverted former molecular biologist turned middle school science teacher who is recruited into this program by the mysterious Stratt, played by Sandra...

World War II was the biggest battle in history, and still is to this day. More people died during that war, than in any other event in world history. Of course at the end of it, there was a winner and there was a loser. Obviously one of the losers were the Nazis, and this episode’s movie, “Nuremberg”, is about putting the Nazi high command on trial, notably Hermann Goring. Oscar winner Russell Crowe plays Goring, ...

Like they say, behind every good Frankenstein’s monster is a great Frankenstein’s monster’s girlfriend??? If you’re scratching the bolts that are on both sides of your neck in confusion, fear not. Perhaps this week’s movie “The Bride” exclamation point will educate you and raise awareness as to what’s going on. This movie could, quite possibly, save lives! One of the lifesavers is Chr...

That Ghostface killer just won’t go away because while he’s stacking bodies in these Scream movies, he’s also stacking large stacks of cash for the movie studio. Therefore, I now present you “Scream 7”, the latest in the blood-soaked, big bucks franchise, started way back in 1996. In these movies, we’re now in the era where the final girl from most of the early Scream movies, Neve Campbell as Syd...

This episode’s movie, “How To Make A Killing”, is about the have a lots, and I mean a lot, vs. the have nots, primarily a have not named Beckett Redfellow played by Glen Powell. He is the son of the heiress to the $28 billion dollar Redfellow family fortune. However, his mother had him out of wedlock and was disowned by the family, but her and her son are still in line for the fortune. Beckett also has a sort of p...

In “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die”, the world is full of people who are addicted to their phones and social media, if you can imagine that. Suddenly a man from the future barges into a diner and warns that the future is hell because of everyone’s addiction to social media. He explains he’s recruiting people to help him fight to save the future from this fate and we’re off on a crazy, wacked out ...

If you think L.A. is Sodom and Gomorrah 2.0 today, it was not exactly Disney World in the 80s either. A movie came out in 1985 that showed the not so glamorous side of L.A. with a story about Secret Service agents chasing down a murderous, psychotic counterfeiter around L.A. That movie is William Friedkin’s “To Live And Die In L.A.”, and if Friedkin’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he also directed...

Tom Hanks did a movie called “Cast Away” almost 30 years ago where his only “companion” on a remote tropical island was a volleyball named Wilson. Fast forward to now, and in this episode’s movie “Send Help”, we’re shown two people that are also trapped on a remote tropical island who would’ve preferred their only “companion” there was a volleyball. Rachel McAdams pl...

Chris Pratt’s new movie takes us into a time where if you’ve been accused of a violent crime, no lawyer and no jury for you! “Mercy” is about a new AI criminal justice system that uses its super-duper AI powers to play judge, jury and executioner to those accused of violent crime. The accused are locked into a chair and sit face to face with the Mercy AI system which appears in the form of Rebecca Ferguson w...

The Rage Virus was unleashed upon the world by some environmentalist terrorists, turning people into bloodthirsty zombies, and now it’s 28 years later. In “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple”, people have begin to adapt to this savage, murderous, bloody world. Bad news is, so have the bloodthirsty zombies. Since this world is changing, only the most aware, the most intelligent and/or the strongest will survive. Enter...

In the first Greenland movie, Greenland turned out to be more than just possibly the future 51st state of the United State Of America. It was a refuge for those who survived the trip, and got there before a planet-killing meteor hits Earth. Now with “Greenland 2: Migration”, it’s been 5 years since that meteor, named Clarke, hit. The refuge seems to be getting much closer to its expiration date, and fast. Our prot...

There are some that laugh at James Cameron’s Avatar movies but Cameron, so far, has always got the last laugh on them all the way to the bank. The first two Avatar movies are the first and third highest grossing movies of all times, not accounting for inflation. Take that internet trolls! Now Cameron is looking to laugh again with his third Avatar movie, “Avatar: Fire And Ash.” Our main characters, Jake Sully, and...

I continue my reviews of unconventional Christmas movies with the yuletide classic, “The Long Kiss Goodnight”, in which you get scenes that mix automatic weapons, Christmas lights, yummy treats, bad beats, pies in the face, mistletoe and bombs that blow. Geena Davis plays Samantha Caine who can’t remember most anything past 8 years ago but steadily is getting memories back. Meanwhile, the covert American governmen...

Usually when you stuff too many genres into a movie, you come out with a bloated, overstuffed, pretentious turkey of a movie, but not with “Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair.” In it we get westerns, anime/manga, Kung-Fu action, exploitation movie and a pulpy bloody mess but it all fits into a 4 hour 35 minute mammoth movie, In 2003, “Kill Bill: Vol 1” was released followed by “Kill Bill: Vol. 2”...

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas and can you hear what I hear? I hear it’s after Thanksgiving now and I need to fit in some retro review of movies that could really be Christmas movies, just in an action movie’s clothing. In this episode, we find “Lethal Weapon” first under the Christmas tree. I mean, the movie has a Christmas song playing over its opening credits for God sakes! “Letha...