Sequels That Shouldn’t Exist + Movie Review: Challengers + Trailer Park: Transformers One

the trailer park? Why I am sad after watching the new Transformers one trailer, even though the story looks pretty interesting. So thank you for being here, Thank you for being subscribed. Shout out to the Monday Morning movie crew. He now, let's talk movies.

But he said this on the David Ducoveny Fail Better podcast and quote, I thought everybody wanted this, which I think that is the part of a statement that makes me see that sometimes even though to me, movies like this seem like cash grabs, but whenever you have somebody like Ben Steller heavily involved, I feel like that carries a little bit more way to it. And I assume having a movie like that in his filmography, that is probably a question. He was asked a lot of interviews,

when are you going to make another Zoolander? When are you going to make another Zoolander? So much so that you start to believe, like he said that people wanted this, and then he said when the movie came out and it flopped, it really hurt him, but it allowed him to go and do other things and focus on things that he kind of had in the back burner, one of those being Severance, which came out on Apple TV Plus and dominated and people loved that show waiting for

season two right now. So it kind of goes to show you how good things can come out of bad things. I think if you do make a sequel to a comedy, it should come out within five years of that original one. Otherwise, once you start making comedies in different decades, that is where you set yourself up for failure. And why do I think that is is because comedy is a reflection

of that time period. And when you start making movies in the two thousands and then wait another decade to follow up with that, the humor is not going to match up. What was funny in two thousand and one with Zoolander is not going to be funny in twenty sixteen. So I think that is a recipe for disaster. And also when it comes to comedies, more so than any other genre, they are very nostalgic, and what we are really asking for when we want a sequel to a

comedy movie, we don't really want it. We just want to be transported into a time where we found that movie funny. I would love to go back to two thousand and one being ten years old, all the things I found hilarious. Then that is really what I want. I've never seen a sequel come out fifteen years after that is better than the original one. Can it still have its moments? Can it still be fun and quirky like Bill and Teded coming out with one in twenty twenty. Yes,

that can happen, but it's never listened to me. What I say is it's never going to match that original one because what we want is that nostalgic factor. With that being said, I have come up with the list of sequels that should have never been made. Some of these are outright offence because not only are they bad movies,

but they tarnished the legacy of the original movie. So for this list, it is all sequels that I believe have not only been worse than its predecessor, but should be burned into the ground because they were either cash grabs or nostalgia base. Starting with the worst offender, the movie I bring up so much because I hate it with a burning passion. It is Dumb and Dumber two, and that is to that came out back in twenty fourteen,

and this is where I learned. What I've just been talking about is as much as you want to see your favorite actors come back and portray the characters that made you laugh, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are incredible together, and this was one. I was on that bandwagon. I was on Reddit, following every storyline, with every script update.

I was all in on the Dumb and Dumber sequel. Now, technically it's not a direct sequel because they came out with the prequel Dumb and Dumber or in two thousand and three, which is even worse because they aren't even associated with that movie. That's another one that should have been made. But this is the sequel to Dumb and Dumber that came out in ninety four and I remember seeing that first image of them back in the Harry

and Lloyd costumes and being so excited. And I've never been so disappointed in a sequel because none of the jokes landed, and all the movie was was poking fun and reminding audiences of what they did in the original one,

and that is not what we want. It's hard to do a sequel because you need to advance what you did in the first one and not just remind people why that one was great and dumb and Dumber two is the biggest offender of that Along those same lines, will stick to Jim carrey movies Son of the Mask in two thousand and five with Jamie Kennedy. Oh, this movie does tarnish the legacy of the Mask, which is also a nineteen ninety four movie when Jim Carrey was

really on his run of dominance. Son of the Mask was nothing more than a cash grab because in the first one it's so quirky and funny, but what it does well is all of the little side gags, and really you need Jim Carrey in that mask to make it funny. Son of the Mask is one of the most brutal experiences I've ever had watching a movie, even in two thousand and five, where you could throw anything on the screen and my fourteen year old self would

probably laugh at it. But this one was straight awful, mostly due to the mask looking like a rubbery playto piece of crap. So that is my second big offender. My third biggest offender is one that came out pretty recently, Hocus Pocus two is a movie that I just hate that it exists because hocus Pocus won. The original has been one of my go to Halloween movies since I

can remember. It was always Halloween time for me. When ever, I'd go to school and we'd throw on hocus Pocus Great Memories with this movie, I'd watch it every single year, And to me, this movie is perfect. It should not have been touched and right now, Disney isn't a weird place of movies that come out on Disney Plus and movies that come out in theaters, And what they have really done is kind of replaced their straight to VHS straight to DVD movies and made those Disney Plus exclusives.

