Rated PG-13
Opens: May 23, 2025
Kevin says MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING kinda rocks!

After two years, the second half of the latest MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE adventure has landed.

MISSION: IMPOSSILBE – THE FINAL RECKONING picks up where DEAD RECKONING ended two summers ago. Ethan Hunt has to take down The Entity, a powerful AI bent on taking over – and eventually destroying – the world. Think of it as James Bond facing off against an overblown Grok.

The MISSION: IMPOSSILBE franchise always delivers on impressive stunt work and action sequences. However, these last two films were by cobbled hubris, amounting to a six-hour two-part movie that really could have been a single, shorter feature.

THE FINAL RECKONING takes time to build to its climax, paced more like a suspense film than a summer action. In a way, it feels like a streaming series where the punch comes only in the final episode.

The final action sequence is breathtaking and beautifully shot. Unfortunately, you have to wade through a lot of slow dialogue, reiterated plot points, complicated MacGuffins, and music crescendos to get there.

Still, it’s worth a watch, especially for the cinematic experience. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING gets three shirtless Tom Cruises out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated R
Opens: May 9, 2025
Kevin says FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES kinda rocks!

It’s taken more than a decade, but Death is back for a sixth helping in FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES.

The story follows a college student who has visions of a catastrophic accident sixty years ago. She learns her grandmother cheated Death in that accident, and now the Grim Reaper is trying to get rid of everyone who survived… and their families.

If you’ve seen any of the Final Destination movies, you know what you’re getting into. The characters are served up on a silver platter to face their gory and gruesome demise in complex Rube-Goldberg situations. And if you’re a little sick and twisted like me, you’ll find the humor in it.

The writing is passable, loaded with clichés and silliness. But, silliness is kind of the key to a film like this.

Creative, bloody, and fun, it’s not for the faint of heart. And it also has a sweet moment where audiences get to say a final good-bye to horror icon Tony Todd.

FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES gets three lawn mowers out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated R
Opens: May 9, 2025
Kevin says FIGHT OR FLIGHT kinda rocks!

After a comeback with the movie TRAP, Josh Hartnett flies into an action film.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT tells the story of a burned government agent lured back to the job to find an elusive hacker on an international flight. The only problem is that dozens of hit men are also on the flight trying to kill both of them.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT takes up the challenge of having a massive, multi-layered brawl happen in the toughest of conditions. Most of the film takes place on the plane, resulting in some creative and high-octane sequences, often with hilarious results.

Whether its firearms, martial arts experts, or chainsaws, the things that made it on this plane are unbelievable, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t fun to watch.

The overall story is full of clichés and is as predictable as a Harlem Globetrotters game, but it makes things work with a committed cast and its tongue firmly in cheek. This is what BULLET TRAIN could have been if it had pared down its bloated running time.

FIGHT OR FLIGHT gets three and a half bags of peanuts out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated PG-13
Opens: May 2, 2025
Kevin says THUNDERBOLTS* ROCKS!

Marvel Studios hopes to goose its franchise back to the top with a new film about unlikely heroes.

THUNDERBOLTS* follows a rag-tag group of marginal super-villains who unite against a common enemy. Along the way, they stumble into becoming the not-so-bad guys.

It’s tempting to say THUNDERBOLTS* is Marvel’s answer to DC’s SUICIDE SQUAD, ’cause that does work on some level. However, the characters in the Marvel universe have always been rife with redemption, and it touches on how we are all flawed individuals.

While it’s a team film, the story belongs to Black Widow’s sister Yelena. Florence Pugh does the heavy lifting through a traumatic childhood and contemporary reconciliation.

This is different than other Marvel movies because it plays in a darker sandbox. Swap out the Iron Man snark for a bit of snarl and you’ve got the feel of your middle school buddies relentlessly teasing you.

In the end, THUNDERBOLTS* offers a nice diversion from the usual bright and flashy Marvel fare. Now if they would just light the actors properly so we could see what was going on, that’d be great.

