Movie Trailer Reviews

Quick Take: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is both the origin story Citdal renegade, Furiosa, and volatile trek across the wasteland.  The fifth installment revolves around laying the ground work to how, the Furiosa of Mad Max: Fury Road came to be and the unveiling of the major settlements across the wasteland. Furiosa throttles down the action, just a notch, to make room to understand the true dysfunction of this dystopian hellscape. In typical George Miller fashion, chronology matters less than the homeretic journey through the world of Max. It's bold, violent, and emotionally complex. The trails and tribulations of Furiosa are equally matched by the havoc and upheaval between the wasteland factions. Buckle up because Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga's one hell of a ride.  Director: George Miller Writers: George Miller, Nick Lathouris Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne Runtime: 2h 28m Synopsis: Snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers, young Furiosa falls into the hands of a great bik

  Richard Donner's The Omen (1976) follows American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck) as he investigates his adopted son’s, Damien, background once tragedy befalls those close to him. Thorn's quest for answers ultimately leads him to Italy and the unsettling revelation that his son may be the Antichrist. Sadly the subsequent installments never quite duplicated the impact of the first chapter in this genre-disrupting religious horror saga. So he idea of a compelling legacy-prequel seems like a non-starter. Well, director and co-writer Arkasha Stevenson would like a word. Because, The First Omen is an absolute master class on how to create a stunning in-canon prequel to a horror classic. Fresh Eyes Brings Fresh Perspective on the Horrific Stevenson's feature debut follows Margaret (Nell Tiger Free), a young American novitiate, as she arrives in Rome, Italy (1971) to complete her probationary period at a Roman orphanage before taking vows. For those new to the Omen universe, this prequel is a fresh-eyed, gnar

  Quick Take: Dev Patel's directorial debut, Monkey Man, is a full-throttle, heartbreaking, brutal quest for vengeance. Patel and his co-writers weave ancestral lore and a biting challenge to the socio-political status quo into a underdog tale that wears its cinematic influences and cultural aesthetic on its sleeve. What starts as tale of a street-smart grief-striken man living only for revenge slow morphs into the journey of a man who learns to stand for something greater than himself. Monkey Man pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. Although far from technically flawless and clearly not attempting to reinvent the revenge tropes, in Monkey Man Patel firmly establishes his ability to straddle the line of action star and beguiling leading man with an almost supernatual grace.  Come for the fights and stay for the intense character arc.  Listen as Phenom and Ro discuss (spoiler-free) just how brash Monkey Man is from start to finish.  Monkey Man opens (wide) in theaters, April 5, 2024 Director: Dev Patel Wri

Director: Denis Villeneuve Writers:  Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts, Frank Herbert Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler Runtime:  2 Hour 46 Minutes Synopsis: Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Kriss, Ro, Brandon review Dune Part 2. Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Follow us on Twitter: @Phenomblak @InsanityReport @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic.  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!  

Quick Take: Madame Web should've been a fun and fantastical origin story for a dynamic comic character with real spin-off potential. Instead it’s a mishmash of barely interesting plot points, disjointed visual trickery, and underwhelming performances. More than anything else, Madame Web proves it’s not enough to throw all the “expected” set pieces in a movie, you actually need to know what to do with them. ** Official Synopsis: Cassandra Webb develops the power to see the future. Forced to confront revelations about her past, she forges a relationship with three young women bound for powerful destinies, if they can all survive a deadly present. Director: S.J. Clarkson Writers: Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless, Claire Parker, S.J. Clarkson Starring: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor, Tahar Rahim, Mike Epps, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott ** Madame Web, Sony’s third standalone spin-off of a Marvel comic character, opened the door for the studio to fully reimagine the origins of its titular

Director: Todd Haynes Writers: Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik Starring: Natalie Portman, Charles Melton, Julianne Moore, Gabriel Chung, Andrea Frankle Runtime:  1 Hour 57 Minutes Synopsis: Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past. 2023 was really the year of the terrible parent when it comes to movie. In May December, Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman have a "terrible off" to see which one plays the worst person. Charles Melton's character unfortunately is the one taking the brunt of just how terrible those other characters are. This is a very solid film that's bound to make your skin crawl because of just how realistic it is. The gaslighting and victimization that Julianne Moore's character Gracie does in this film is top notch. You're definitely going to need to take a shower after this one. Listen as the crew review May December. Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't m

Director: William Oldroyd Writers: Luke Goebel, Ottessa Moshfegh Starring: Thomasin McKenzie, Shea Whigham, Anne Hathaway, Sam Nivola Runtime:  1 Hour 37 Minutes Synopsis: A woman's friendship with a new co-worker at the prison facility where she works takes a sinister turn. Who doesn't love a "leave them crazy white women alone" film? Eileen is a great film that uses the alway fantastic Anne Hathaway perfectly by pairing her up with Thomasin McKenzie who does a great dead-face, on the cusp of crazy (right about to head over the deep end) young woman looking to impress. Eileen is short, simple and hits all the right notes. Listen as the crew review this film.   Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Follow us on Twitter: @Phenomblak @InsanityReport @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic.  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!  

