EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS (2014)

 EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS (2014)

Epic in scope but lacking in conviction. Ridley Scott’s biblical retelling misses the mark with dialogue-sparse characters and historical liberties that undermine the source material.

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

Christian Bale stars as Moses in this adaptation of the biblical account of the Exodus. Bale’s Moses attempts to convince the Pharaoh to release the enslaved Hebrew people from Egypt. Instead of negotiation, the plagues arrive mysteriously, escalating the conflict toward an inevitable confrontation.

The film struggles with pacing between its character drama and spectacle. Key conversations that should carry emotional weight feel sparse and rushed. The plagues—which should feel divine or at least earned—appear disconnected from narrative progression, feeling more like visual set pieces than consequences.

THE GOOD

Visual Spectacle: Ridley Scott brings his signature scale to the production. The Egyptian sets, costumes, and cinematography are visually impressive and create an immersive ancient world.

Christian Bale’s Commitment: Bale gives what he can with the material, bringing intensity and conviction to Moses even when the script doesn’t support dramatic moments.

Production Design: The film’s technical craftsmanship is solid. Cinematography, costume design, and production values feel lavish and deliberate.

Ambitious Scope: The filmmakers attempt something grand and operatic. The scale of the vision is clear, even when execution falters.

CONTENT WARNINGS

Violence: Moderate to strong.

• Plague sequences with disturbing imagery (water turning to blood, locusts, darkness)
• Battle scenes with weapons and combat
• Deaths of firstborn sons (spiritually significant but presented graphically)
• Some intense moments of suffering and destruction

Language: Minimal profanity.

Sexual Content: Minimal. Some implied relationships but nothing explicit.

Themes: Slavery, oppression, divine judgment, family separation, religious conflict.

Disturbing Content: The depiction of the plagues, particularly the death of the firstborn, could be intense for sensitive viewers.

Age Recommendation: 13+ (some intense content; younger viewers should have parental guidance)

FINAL VERDICT

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a visually ambitious film that undermines its own narrative with dialogue-sparse characters and significant biblical inaccuracies. The story of Moses and the Exodus has inherent power, but this adaptation struggles to convey it through interaction and character development.

The film teaches about faith, liberation, and standing against oppression, but these themes feel distant rather than felt. The relationship between Moses and Pharaoh—the emotional core of the story—lacks the dialogue and conflict necessary to make their confrontation resonate.

Who might enjoy it: Fans of biblical epics, viewers who appreciate grand production design, those interested in Ridley Scott’s filmography despite mixed results.

Why it falls short: The film prioritizes spectacle over character, leaving the audience emotionally disconnected from pivotal moments. It’s better crafted than some faith-based films, but the ambitious scope exposes rather than hides its narrative weaknesses.

RATING

👑👑👑👑👑 out of 

👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑👑

Good intentions and impressive visuals can’t overcome hollow character work and historical liberties that betray the source material.

Rent it on Prime and see for yourself (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4vx4ekw

JAWS (1975)

 JAWS (1975)

A great white shark becomes an unstoppable predator, and three men must stop it.

IMDb

7.8/10

Rotten T.

84%

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

Police Chief Brody discovers a great white shark hunting swimmers off the coast. He teams up with a shark hunter (Quint) and a marine biologist (Hooper) to kill it. The combination of Spielberg’s directing, John Williams’ score, and stellar acting from Richard Dreyfus, Robert Shaw, and Roy Scheider come together to create magic.

THE GOOD

Steven Spielberg’s Directing: The direction creates an effective thriller.

John Williams’ Score: Makes a stellar contribution to the film.

Stellar Acting: Richard Dreyfus, Robert Shaw, and Roy Scheider deliver strong performances.

CONTENT WARNINGS

Sexual Content: Implied nudity and scantily clad women.

Language: Some cuss words.

Violence & Gore: Lots of gore and frightening intense scenes.

Age Recommendation: 14+

FINAL VERDICT

After 50 years, only the mechanical shark effects look dated. A classic that holds up.

Available to rent or purchase on Prime (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4aSmOfA

RATING

🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈 out of 

🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991)

Directed by Michael Pressman | Starring Paige Turco, David Warner, Michelan Sisti, Ernie Reyes Jr., and Vanilla Ice

Cowabunga—this sequel knows exactly what it is, and it doesn’t apologize for it.

I caught this one at our local drive-in’s 35th anniversary screening (shout-out to Kingdom Media Club for putting it together), and with a beautiful sunset as a backdrop producer Kim Dawson gave a Q&A before the movie which really drove home how much heart went into keeping this sequel fun and accessible.