Hocus Pocus two fell victim to that. The movie just looks terrible. It looks like it had zero budget. You bring back all the originals and completely waste them to make a movie that looks like a Saturday Morning special. And Disney has done this a lot, so much so that I almost don't count some of these sequels that

they have done because they are pretty bad. It really shows me how much Disney has changed and has suffered at the box office as of late, because they used to be so dominant that they would only put out their biggest movies in theaters, and all the sequels would go straight to VHS, which they also crushed in because they would sell so many of them, so they would create classics, and then they would have cheaply made sequels with less money spent on animation. You wouldn't have the

same caliber of voice actors. You would rarely have people from the original ones be on these sequels. But all these movies I would consider should not have been remade. And I bet they regret some of these because they could have made sequels now instead of remaking the original ones,

which we are seeing an influx up still. But Lion King two, Cinderella to Little Mermaid two, Hunchback of Notre Dame to move on to Bamby two, some of these you probably forgot even happened because they were really just a way for them to sell more DVDs and Bhs's the only one of these movies that I liked, and I remember going to the flea market in Dallas to get a copy of this. Out of all these movies, this is the only one I was excited for as a kid, and it was Lion King one and a half,

which is a great movie. I haven't watch it in a very long time. I'm not sure if it's still available on Disney Plus, but it was Lion King from the perspective of Timone and Poomba, which as a kid, that is what I love the most from Lion King because Poomba and Timone are hilarious. They were the best

part of that movie. They were the comedic relief. So what you had in Lion King one and a half was their storyline from before they meet Simba, because they really don't encounter him until about the start of the second act of the movie, so you get to see all of their life before that, and then you get to see their perspective from the final battle, which is great. So all the other ones should not have happened. Just

give me Lion King one and a half. Another more recent offender is Aquaman two, which is one of the worst superhero movies I've ever seen. I was quite honestly surprised how big of a hit Aquaman one was. And this one also came at a weird time of Warner Brothers kind of closing the chapter on this DC era, and I feel like this movie was dead on arrival.

It had no real chance of success. But even that being said, I was not prepared for the annihilation on my eyes from watching such a weak performance from Jason Momoa, but also the worst visual effects in the last decade when it comes to superhero movies, I thought we were past making superhero movies this bad at a time where people are starting to be fatigued with these movies. Really good to put this one out. They should have shelled

this movie. So I think a lot of people right now would say any sequel to any superhero movie is one that should not be made. Even though there's so much hype around the latest Deadpool and Wolverine trailer in that franchise, I actually think Deadpool two is a pretty weak spot, and I think it brings up a great point of in Deadpool. The first one was so successful because it was made on a fifty eight million dollar budget and went on to make seven hundred and eighty

two million dollars at the box office. So then you get the sequel of Deadpool two, which I feel is really forgettable because the charm of the first one was due to the fact that they were working with a smaller budget. A lot of the comedy comes from that. In the final act, whenever Deadpool is going to that final battle, they were running out of money. They had

to cut a big amount of the budget. That's why he forgets his guns, which leads to a much funnier sequence of events to close out that movie and became

quintessential Deadpool. Then in the second one, they went from fifty eight million dollars to one hundred and ten million dollar budget, but it didn't really change much because you have more room to breathe with a visual aspect, and it did not really translate to much more box office success because I think it only made four or five more million dollars worldwide, even though they spent so much more money on it. But in this case, sometimes I believe a bad sequel is the bridge to a third

batter movie. So I think Deadpool two I could probably do without. But now we get Deadpool and Wolverine, which looks fantastic in the new trailer, which they aren't calling this movie Deadpool three. That is what the director said.

He said, this is kind of its own thing. And I remember giving the suit so much grief whenever we had that first look at it because I thought it looked like a motocross suit and didn't really feel like the comic book accurate version that I was promised, And even though the colors are pretty similar, I just felt like that is not what I had in my head. I wanted him to look like the iconic nineties Wolverine that we all fell in love with back in the day.

