Dog’s Movie House: “The Summer Of Sequels!”

Let’s get off on the good foot and start with the sequels that are worth seeing, shall we? We’ll start with the most recent in “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” Quite frankly this is an awesome film that delivers even more fun than the sprawling “Avengers: Endgame” earlier in the year. Peter Parker (the excellent Tom Holland) having survived Thanos’ Snap but still mourning the loss of his mentor Tony Stark, wants to leave the superhero gig behind for a while and just be a high school kid on a trip to Europe. He just wants to hang out with his friends and get close to the girl he likes.

Of course, being Peter Parker, that’s not gonna happen. He’s soon recruited in Europe by none other than Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) to help Quentin Beck (Jake Gyllenhaal), a man from an alternate Earth to help combat creatures called Elementals and keep them from destroying this reality. Beck is known as Mysterio and needs Spidey’s help. Of course, comic fans know Mysterio as one of the most popular members of Spiderman’s huge rogue gallery and Gyllenhaal doesn’t disappoint here.

To tell you anything else would ruin a wonderful cinematic experience. “Far From Home” has the requisite CGI-laden battles and stunning special effects, but it also has oodles of heart, humor, and memorable characters. And stay for the end-credits, folks. . .you will not be disappointed! 5 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!

Next up we have Pixar’s latest, “Toy Story 4.” A lot of people, including myself, were skeptical about a fourth entry given how perfectly the third film ended. We shouldn’t have worried. “Toy Story 4” is a perfect blend of humor and heart that continues to story of Woody and Co. and even opens up their world to potential new and exciting adventures.

In this installment, Woody and his friends end up being custodians to a new toy. . . a toy that Bonnie makes on her first day of school. His name is Forky (Tony Hale) and he doesn’t believe he’s a toy. It’s up to Woody (Tom Hanks) and the others to convince him to stay. During a road trip Woody and Forky end up in a small town during a carnival and there they run into Bo-Peep (Annie Potts). They have to get Forky back to Bonnie while evading the less than honorable intentions of Gabby-Gabby (Christina Hendricks) and old antique doll who needs a new voice box to get her girl to love her again.

There’s a lot more to it than that, but “Toy Story 4” manages to give every character you know and love their time while adding some new ones to the mix. Chief among these is Keanu Reeves’ hilarious turn as Duke Kaboom, Canada’s greatest stuntman and comedy team Key & Peele as a couple of tough talking stuffed animals. While not as emotionally devastating as the third film, I can assure you there will be a tear or two shed during this movie. Enjoy it multiple times with the whole family! 5 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!

Finally we have “Godzilla: King Of The Monsters,” a direct sequel to the excellent 2014 reboot. It’s been out for a while, so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting seats in this busy movie season. If you haven’t seen it you owe it to yourself to get in on some excellent monster action. Not only does the Big G return, but we get the best members of his rogue’s gallery. Rodan, Mothra, and King Ghidora all join the monster battle royale with awesome results.

The plot is fairly simple. It’s been five years since Godzilla defended the Earth from the MUTOs and now these creatures known as Titans are popping up all over the world. An eco terrorist group led by Jonah (Charles Dance) wants to wake up the most powerful of these Titans: Ghidorah the three-headed dragon, to return the world to its natural state. It’s up to the agents of Monarch along with some timely help from the big guy to stop them.

There are twists and turns to be sure, but the focus of director Michael Dougherty’s vision is on the beasties and that’s where the movie shines. The final battle in Boston between four of the Titans, including Godzilla, is awe inspiring. The only problem is that the human characters get the short shrift, even more so than in the previous film. Only Ken Watenabe and “Stranger Things” Millie Bobbie Brown stand out against all the monster carnage. Still, it’s a very fun film and worth seeing on the big screen. 4 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!

Now let’s get to the ones you want to avoid.

First off, stay far away from “Men In Black: International” and “Dark Phoenix.” The latest installments of these franchises are shells of their former installments glory. “Men In Black” reunites “Thor Ragnorok’s” Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson and with the right script this should have been an engaging installment to the franchise. Unfortunately the script is week and rumors of infighting between the studio, writer Walter Parkes and director F. Gary Gray have made this installment a much miss. 1 1/2 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!

“Dark Phoenix” is the second time Fox has failed to properly bring to the big screen the Phoenix Saga from the X-Men. First time director and long time writer Simon Kinberg tries to make a small scale drama out of a dynamic, epic narrative and the result is a film that feels like it has no stakes and as a result, fall flat on its face. The normally excellent cast feels like they are phoning it in (especially Jennifer Lawrence, on of my favorites) and the story beats feel the same as the other movies. The Phoenix Saga is a cosmic epic: it should be filmed like one. Maybe Disney will eventually do better. 1 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer! So Sayeth The Kendog!

For my next story, we’ll be continuing down sequel road with some horror film along with a new review for the horror film “Crawl!”

Pages: 1 2

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *