Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire - Review: A Monkey and a Lizard Walk into a Brawl

In an age of increasingly noisy, smashy, crashy adventures that try to posit themselves as something more, it is admittedly refreshing to see a film not only know exactly what it is, but also communicate and excel at that aspect. Now the fifth film in Warner Bros. and Legendary’s american “MonsterVerse” series, “Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire” is exactly as absurd as that title would lead you to believe. 

Set three years after the events of the previous film, Godzilla is mostly roaming the Earth’s surface, fighting back stray kaiju and other creatures to protect humanity while Kong roams Hollow Earth, the gravity bending inner surface of our planet. However, the two are forced to team up once again when a crazed ape leader named the Skar King attempts to conquer the surface. 

Yes, there are humans here, but refreshing they feel far more like background characters than ever before. While Rebecca Hall (“Christine,” “The Town”), Dan Stevens (“Beauty and the Beast (2017),” “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”), Brian Tyree Henry (“Causeway,” “Widows”), and Kaylee Hottle do the best with their admittedly thin material, they’re clearly aware of the kind of stuff they’re chewing. Stevens and Henry especially are hamming it up at almost every turn, and Hall and Hottle do provide some unexpected bits of pathos. When you’re handed a script with lines like “they just took out the power generator electrical... thingy,” it's easy to grasp the tone of what you’re doing. 

In an interesting inversion, meanwhile there are large swaths of the film spent with the Kaiju with no dialogue or even other humans. It’s refreshing to see for a series that has routinely had plenty of great actors wasted due to characters who were shoehorned in to explain things. Not only does it feel more natural, but it's also a bit smarter in its execution since so much of what it needs to communicate in those moments is communicated wordlessly. 

That being said, it is still a movie called “Godzilla x Kong” and when the fists and fur flies, it's pretty fun. Numerous moments in the film go for pure Looney Tunes levels of absurdity and it really works. It’s fun and lightweight, getting in and out in under two hours with writer/director Adam Wingard (“You’re Next,” “The Guest”) and writers Terry Rossio (“Aladdin,” “Shrek”), Simon Barrett (“Blair Witch,” “The Guest”), and Jeremy Slater (“Death Note (2017),” “Fantastic Four (2015)”) crafting all the junky, cool looking action one could hope for. 

It quite obviously isn’t anything spectacular. It’s the same kind of “excuse for a fight” story these films have been pumping out for years, and in a world where “Godzilla Minus One” exists, it's even more apparent this “MonsterVerse” is content to essentially exist as junk food and not much else. But it is junk food coated with chaotic colors that pop everywhere and a thick bundle of synths cranking a clearly “Miami Vice” inspired score from Tom Holkenborg (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “Deadpool”) and Antonio Di Iorio, so what’s there to complain about?

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is about as mindless an action film can get while still being giddy and fun. It’s getting smarter with the balance of humans and monsters without smoothing things over too much. This is the sort of movie that looks like action figures smashing together with bright colors and cool sounds and delivers exactly what is advertised. 3/5

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire - Review: A Chillingly Soulless Spookfest

 

If there are chills to be had, then that means there are either spooks about or temperatures dropping, and the latest from Sony’s busting bonanza has ample amounts of both. The aptly titled “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” has the gang of scientific specter wranglers taking on an ancient threat that wants to freeze New York City over. It also has them taking on bloated scripts, an overload of characters, and truly an abundance of remarkably in-depth lore. 

The film picks up a few years after the events of “Afterlife” and sees the extended Spengler family, consisting of Pheobe, played by Mckenna Grace (“Gifted,” “Troop Zero”), Callie, played by Carrie Coon (“The Leftovers,” “Gone Girl”), and Trevor, played by Finn Wolfhard (“Stranger Things,” “IT (2017)”), as well as Gary, played by Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man,” “Wet Hot American Summer”), busting ghosts in New York City under the advisement of Winston, played by Ernie Hudson (“Oz,” “Congo”). After an ancient orb that seems to contain an evil frost spirit falls into the possession of Ray, played by Dan Akroyd (“Trading Places,” “The Blues Brothers”), the city falls under threat as the gang must band together again to stop the incoming danger. 

Overall, there’s a very episodic sort of feeling to the general events of the film. Like a season of television condensed into a two-hour movie, with payoffs to previous events and escapades coming in the last ten minutes or so. There’s Trevor hunting a spirit living in the firehouse attic, Pheobe and Ray bonding over being ostracized by their friends and family, Gary trying to fill a fatherlier role in Trevor and Phoebe’s life, as well as the typical “save the world” and “stop the mayor from shutting us down” plots. There’s a lot going on and the script written by director Gil Kenan (“Monster House,” “City of Ember”) and Jason Reitman (“Juno,” “Up In The Air”) feels more than a little stuffed. It’s not just plots either, as there are plenty of other characters squeezed into the plot. 