But after watching the trailer and seeing that they ripped off the sleeves, I have to say it does look a lot better. I still wish he had the pointy boots, and I hope at some point he has the mask on, even if it's a quick joke. I think with that I would be satisfied. We have had some looks at the posters. Maybe we are gonna get Wolverine in a mask. I also think we're gonna get that Hulk cameo in

Dead Pull and Wolverine. There's been a lot of little Easter eggs put out some new posters wherever you see the reflection of Deadpool and the reflection of Wolverine in each of their blades, which I believe is in homage to an iconic, Incredible Hulk comic book cover. Wherever you see Wolverine with this blades out and you see the Hulk's reflection in the blades, one of the best comic

book covers of all time. Also, in the first trailer we had from Deadpool and Wolverine, you see Wolverine sitting at a table in an all white tux, which is another reference to a comic book cover with him and the Incredible Hulk. So I'm hoping we get that cameo. But anyway, all that to say, sometimes you need a bad sequel to get to a better third movie. Another instance in that is The Hangover two, which I don't

think that movie needed to be made. It is the exact same thing as the first one, but in Bangkok. And I remember being disappointed with The Hangover two in twenty eleven because I love The Hangover Part one, one of my favorite comedies of all time, And even though I didn't love the sequel, they should have done without that. I actually really enjoy The Hangover three because it goes back to Vegas, because it goes back to what made

the first one great. But the only reason I love that one is because we have that bad sequel in the middle. You couldn't have gone from the Hangover one to the Hangover three, because even more so than the jump from one to two, it would have felt like the exact same movie. So you get that part three and it almost feels, even though they weren't that far apart, kind of nostalgic for going back and reliving their days of going to Vegas and having more and reliving some

moments from that Vegas trip. I know, on paper, it's probably not a great movie and probably would go on the list of trilogies that should not exist, but for me, I like it. I also think sometimes you can make a movie that is so iconic that studios feel pressure to make a sequel, movies like Jaws. You got a sequel to it in nineteen seventy eight. You didn't have Steven Spielberg directing this movie, and it paled in comparison

to that original one. Didn't have any great characters, didn't have any excitement, and somehow, with a better budget, managed to make Jaws look worse. And at one point, whenever they finally kill Jaws again, for some reason, they made Jaws roar. Here's that moment. If you haven't seen this movie, smile your this whole movie was chaotic, but for some reason Jaws roaring like a lion and then flashing back

to the first one, the movie made no sense. So not only is it hard to recapture what makes a comedy great, it's also hard to recapture what makes a thriller or horror movie great. Another case of this is Speed to Cruise Control, which came out in nineteen ninety seven. So in the first one, they can't slow down on the bus because there's a bomb on board and if they slow down, it's going to explode and kill everybody in it. They took that exact same concept and moved

it to a boat. Who thought audiences wanted to see Speed again, but on a boat terrible. I also wanted to include on this list sequels you probably forgot even happened. In some of these cases, people are still demanding sequels to these movies, even though they already came out. I'm talking about Mean Girls two came out in twenty eleven. Nobody made a peep about this, even with the musical

version coming out earlier this year. I feel most people wanted it to be a direct sequel to the Lindsay Lohan version, not knowing we actually got this over fifteen years ago. Or movies like The Sandlot two, which came out in two thousand and five, and not only did they do this movie, but they followed it up in

two thousand and seven with The Sandlot three. So again, you can create a movie that is so iconic that there will always be a demand there, but just because you could doesn't mean you should in the cases of these movies. We also fairly recently got a Christmas story Christmas, which I feel also applies to this list, But before that we did have a direct sequel to a Christmas story. We got a Christmas Story too, which again is a case where I feel like people forgot that that movie

happened in the middle of that. There are also some cases of sequels that I appreciated as a kid but now are a chore and a pain to watch, one of those being Mortal Kombat Annihilation. I loved the Mortal Kombat movies in the nineties as a kid, and I remember when Annihilation came out. I thought it was a pretty good movie because I loved the first one so much, played the video game so much, and I was a big fan of the character Raptor who just looks like

sub Zero and Scorpion, but his suit is green. I thought that was so cool. I don't know why green was such a cool color in the nineties. It also reminds me of the Green Ranger from Mighty morphin Power Rangers. But I thought that movie was good as a kid. Rewatching it as an adult, it is so so painful.