Director: Ava DuVernay Writers: Ava DuVernay, Isabel Wilkerson Starring: Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Jon Bernthal, Niecy Nash, Emily Yancy, Finn Wittrock, Victoria Pedretti Runtime:  2 Hour 15 Minutes Synopsis: The unspoken system that has shaped America and chronicles how lives today are defined by a hierarchy of human divisions. The review crew discuss the latest film from Ava DuVernay, Origins.  Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Follow us on Twitter: @Phenomblak @InsanityReport @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic.  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!  

Director: Paul King Writers: Simon Farnaby, Paul King, Roald Dahl Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gustave Die, Murray McArthur Runtime:  Hour Minutes Synopsis: With dreams of opening a shop in a city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor Willy Wonka discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers. The crew review their second musical of the year, Wonka.  Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Follow us on Twitter: @Phenomblak @InsanityReport @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic.  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!  

Director: Takashi Yamazaki Writers: Takashi Yamazaki Starring: Minami Hamabe, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Sakura Ando Runtime:  2 Hour 4 Minutes Synopsis: Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb. The Crew reviews Godzilla Minus One. Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Follow us on Twitter: @Phenomblak @InsanityReport @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic.  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!  

Director: Sean Durkin Writers: Sean Durkin Starring: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Holt McCallany Runtime:  2 Hour 12 Minutes Synopsis: The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. The Iron Claw has an absolutely fantastic cast and set of performances and tells the very tragic tale of the Von Erich family. This is definitely a heartbreaking story but it's also a script that doesn't do the full story justice. There's a lot of focus on the tragedy that seems to follow this family around but does so by sacrificing a lot of the context and story. To be fair that context would probably make the story even more heartbreaking but it would have taken the Iron Claw from a good movie with great performances, to a great movie with even greater performances. This is the difference between a film that gets award season buzz for an actor (e.g. Zac Efron) and a movie that gets the ful

Director: Yorgos Lanthimos Writers: Tony McNamara, Alasdair Gray Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef Runtime:  2 Hour 21 Minutes Synopsis: The incredible tale about the fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter; a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter. Kriss, Ro & Brandon discuss and review the film Poor Things. There's a lot to really enjoy about this film, chief among them is Emma Stone once again showing what an outstanding actress and performer she is. It's not a slight to the other performers in this film to say that Emma Stone carries this film because the story truly revolves around her character, Bella Baxter. But what Emma Stone is asked to do and is able to do is what makes this film. Not too many actresses could have pulled this off and she does it in a brilliant way. This film isn't perfect but is definitely a great modern telling of the story of Frankenstein (or rather the aftermath of the Frankenstein story) that is

Director: Bishal Dutta Writers: Bishal Dutta, Ashish Mehta Starring: Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan, Betty Gabriel Runtime:  1 Hour 39 Minutes Synopsis: An Indian-American teenager struggling with her cultural identity has a falling out with her former best friend and, in the process, unwittingly releases a demonic entity that grows stronger by feeding on her loneliness. Kriss, Ro and Brandon discuss the film It Lives Inside. While 2023 has been a good year for horror films, It Lives Inside represents the rare miss of a film that should have been and could have been so much more.  Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Follow us on Twitter: @Phenomblak @InsanityReport @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic.  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!  

Director: Michael Mann Writers: Troy Kennedy Martin, Brock Yates Starring: Adam Driver, Shailene Woodley, Giuseppe Festinese Runtime:  2 Hour 4 Minutes Synopsis: Set in the summer of 1957, with Enzo Ferrari's auto empire in crisis, the ex-racer turned entrepreneur pushes himself and his drivers to the edge as they launch into the Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy. Once you realize that Michael Mann was a producer on Ford v Ferrari, the "I can do it too" mentality that oozes out of Ferrari makes sense. The problem is, all the charm and intrigue that Ford v Ferrari had is completely missing from Ferrari. Adam Driver is a great actor who is routinely misused by directors and scripts and Ferrari is no exception. Christian Bale and Matt Damon played well off of each other in Ford v Ferrari and made for a compelling story. In Ferrari, Driver is not only boring but Penélope Cruz is criminally underused, leaving Driver without a strong second to play off of. That then leads to the second issue

Director: Blitz Bazawule Writers: Marcus Gardley, Alice Walker, Marsha Norman Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins Runtime: 2 Hour 20 Minutes Synopsis: A woman faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood. Ro, Kriss and Brandon review the 2023 adaptation of The Color Purple. There is a wild  swing in opinions and views on this film. It's definitely a "your mileage may vary". Listen as the crew gives their opinions (and jokes) on this film.  Like what you hear? Subscribe so you don't miss an episode! Follow us on Twitter: @Phenomblak @InsanityReport @TheMTRNetwork   Our shirts are now on TeePublic.  https://teepublic.com/stores/mtr-network   Want more podcast greatness? Sign up for a MTR Premium Account!  