Here’s the thing: if you’re thinking about letting your kids watch this, or if you’re feeling nostalgic yourself, you’re not going to run into anything that’s going to blindside you. The turtles are fighting bad guys, cracking jokes, and being goofy—which is pretty much the whole point. The fight scenes are genuinely well-choreographed and fun to watch. There’s no blood or gore to worry about, no sexual content (just a quick joke with a Michelangelo poster that lands and moves on), and the dialogue is playful without being annoying.

Yeah, you’ll hear some name-calling (“stupid,” “idiot”), and there’s one bit of crude humor, but it’s mild stuff. One character smokes, so that’s worth noting. The action gets a little chaotic when the bad guys tear through the city, but it’s the kind of mayhem that feels like controlled chaos in a superhero movie—not gratuitous.

The acting is deliberately over the top, and the dialogue has puns that land more often than they miss. Michael Pressman directs the whole thing with this self-aware energy that says: “We know this is a movie about talking turtles, so let’s have fun with it.” And they do.

If your kids are 7 or older and you want something that doesn’t require much thinking but delivers genuine entertainment—and honestly, if you want something the whole family can enjoy together without cringing—this is a solid choice. It’s the kind of movie that knows its place and does that place really well.

Available to rent or purchase on Prime (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4pE2Wmj

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢 out of 

🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢

X-Men: Days of Future Past – The Rogue Cut (2014)

X-Men: Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut (2014)

This expanded cut restores meaningful character arcs that the theatrical version overlooked, offering superhero action with real stakes and thematic depth.

SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS

In a dystopian future, mutants face extinction hunted by Sentinels. Wolverine is sent back to 1973 to prevent Mystique from assassinating the creator of these robots. To succeed, he must unite the fractured younger versions of Xavier and Magneto—ideological enemies—and prevent a war that will doom the mutant species.

The Rogue Cut restores deleted scenes that flesh out supporting characters and add emotional weight to key story beats. This isn’t filler; it’s restoration of purpose.

THE GOOD

Spielbergian Direction: Bryan Singer crafts intelligent action sequences that serve story over spectacle. The pacing feels earned, not rushed. High-concept time travel has philosophical weight rather than existing as plot mechanics.

Powerhouse Performances: James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender deliver career-best work as younger Xavier and Magneto. Their ideological conflict feels personal and earned. Hugh Jackman grounds the film with Wolverine’s raw humanity.

John Williams-Level Score: The film’s music enhances without overwhelming. Sound design creates tension through implication rather than assault.

Thematic Depth: The film explores fate vs. free will, the cost of survival, and whether the future is predetermined. It asks serious questions while maintaining blockbuster entertainment.

Restored Footage Matters: Unlike most extended cuts, these additions don’t pad the runtime—they complete character arcs and deepen relationships.

CONTENT WARNINGS

Violence: Significant sci-fi action violence.

• Multiple hand-to-hand combat sequences
• Gunfire and mutant powers used destructively
• Character deaths (some emotional, some brutal)
• One intense execution scene
• Explosions and property destruction

Language: Moderate profanity. A handful of strong words scattered throughout, not gratuitous.

Themes: Discrimination and genocide (Sentinel program targets mutants), moral ambiguity, betrayal and redemption.

Sexual Content: Minimal. One scene of brief partial nudity (non-sexual).

Other: Characters use cocaine in a 1970s-context scene (historical, not glorified). One implied sexual encounter.

Age Recommendation: 13+ (strong content; parental discretion for younger teens unfamiliar with X-Men)

FINAL VERDICT

Days of Future Past - The Rogue Cut proves that extended cuts can genuinely improve films when they restore character work rather than add fluff. The film teaches that our choices matter, redemption is possible, and unity despite difference is stronger than division. It celebrates the X-Men’s core message: acceptance of difference as strength.

Who will enjoy it: Longtime X-Men fans, viewers who felt theatrical cut was rushed, character-driven sci-fi fans, teenagers interested in superhero narratives with stakes.

Why it matters: This is one of the strongest entries in the X-Men franchise, and the restored material is essential viewing.