And they are making another Mortal Kombat now, which is a sequel to the one that came out in twenty twenty one, which I actually thought was pretty good because I think for these movies to work, they have to feel less like the video game and more like their own thing. So put them inside the world, but don't try to do what they did back in the nineties. They have officially wrapped on Mortal Kombat too, so hopefully soon we get some kind of a release date of

when that movie is coming. Also, as a kid, I remember loving an extremely goofy movie, which is a sequel to one of my favorite Disney movies of all time, the Goofy Movie, And this was really just cashing in on a time in the late nineties early two thousands where extreme sports were everything. Back in the Tony Hawk days. Matt Hoffman and you could turn on the TV, primarily on Disney Channel and see Extreme Sports because they were

so huge back then. So a lot of movies came out year towards kids to get them excited about this. So not the sequel I wanted to see, because it was really just Max going to college and then competing in a version of the X Games and Goofy comes in, So yeah, that one not so good. I also remember in twenty fifteen, Joe Dirt two came out, which is another instance of trying to make a comedy happen again ten plus years later. I also wanted to include sequels.

I'm glad were never made along those same lines because we got movies like Joe Dirt to Zoolander two. But sometimes it's okay to know when not to make a sequel. On this list I have, I'm glad they never made Super Bad Too, Wedding Crashers Too, which has been rumored a lot with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson back. I don't think this movie should be made. It's not going to be what we wanted to be. Even movies like Old School, two Bridesmaids two Knocked up to forty year

old version two. They would just not do well. So every now and then we'll see these headlines come out, we'll see actors be interviewed, are you gonna make another one? Calm down with those questions, because we don't need them in our lives. Although I do think a Pineapple Express two would actually work because it's not so much about the comedy in Pineapple Express. It's all the action, the

stoner comedy at its core. But it has so much fighting and car chase scenes and people shooting each other that I think a movie like that would actually work. But I don't really see James Franco doing a whole lot right now. We do have some sequels that are already announced that I'm hesitant about. Beatlejuice two, which we're getting out later this year. That last trailer looked promising, but it also has all of the recipe of disaster to not live up to the original movie from Disney.

We're also getting Inside Out too later this year. Pretty soon we're getting Zootopia two, which that's a perfect animated movie that I don't think needs another one. That one really hits me in the fields. So did Inside Out. But the thing with Inside Out. I think there's actually a story to be told there because it's Riley getting older and having these new emotions move in. I actually

think that could be pretty powerful for kids. Later this year, we're also getting Gladiator to the thing that worries me about that movie is I feel like it's a sequel unlike all these other ones that no one really asks for. There's not a passionate Gladiator fan base, but maybe Ridley Scott just had a vision for this movie. At least the cast looks pretty promising in that movie. And a sequel I've been waiting for is a Detective Pikachu too.

It's the only live action Pokemon movie that we've ever got. Not that they completely nailed it with that movie, but it's the closest we've ever been as lifelong Pokemon fans of having something that truly checks all the boxes. And I feel like, now, with visual effects getting better, maybe they could go back and retool some of the character designs to make them a little bit more accurate to

the cartoon and the card game. And finally, to wrap up here, I did see Ryan Gosling talking about why his movie with Russell the nice Guys never got a sequel, he said, because when it came out, it went up against Angry Birds and got destroyed at the box office in its opening weekend. And The Nice Guys this movie came out back in twenty sixteen, and I feel is one that really gets overlooked. I think the title really doesn't help it a lot. The trailer didn't really do

the movie justice. But it is a fun crime movie and one that I could see translate into a franchise, much like John Wick did, even like the Knives Out movies, where you could keep the duo together with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe and just swap out the mystery. I mean, if we keep getting all these death on the Nile movies, why couldn't we get a franchise. It has that slapstick

humor but also some really solid action. So if you've never seen The Nice Guys, and if you're like me, really on a Ryan Gosling kick who I thought he crushed on Saturday Night Live promoting The Fall Guy, which is coming out this weekend, which I believe was their most successful Saturday Night Live episode since twenty twenty one. This is definitely one of his movies that went under the radar. So that is the list. We'll come back.

I'll give my thoughts on Challengers and in the trailer park why I'm sad after watching The Transformers one trailer. Let's get into it now, a spoiler free review of Challengers, one of my most anticipated movies of the year. That trailer alone, I instantly pre ordered my tickets, even though it was months before I could even pre order my tickets. I'm a huge Zendea fan, which I'll get into later, But what I knew about this movie going into it

given from the trailer. She plays a tennis star on the rise, but her career gets cut short due to an injury. You get a little glimpse of that in the trailer, and I am somebody who struggles with any kind of injury involving any kind of bone, and just from that glimpse they gave us in the trailer, I was anticipating that moment throughout the movie and I didn't want to see it. But her career gets cut short.