Director: Hayao Miyazaki Writers: Hayao Miyazaki Starring:  Runtime:  2 Hour 4 Minutes Synopsis:  Already acclaimed as a masterpiece in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki’s new film begins as a simple story of loss and love, and rises to become a staggering work of imagination. Already acclaimed as a masterpiece in Japan, Hayao Miyazaki’s new film begins as a simple story of loss and love, and rises to a staggering work of imagination. Coming after the maker of Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke announced his retirement, The Boy and the Heron is an especially precious gift, and possibly the final film we will see from one of cinema’s greatest artists. As a boy, Miyazaki read Genzaburo Yoshino’s novel How Do You Live? and embraced it as his favourite. This film was initially announced as an adaptation of that book, but Miyazaki uses it instead as one of many layers in a dazzling tapestry that draws even more upon his own youth. During the Second World War, young Mahito Maki (Soma Santoki) suffers a heartbreaking famil

Director: Alexander Payne Writers: David Hemingson Starring: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Randolph Runtime:  2 Hour 13 Minutes Synopsis:  Paul Giamatti stars in Alexander Payne’s latest about the bond that forms between a strict professor and a belligerent student he’s stuck supervising over the winter holiday at an elite boarding school. Barton men don’t lie. This is just one of the many rules Professor Hunham (Paul Giamatti) takes much too seriously as he hands out poor grades at an elite boarding school in 1971. As he dismisses the politics that come along with educating the children of people in high places, he’s punished by the headmaster who gives him a most undesirable assignment for the winter break: to stay at the school and supervise the students who are unable to go home. Hunham resolves to have the students suffer with him, forcing them to start studying next semester’s curriculum ahead of time. Among them, 15-year-old Angus (Dominic Sessa), bright but belligerent, makes a ruckus.

Director: Justine Triet Writers: Justine Triet, Arthur Harari Starring: Sandra Hüller, Samuel Theis, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner Runtime:  2 Hour 31 Minutes Synopsis:  The much-lauded winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, Justine Triet’s fourth feature has cemented her status as one of today’s great filmmaking talents. Unfolding over two-and-a-half hours like a compulsively readable novel, the riveting Anatomy of a Fall is both a dissection of an intimate relationship and of the judiciary process. Sandra (a ferocious, magnetic, and edgy Sandra Hüller, also at the Festival in Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest) is a successful German writer who lives in the French Alps with her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) and their visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner). A brilliant, decibel-bursting opening scene suggests tensions in their isolated chalet, so when Samuel is discovered dead in the snow beneath one of their windows, suspicion is quickly aroused. Did he take his own life, or was he pushed to

Director: George C. Wolfe Writers: Julian Breece, Dustin Lance Black Starring: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Amel Ameen, Gus Halper, Johnny Ramey, CCH Pounder Runtime:  1 Hour 46 Minutes Synopsis: Activist Bayard Rustin faces racism and homophobia as he helps change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington. If there's one thing to take away from Rustin it's that Colman Domingo was the perfect casting choice to play Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin. For all the flaws of the movie and script (and there are many), Domingo is not one of them. If anything, his performance only serves to be a reminder of how frustrating this movie is. To have a performance like the one that Domingo puts in and then have a script that is uneven and wastes the talents of not only the lead but many of the other outstanding performers in the film is just a cardinal sin of film making. The biggest problem with Rustin is that there is a fundamental identity crisis in terms of what th

Director: Cord Jefferson Writers: Cord Jefferson, Percival Everett Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Adam Brody, Keith David, Issa Rae, Sterling K Brown Runtime:  1 Hour 57 Minutes Synopsis: Starring Jeffrey Wright in one of his most beautifully nuanced performances, American Fiction is both a wickedly smart satire about the commodification of marginalized voices and a bittersweet portrait of an artist forced to re-examine the terms of his integrity. Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Wright) is a respected author and professor of English literature. But his impatience with his students’ cultural sensitivities is threatening his academic standing, while his latest novel is failing to attract publishers; they claim Monk’s writing “isn’t Black enough.” He travels to his hometown of Boston to participate in a literary festival where all eyes are on the first-time author of a bestseller titled We’s Lives In Da Ghetto, a book Monk dismisses as pandering to readers se