We have the return of Bill Murray (“Caddyshack,” “Rushmore”) and Annie Potts (“Young Sheldon,” “Pretty in Pink”) as Peter and Janine, respectively, Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille,” “The Sandman”) as a librarian obsessed with spiritual and ancient machinations, Kumail Nanjiani (“Silicon Valley,” “The Big Sick”) as Nadeem, a possibly haunted human who becomes an object of Peter and Ray’s fascinations, James Acaster (“Hypothetical,” “Cinderella (2021)”) as Lars, a scientist working with the Ghostbusters, and Emily Alyn Lind (“Gossip Girl (2021),” “The Babysitter”) as Melody, a ghost girl Pheobe strikes up a friendship with, as well as returning characters from “Afterlife.”

There’s plenty going on and not all of it receives the attention it needs to be compelling or thoroughly fleshed out. Also, while the “Ghostbusters” series has always had cruder and more innuendo-based jokes, there’s something very awkward and uncomfortable about having the main source of those jokes in this particular film not be any of the original cast or the adults at all, but instead one of the teenage girls, and those jokes are constant.

Without a doubt, the brightest spots in the film are anything involving Grace’s Pheobe. She’s clearly the star of this new series of sequels, and this film cements that without a doubt. She’s the most compelling from a character perspective, and her journey is also the most interesting from a storytelling perspective. Whereas the rest of the group can either underutilized, Grace gets the right balance of silliness and seriousness, especially with her subplot involving Alyn Lind’s ghost girl Melody. Akroyd also gets to shine, finally embracing the weirder more obsessive bits of Ray in a way that’s undeniably compelling, and his scenes alongside Hudson are great. It really does feel like two lifelong friends together again, instead of two performers. 

At one point during the production, Kenan mentioned being directly inspired by the various Ghostbuster animated series, and that’s very apparent in numerous aspects of the film. From the creatures’ designs to the larger scale destruction/doom-and-gloom of it all, there’s a very Saturday morning cartoon vibe to everything. This does mean that the film loses even more of the comedic tone that the original two films had. Love them or hate them, they were still comedies first and foremost, and this film continues the trend “Afterlife” started by having the films feel less and less like comedies and more like action films with comedic elements sprinkled throughout. “Frozen Empire” is clearly having more fun than “Afterlife” but it comes at a cost. 

The film just feels like diminishing returns. This is the fourth time, at least, that we’ve seen the Ghostbusters publicly save the world, and yet the mayor and city still treat them like random vigilantes. It’s the third time we’ve “discovered” Slimer and yet we still act as if he’s some random ghost causing mayhem. So many of the plot beats feel repeated from previous films, and they’d be overstaying their welcome even if the film didn’t have eight plots happening all at once. 

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” certainly isn’t the worst blockbuster out this year or in the last decade. But it's disheartening to see a series that used to be packed with such genuine funny and anarchic energy be reduced to franchise fodder, complete with big CGI villains and overstuffed plots. It’s a fun enough time, bolstered by Mckenna Grace and any of the chunks focused on her, but the rest of the film struggles to rise above mediocrity. It’s a spooky series that’s missing the soul. 3/5

Snack Shack - Review: A Delicious and Foul-Mouthed Summertime Treat

 

As we slowly begin to reach the bottom of the barrel of 80s nostalgia, that means there’s only one logic next step for those wishing to recreate the warm glow of their childhood memories: the 90s. And in the grand spirit of that era, writer/director Adam Carter Rehmeier (“Dinner in America”) has delivered a foul-mouthed tribute to the summertime haze of melting ice cream, freshly mowed lawns, small town patriotism, friendship, and the paradise of the local town pool with “Snack Shack.”

Set in the summer of 1991, 14-year-old best friends AJ, played by Conor Sherry (“The Devil You Know,” “The Terminal List”), and Moose, played by Gabriel LaBelle (“The Fabelmans,” “American Gigolo (2022)”), land themselves in hot water with their parents after their latest money-making scheme, secretly fermenting beer in their basement, is exposed. Determined to still make money in a more acceptable manner, they decide to purchase the rights to run the snack shack at the local pool for the summer. Said local pool is also where their surrogate older brother figure Shane, played by Nick Robinson (“Jurassic World,” “Love, Simon”), works as a lifeguard, and AJ’s summertime next door crush Brooke, played by Mika Abdalla (“Project Mc²,” “Sex Appeal”), also works as a lifeguard as well.

Rehmeier seems like he’s almost designed this film from its inception as a tribute to not just the era of the 90s, but the feelings that can be elicited from that very specific early teenaged period of one's life. AJ and Moose are clearly best friends, but they also beat the hell out of each other and call each other the most vulgar insults imaginable. It’s the kind of bond that can only exist at that specific time in someone’s life, and Sherry and LaBelle embody these roles perfectly. Sherry keeps AJ from feeling like a complete pushover, while still making him the meeker, more lovable one of the duo. Despite being fresh off a role as the quiet, meek Sammy Spielberg in “The Fabelmans”, LaBelle is gloriously crude and foul-mouthed, channeling the kind of charming dirtbag energy last seen with performers like Vince Vaughn or Bill Murray.