Her name is Tashi, and then there are these two other guys who kind of parallel her career around the same age. One guy's name Patrick, who is very confident, has a lot of raw talent, just kind of is trying to play tennis as a way to make money because it's all he is good at. His friend is Art who they've been childhood friends since they were pre teenagers, and they are both on the rise in the tennis scene.

They are starting to win, starting to make a name from themselves, and they encounters in Deya's character about to go to college, and they see her at this event where she is crushing it. She has a very unique playing style, and they approach her because she is one beautiful and two because she is really good at tennis, and they want to hang out with her. And that

is about where you get to in the trailer. We've all seen a little bit of the scene of them laying on the bed, and I won't get into all that. It is an R rated movie, not as hard of an R as the trailer leads it on to be, which I'll get into a little bit more later. But given the nature of this review, if there are younger ears around, we are going to get into some of that later in the review, so just be aware of that.

But again, the movie is rated R. So what this movie does It may not come across in the trailer, but it jumps around in time a lot, because it starts out that she ends up with one of the guys he is trying to win a Grand Slam title and he is struggling. He is in a rut, he is not able to win, so she is trying to build up his confidence and signs him up for one of these Challengers events, which that is what the movie

is named after. They are a lower tier competition in the tennis world where somebody at the caliber that Art has now achieved, being a pro, being famous, having all the money, doesn't really compete in but because he is struggling, she coaches him, because she's now his coach, to go win at one of these events, crush the competition, therefore giving you the confidence you need to go win another championship.

Art goes to this competition where his former best friend Patrick is there, who is had the complete opposite trajectory in his career. So that is about the first ten to fifteen minutes of the movie, and then the movie starts going back in time to fill you in on all the gaps of how they got here, why all of their relationships are so complicated why there's so much tension between all of them. And I actually enjoyed the jump around in time because it creates this level of

tension and anticipation to peel back the layers. It's a really hard thing to do because you have to pay attention while watching the movie, because at times even I got a little bit confused on exactly what was happening in real time and what was a flashback. But they do a pretty good job at changing their wardrobe, changing their hairstyle, and making a visual effort to let you know that this is something happening in the past too,

this is something happening now. Cinematography in this movie is beautiful. It really creates that sense of realism and something you don't really see a whole lot of, or at least a whole lot of emphasis on, is the beauty of the clobe, which is one of the most classic things in cinema. I'm ready for my closeup, and sometimes it's just kind of a throwaway, just put the camera on your biggest hector at any given time. But the way they use the close ups in this movie was so powerful.

Because it's such an intimate movie, it has a relatively low cast, but to make a movie where it's so focused on these strong leads, giving them all a time to shine, not just from their performance, but also from putting the camera right in their face and showcasing them. There were some really beautifully framed shots that created that level of intimacy that you get. And what is the most dangerous of geometric shapes, the love triangle, and that

is what this movie did. It created this level of at times uncomfortableness and overall just had your eyes glued to the scene for the moment we were all waiting for and all promised in the trailer, the scene delivered, and from the response in the crowd in the theater while watching this movie, it was unlike anything I had experienced. Now we'll get into a little bit about the R rated nature of the movie while we're talking about it, because not as hard of an R as I thought

it was going to be. The trailer makes it seem and the rating makes it seem like it's going to be just nudity all the time, or at least a very big graphic scene. Not really the case. What was most surprising is there was some male nudity that was received with some pretty big gasps in our theater, which is something I'm a little bit more used to now because I've watched a lot of HBO, a lot of

Max Originals. Hulu is even dipping into the male nudity where it's become a little bit more normal to me. But I realized in that moment that there hasn't been a movie on this scale with a wiener of that scale. I just haven't really put those two things together. And me being in a theater seat, being in public and witnessing male nudity and seeing how other people react to it, I thought it waskind of funny. There was some gasps, but again not the nudity I was expecting in this movie.

Male junk and male butt. So know that going into watching it without a doubt, hands down, the best thing about Challengers is Zendaya's performance, who is now a dominant

force in Hollywood. She is right now in two major movies currently in theaters, and without a doubt, I can say that Zendia has the best range in Hollywood out of any actor to go from a movie like Challengers from coming out of the MCU, even before that being a Disney kid, which is so hard to get out of that mentality of acting on the Disney show where everything is so over emphasized, you have to be so wacky.

She is the best actor to ever come out of Disney and now prove that she is a dominant force, not only winning Emmys for Euphoria, but now somebody please give her an oscar, which I hope this movie will be in contention for Best Picture. She deserves the Best Actress nomination because she is so good in this movie at being so convincing at all different types of characters.