RATING

❌❌❌❌❌❌❌ out of 

❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌❌ 

X-Men: Days of Future Past – The Rogue Cut (2014) - Available to rent or purchase on Prime (affiliate link): https://amzn.to/4aV6yKL

Playing with Fire (2019)

I was invited to take part in an exclusive screening event for John Cena's newest movie, Playing with Fire. Starring John Cena, Judy Greer, Keegan Michael Key, and John Leguizamo, this movie is a cute end of fall movie. The casting in this movie was excellent. John Cena plays a great no-nonsense smoke jumper which plays perfectly off Keegan Micahel Key's second-in-command who has the bulk of the humor in this movie. John Leguizamo's character felt quite underdeveloped to me with several quirks left unexplained. The writing was spot-on with what you'd expect from a Nickelodeon movie. The language that was used was no worse than would be adaptable for most 6-year-olds. There was one scene with a picture of a very scantily clad lady in the firehouse bunks that was played for humor, but I felt was quite unnecessary. Also, Mr. Cena spends quite some time showing off his upper body. Nothing out of the ordinary if you used to watch him on WWE, but maybe a little too much skin for a kids' movie. There was also a scene at the beginning of the movie that jokes about infidelity and I thought that was highly uncalled for. There are some scenes of peril so if your child gets scared easily or has an empathic heart, you might want to wait to catch it on Redbox. If you wanted to see Instant Family, but the language kept you away, Playing with Fire should be the next movie you check out! With lots of laughs and almost as much heart, Playing with Fire is a great movie to enjoy with your 2nd graders on up! Enjoy, and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie 🔥🔥🔥
                                      out of 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

The Lion King (2019)

It's been 25 years since we first saw the spectacle that is The Lion King. Now, Disney is looking to its past to revive new live-action movies. This year, they've outdone themselves with live-action remakes of classic animated movies. Their latest is a remake of 1994's The Lion King. The original animated feature was one of the crowning achievements of Disney's mid-90s animated glory years. This incarnation is mostly a shot-for-shot, word-for-word remake of the original. If you haven't seen the original, stop reading now as there might be spoilers within. Jon Favreau did his best to recapture that magic with a more live-action look. I feel they came up short in recreating that magic. There were several times where Scar in particular looked like a poorly timed animatronic. The "Can't Wait to be King" musical number in the original was one of the most memorable sequences due to its engaging animation and fun song. This version completely pales in comparison. John Oliver flattens out the sequence and every time he had a line, it took me out of the movie. The visuals in the original naturally couldn't be recreated in this new version, but I feel it could have been more involved. Now, onto the "Be Prepared" sequence. I feel the movie would have been better served without this "number" as it was about 1/4 of the original in length and Chiwetel Ejiofor's portrayal of Scar just didn't deliver the same fierceness and scariness that Jeremy Irons brought to it in the original. However, the animation of the hyenas was very well done! Their mouth movements seemed quite natural and looked like they could have been saying those words. Shenzi (Whoopi Goldberg's character from the original) got a bigger part which I'm not mad about, but the comedy of the secondary hyenas felt quite forced and I didn't feel was as funny in the final product as it was in vocal sessions or on the script. I enjoyed the majority of young JD McCrary's portrayal of young Simba, but in the emotional moment of Mufasa's death it didn't have the same weight as JTT's original did. I don't think it was entirely his fault as there is only so much emotion they could give the CGI characters without it looking too cartoony and animated. Timon and Pumbaa were enjoyable for the most part. Billy Eichner sometimes gave Timon an affected lisp which caused quite a detracting distraction for me. Seth Rogan was quite enjoyable as Pumbaa! The first introduction to Donald Glover's Simba was the tail end of Hakuna Matata and I thought it was perfect and better than the original! However, Beyoncé's unnecessary runs during "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and her brand new song "Spirit," to me, ruined the sequences. It seemed that they just added that song so she could show how many runs she could do in a given time. The overall look of the movie is beautiful, but there were limitations with the chosen form of the movie that couldn't reach what came before. I believe this feature is acceptable for kids 6+ due to the sometimes too real peril and some crude humor. Enjoy, and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie
                                      out of

The Jungle Book (2016)

The Jungle Book is a great adaptation of one of Disney's beloved animated features.  Disney has been adapting many of their animated features into live-action movies and so far, they've done it with great success! I was very impressed that the whole movie except Mowgli, the "man-cub", was computer generated. The animators did a very good job of watching real animals and observing how they moved and acted. I feel Jon Favreau did a fantastic job of translating this world from cel animation to what seemed to be a living, breathing Indian jungle. The voice acting was well done and didn't take me out of the movie at all. I feel Neel Sethi was a wonderful actor especially for his major studio debut! I feel like they did a wonderful job weaving in a few of the classic songs from the original animated adaptation. We were treated to a more bluesy version of "Bear Necessities" and an updated version of "Wanna be Like You." There were times when you could tell that Mowgli was lying on a CG animal or the environment he was interacting with might not have been exactly as it appeared, but those were very few and far between. As with most Disney releases, there is not much in the way of objectionable material. There are some scenes of peril, some animal fighting, and some rudeness, but other than that, it's a clean, wholesome, family film. This is completely worth checking out for free on Netflix streaming! Enjoy, and see you at the movies!

Overall, I'd give this movie
                                      out of