Robinson also works fantastically as the idealized portrait of the local town golden boy/older brother figure so many remember from their small-town childhoods, and Abdalla manages to pull off the “girl-next-door" angle without feeling infantilized or objectified. They’re both also great examples of one of the film’s oddest and greatest strengths: weaponized, charm infused cursing. Hearing Brooke constantly refer to AJ as “shit pig” or the almost melodic way AJ and Moose talk to each other, with virtually every other word being some kind of four letter-expletive, not only creates a vivid picture of the time-period, but also allows Rehmeier to craft an almost Tarantino-esque level of flow. The dialogue may be great, but the overall plot does follow plenty of the same beats seen in numerous other teen coming of age movies, leading to a feeling of simplicity, even as it's being performed by some fantastic actors.

It also manages to create an effective semblance of the era, with just enough touch-ups to let anyone remember this period through rose-tinted glasses. Everything from the carpets to the handrails on stairs to the way the pools and shack look feels ripped right out of the time in the best way possible. It’s honestly impressive given the film’s low budget that it was able to effectively recreate the feeling so well, especially given the small-town setting and large number of interiors. A musical score by Keegan DeWitt (“Hearts Beat Loud,” “Her Smell”) keeps things lively and bubbling along, adding a rat-a-tat feeling to AJ and Moose’s schemes and the shack’s busiest days.

For those looking for a fun throwback to the era of 90s foul-mouthed, heart on its sleeve comedies, “Snack Shack” will absolutely be the perfect summertime treat. Sherry and LaBelle absolutely run away with the picture, and the near perfect feeling recreation of the period means that this is a simple and sweet treat that doesn’t reinvent the wheel but does make rolling it a blast. 4.5/5 

Kung Fu Panda 4 - Review: The Same Old Kicks, Lacking the Impact

You’d be hard pressed to find a modern animated franchise more beloved than “Kung Fu Panda.” First released in 2008, the series has maintained a steady stream of films, television shows, and video games all based around the exploits of the lovable Dragon Warrior kung fu master Po the Panda. Now, almost a decade after the original trilogy wrapped up, we have “Kung Fu Panda 4” ready to bring the awesomeness once again. 

Set after the events of the third film, this adventure sees Po, voiced by Jack Black (“School of Rock,” “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny”), confronted with the idea of retiring and passing along his mantle of Dragon Warrior to another. However, he’s able to delay this after being altered to a new villain, the Chameleon, voiced by Viola Davis (“Widows,” “The Woman King”), who has the power to shapeshift, and who wants to open a door to the spirit realm to steal the power of the kung fu masters and Po’s former nemeses. With the help of a fox thief named Zhen, voiced by Awkwafina (“The Farewell,” “Raya and the Last Dragon”), Po makes a trek to stop the Chameleon’s plot, all while being followed by his bumbling dads, Ping, voiced by James Hong (“Big Trouble in Little China,” “Everything Everywhere All At Once”), and Li Shen, voiced by Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad,” “Malcolm in the Middle”), trying to protect him. 

This adventure isn’t anything particularly new or revolutionary for the series, instead feeling more like an excuse to trot out some old villains from past adventures in a new film. It’s fine enough, but also feels noticeably lower stakes and a bit blander than the previous movies. It's not that the adventure is bad, but it simply feels passable compared to the deeper, more emotionally intense tales previously told. 

Luckily, the voice cast is still very much up to the task. Black is as stellar as ever, bringing Po to life with vigor and energy, delivering a performance with as much charm as he first did sixteen years ago. Awkwafina also does a good job with Zhen, toning down her more annoying vocal tendencies used in films like “The Little Mermaid (2023)” and “Migration,” resulting in a calmer, smoother delivery. Davis has an absolutely killer performance for a villain too undercooked to deserve it, and each scene with her is a highlight. Meanwhile, Cranston and Hong are the highlight of the film, as any scene with them brims with charm, silliness, and heart. 

The animation mostly keeps the high level of excellence from the previous films as well, but it feels far less inventive than before. Whereas the first three films all mixed in other styles, like hand-drawn animation, silhouetted work, and cel-shading, the adventure here keeps it all mostly traditional. While that’s fine, it also feels downgraded in a way, despite still featuring grand landscapes and fights. It gives the film the vibe that it was an afterthought, instead of an essential chapter of Po’s journey. 

Almost the exact same thing could be said for the script, because despite the return of franchise veterans Jonathan Aibel (“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” “Monsters vs. Aliens”) and Glenn Berger (“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” “Monsters vs. Aliens”), their script co-written with Darren Lemke (“Shrek Forever After,” “Goosebumps”) feels played out and like it's going through the motions. Davis’s villain, the Chameleon, is certainly voiced well, but compared to the previous series’ antagonists, many of whom make cameos in this film, she comes across as just too simple. It’s not that the previous films were thick with nuance, but there was at least some semblance of effort or layering to their characterizations and the emotional journeys of the antagonists and protagonists. Here, it just seems far blander and more cookie cutter than ever before. 

Way back in 2008, the first film almost defied conventions by being more than just a slapstick adventure with action and silliness, and with each subsequent film, this stereotype was avoided. Unfortunately, this fourth film has essentially become what everyone assumed the first would be. It’s serviceable and certainly not bad, but it’s hardly memorable and lacks a lot of the depth and excitement that made the previous films so memorable and exceptional. 3/5