She can do a sci fi role like Dune and crush it and completely sell that, and then do a movie like Challengers where you're not even completely one hundred percent rooting for her. To have that kind of range is amazing to me. And then go do a show like Euphoria where you are rooting for her even though she isn't the best character in that show, and then to do MJ where you completely love her both on screen and on screen with Tom Holland. She is the

real deal. If you are not on the Zendia train by now, you have to be after watching Challengers, because what I see in her performances is what I feel is the closest to the Golden Age in Hollywood, and that is the vibe that this movie gave me. It had that classic cinema feel that I had been wanting

to see in twenty twenty four. It really had all of those great classic elements, the sharp dialogue, the fantastic wardrobe, and the big leads really selling the story because if you look at a movie like this, it's fairly simple. And it's not that there hasn't been a movie about a love triangle before. You could argue that Past Lives

just did it last year. It's not that there hasn't been a tennis movie like this, but there hasn't been one that has really moved me to my core like this, because it had all of these elements of watching a classic movie, but it felt so refreshed. And I love that all the early scenes and flashbacks took place in the two thousands, so it almost feels like we're going

back to a period so long ago. But then you see all the logos, like the old school taco bell logo, which there was a lot of cleverly placed product placement

in this movie. You even have references to tennis stars of the two thousands, Andy Roddick being one of them, whose face was displayed pretty prominently in this movie, which also has a connection to the film because all the actors at about three months of pre operation with tennis coach Brad Gilbert, who has taught those like Andy Roddick, and three months may not sound like a lot of time to achieve the level that the characters in the movie have of being the best in their field, but

it shows you that there is a parallel between athletes and actors wanting to be the best and putting in the hours and days and weeks and months to train. To really sell this movie because throughout it I fully believed it. I think what also helps them is, of course they had stunt doubles to sell some of the outer shots, but also again, the cinematography really helped sell all of those scenes. There are moments where it goes and puts you into that first person perspective, like you

are playing. You see the ball like it's coming right at you, You see the tennis like you're holding it in your hand. I thought those shots were so great and it looked better than just slapping a go pro on somebody's head, which some other films have done to give you that same perspective, but you can kind of tell the quality in that it almost looks like it's

to like a seven to twenty p version. In this one, it was full cinematic quality in that first person perspective, and I thought that was such a great touch to really put you in that action and also created a level of pacing of it's that back and forth in tennis, which this movie also emphasizes that of showing the crowd going from left to right and showing how fast paced it is. The cinematography and storytelling was right there. Being

fast paced during those moments such a nice detail. It made me want to go out and buy a tennis racket and go hit the courts, but I'm probably not gonna do that. Best I could do is go like buy a Wii from the pawn shop and play we Tennis again. Because I used to dominate it that this movie did so many things right, I would argue it really didn't do anything wrong. And most movies I've seen so far this year, I've reached a level where I'm

ready for it to be over. This was a movie I did not want to end and the two plus hour runtime just evaporated away. And the only thing I would hold against it, I feel is maybe unfair, but it was a really hard story to wrap up with all of these loose ends, all the things that unfold in the third act, which I feel maybe went on a little bit too long for a movie that really

sold me in the first and second act. It almost lost its footing a bit towards the end because it feels like there could have been so many alternate endings to this movie, and with all the alternate endings that I could have seen, in my mind, I think they picked the wrong one. But I think that's just a personal taste for me. And sometimes it's movies ending in a way that you don't want them to end as the audience. If everything was wrapped up in a nice

little package, then all would be well. And would we really have achieved anything? Would we really have learned anything? Would we really have grown? And sometimes in life you don't get the things you want, and this was a case where I don't think I got what I want out of my characters. But afterwards, I've been thinking about it more and more in thinking how man to make a movie where there's not necessarily a protagonist and antagonist

that you're rooting for or rooting against. You could make an argument for either one of these characters because the relationship is so just wrapped and intertwined and so messy. Again, the most dangerous geometric shape is the triangle, because it just all goes around and around and around, and you could say one person was good and one person was bad, but that person could say that person was good and that person was bad, and the outcome is going to

be a bummer for everybody. And that is what I learned after watching Challengers. So in my eyes, it is almost a perfect movie, but still nonetheless a movie I feel everybody should watch in a sea of remakes and franchises and superhero movies, and to see it do fairly well at the box office this week, and here the universe gives you a movie that is free of all

those things. Maybe it's the R rating that's like, oh, I don't want to touch that one, but it's just inspiring for me to see a movie like this that feels so refreshing still be able to get made and with the movie star as big as Endea. For Challengers, I give it four point five out of five tennis rackets.

this is not for me anymore. And I think in my life, I've just been used to things that I've been passionate about, things that I've loved over the years, whether it be superheroes, things from comic books, sci fi in general, a lot of it has been geared towards me. And now it is seeing things that I grew up with and I love. And I still think this should be made for me because I am a fan of the original. And now after watching this, I realize that it's time to move on from some things and be

okay with that. Not everything is going to be for you. And I'm thirty two years old, about to turn thirty three this summer. I realize, Man, I might need to sit this one out. What this movie is about. It is a prequel to all of the Transformers movie It's a never before told story. Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry star in this movie, who I think make a great pairing. Both fantastic actors. Brian Tyree Henry has done a lot of great work at voice acting as well.

He is also in Spider Man Into and across the Spider Verse. Chris Hemsworth, he's stile or he's getting more into doing movies outside of Marvel. Hasn't really found his footing yet. Could it be voice acting. We'll figure that out by the end of this trailer park. But the story here is a young Optimist Prime, which is who Chris Hemsworth is playing, and before he was known as Optimist Prime, he was called Orian Pax. That is his

name in this movie. Brian Tyree Henry plays a character named D fourteen who ends up becoming Optimist primes rival Megatron. So this is their origin story of them being friends before they became enemies, which I think is a great premise. Other cast members include Scarlett Johansson, Keegan Michael Key, who is and everything he plays Mumblebee. In this movie, you also have John Hamm and Laurence Fishburn. The movie is

coming out later this year on September twentieth. Before I get into more how I feel about this movie and deciding it's time for me to move on a little bit, here's just a little bit of the Transformers one trailer. It's time to show him we are more than meets the eye. Can transform now free. Uh guys, that's not good. We've got these powers for a reason. Let's use them. We stand here together.

more specifically to sell toys to kids. And that is how I felt after watching this trailer, because upon first seeing the animation here, I was completely under whelm of how flat it looked. And the thing I love about Transformers is how bright and vibrant all the characters are. That is rarely what stands out in the animated show. Also in the comic books, it's what makes them stand out on shelves at toy stores, and it's also what

translated so well into the live action movies. They were so big and glossy and shiny and slick looking Optimist Prime and the red and the Blue Bumblebee in that beautiful yellow. All the characters were so distinct, and in the first minute of this trailer they all look completely washed out, and it just felt like a very poor use of animation style to make me want to see an animated Transformers movie. But more importantly, I feel that

kids would think it looks a little bit lame. I was hoping it would follow in the footsteps of movies like into the Spider Verse, where the animated teenage Mutant Indus Turtles movie they came out last year that blended too and three D animation to give it a unique

look that makes it visually interesting. Now, the story here I think could kind of match it, because it's portraying our characters here as worker bots before they get their power, so before they are able to transform, they're just regular workers, and then somehow they get their powers and they are

able to go into battle mode. But overall, there is nothing visually stunning that sticks out to me in this trailer that makes me think I need to see this on the big screen, and really nothing that I can see that is going to translate into a great new toy line, which is really the primary reason that this movie is being made. And I can't be mad at that because that is what the original series was back

in the day. All throughout history and anything targeted towards kids, that has been the ultimate goal is to make a commercial, essentially to sell a product of toys. So I just think if that is the goal they are trying to they are really lacking in the visuals department here, which is a bit of a bummer because the voice acting seems to be pretty right on and the story here

seems to be something that I am interested in. I would love to see Optimist Prime and Megatron being friends, seeing them actually be on the same side fighting against the villain, and then maybe towards the end of the movie or in a sequel, you start to see the downfall of their relationship and you see Megatron go bad.

I just think there's more potential here to not only appeal to the very very young kids, who is the key demographic here, but also appealed to all those that were fans of the show in the eighties or even the reboots of the movies in the two thousands and early twenty tens, because I think other franchises have succeeded in that teenage mutant Ninja Turtles did that perfectly, and it was cool to see people who are now parents with kids take their kids to go enjoy something that

they enjoy and it's a whole bonding experience. And also the fact that retro is so in right now with TV shows like X Men ninety seven completely bringing everybody together. I think they also missed a boat on that of not having some animation style or even allusions to that original animated series to give this a little bit more

color and make it just more interesting to watch. Other than that, you're really just banking on all the A list stars you have voicing the characters, which, hey, is Carlo Johansson in an animated movie, I'm right there with you. But aside from that, there's really nothing that sticks out to me about this trailer. And also, where is the uproar due to the fact that Peter Cullen is not

voicing Optimist Prime. Remember when everybody was so upset or fake upset whenever Chris Evans came out as the voice of Buzz light Year, and everybody wanted Tim Allen, even though those two movies were supposed to be separate from the Toy Story franchise line. Everybody was so upset about that, and that was it's so difficult to explain that that movie ended up not doing so well. But Peter Colin

has been the voice of Optimist Prime. He is the only one I could hear doing it, and I think he actually turned down the role because a producer said that Peter Colin was always the go to first choice to play Optimist Prime. But I have to believe that he turned it down because he actually consulted Chris Hemsworth

on the voice. And you can hear it there in that trailer clip that I played, because at times it just sounds like Chris Hemsworth doing his normal voice, and then other times you do hear him emulating Peter Colin with that very deep Optimist Prime voice. So I'm curious to see how that carries up throughout the entire movie. I'm not one to jump on bashing people because they

don't sound like what I expected it to. It was the whole same ordeal whenever Chris Pratt was announced as a voice of Mario and we got that trailer and everybody's like, he doesn't even sound like Mario. So I'm at least lad that that conversation isn't happening right now. But it also just shows you that people just get outraged about the weirdest things, and then once everybody starts jumping on it, it becomes a thing. I was just surprised that nobody was sticking up for Peter Colin, who

is a voice acting legend. He also did e Or in Winnie the Pooh. He was also the person doing all the voice effects for Predator back in nineteen eighty seven, and his voice has tickled all the parts of my body while going to see his movies in theaters. You also have Keegan Michael Key playing Bumblebee in this movie. He must have the best agent in Hollywood, him and Jesse Plemons, because Keegan Michael Key is almost without a doubt, going to be in any animated movie you go see.

I saw him in Migration. He was also in the Super Mario Brothers movie, and then in live action, he was also in Wonka. I think it's because he has such a great already animated voice and he really gets into voice acting, so it's not so much that he has to change his voice to fit all of these characters. He just has so much just natural talent in his voice that I feel like he is always the go to at the top of the list. Between him and Aquafina, there are no more voice acting roles to go around.

So after watching this trailer, I gotta remember that the reason it has such a comedic tone is because it's for kids, and that this movie is really not going to be for me as much as I would want it to. And I'm not opposed to going to see kids movies. Quite honestly, I enjoy them because they have that nostalgia feel they take me back to my childhood. I was just hoping it was going to have a little bit more of a niche to it, which was what they were teasing at CinemaCon, of having a little

bit of emotional depth. And maybe it's just because this trailer wants to focus on the foot elements to get kids excited about it. I didn't really see a whole lot going on emotionally in that, combined with really not having a unique animation style that I was looking for up until they get their powers, it does lighten up

a bit, it gets a little bit more slick. But if you compare it to the CGI used in the live action movies, which looks so realistic and also so much more expensive, what this movie just kind of looks like is a cheap version of that. So I feel like I'm missing out of having something worth spending my money on. But again, this movie is coming out on

September twentieth. Autobots roll out and that is this week's edition of Movie min Framer par and that is going to do it for another episode here of the podcast. But before I go, I gotta get my listeners shout out of the week. This week, I am going over to YouTube where I post individual movie reviews, so if you're not subscribed over there, be sure to check it out. I got this comment on my review of Civil War.

It is coming to us from user if you like Pina Colada's nine six six ' nine, which I have to say is a fantastic user name. They wrote, I love this movie. It was beautiful and shocking, easily one of the best movies of the year. The more I think about Civil War, the more I think that I

enjoyed it. I still highly encourage you to check it out if you've not seen it in theaters because it does have that big, loud sound that Pinicoladas was talking about there that is worth seeing in theaters because it will rattle your bones. So if you have seen that and you missed last week's episode, and go over to my YouTube channel a YouTube dot com slash Mike Distro.

And also, if you're listening on any podcast platform right now, whether it be Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or iHeartRadio, make sure you're subscribed there as well and leave a review hit those five stars. Write a quick little something about why you enjoy the podcast, because that really helps me grow in the sense of other people are able to find it, because that really helps me climb up in the podcast charts, which I'm currently battling all the other movie podcasts. I'm

trying to get top ten. So if you wouldn't mind doing that, it really goes a long way. So thank you for listening, Thank you for being subscribed, And until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later