THUNDERBOLTS* gets three and a half boxes of Wheaties out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated R
Opens: April 25, 2025
Kevin says THE ACCOUNTANT 2 kinda rocks!

I hope your taxes are done properly because Ben Affleck is back as the accountant you don’t want to be in charge of your audit.

THE ACCOUNTANT 2 continues the story of an autistic man who used to make a living running numbers for organized crime. After escaping from prison, he works with a secret organization to help track down human traffickers and their victims.

This sequel continues to showcase Affleck’s talent as a relatable anti-hero, and with a more developed story of him and his hit-man brother, this film leans into the whimsy and humor amid all the violence.

Jon Bernthal plays Affleck’s brother, and the two have fantastic chemistry. This alone is enough to deliver an entertaining action film.

The script does struggle to handle a lot of things – from developing the fraternal relationship to telling a rather gruesome story about the bad guys. The movie still falls into the autism-as-a-superpower Hollywood trope rather than just portraying people with autism as… well, people, but this is forgivable in the grand scheme of action films.

THE ACCOUNTANT 2 gets three and a half deductions out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated R
Opens: April 18, 2025
Kevin says SINNERS kinda rocks!

The director of BLACK PANTHER gets out a wooden stake and takes a stab at vampires this weekend.

Ryan Coogler directs SINNERS, a drama about a pair of criminal twins who return home to the deep South of the 1930s to start up a juke joint. They have to reconcile their past relationships and build a new business with dirty money… oh, and there’s also a bunch of vampires out to get them.

At its heart, SINNERS is a serious drama about the lives and struggles of Black Americans in the early 20th century. The vampire angle is more secondary… or rather, symbolic in many ways.

This leads to a deeper, richer story with complex characters in shades of gray, taking a hard look at human struggles… at least until the film goes all FROM DUSK TILL DOWN on the audience.

The biggest sin that SINNERS commits is its running time. Coogler loves to breathe in his films, but that makes them drag in many points, which happens throughout this movie.

Still, Coogler delivers a solid film that is impeccably made.

SINNERS gets three blues guitars out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated R
Opens: April 11, 2025
Kevin says THE AMATEUR kinda sucks!

Oscar-winner Rami Malek takes a stab at the everyman-seeking-revenge thriller with the new movie THE AMATEUR.

Malek plays a CIA analyst whose wife is killed in a terrorist attack. Seeking retribution, he wants to be trained in the field so he can go after the men who killed her.

The everyman’s revenge genre is popular, though the story still relies on his character as an IT genius for the CIA. But beyond that, a significant portion of the film plays out like a standard spy story with few stand-out thrills.

It’s not uncommon for a movie to present its best moments in the trailer, but THE AMATEUR practically turns this into an art form. Not only does the trailer telegraph every satisfying moment, but it does so with better pacing and writing than the full-length feature.

Malek seems bored throughout the movie, and the muted, dimly-lit cinematography doesn’t help. What could have been vibrant and thrilling is presented in shades of gray.

There’s a decent story hiding somewhere in THE AMATEUR, but you’ll need an expert spy to find it.

THE AMATEUR gets two encryption codes out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated PG
Opens: April 4, 2025
Kevin says A MINECRAFT MOVIE kinda rocks!

Hoping to capture the success of THE LEGO MOVIE and SUPER MARIO BROS., Hollywood is bringing another game to life.

A MINECRAFT MOVIE brings the viewers into the world of Minecraft, where players can build anything they can imagine. When a trouble teen and a has-been videogame champ stumble upon a portal to the Overworld, they team up with Steve to stop a threat.

Very much like the world of Minecraft, this movie is a scattershot of admittedly cool ideas with forced connective tissue. This makes it schizophrenic, trying to tap into the Minecraft mythos but also tell a coherent story.

A MINECRAFT MOVIE borrows ideas from JUMANJI to BARBIE, and as a grown-up, I felt it was a mess. A fun mess, sure, but a mess none-the-less.

Only the committed performances of Jack Black and Jason Momoa kept the film from completely falling apart.

If you’re a kid, you’re gonna love A MINECRAFT MOVIE. But I am a grown-up, so it only gets three Endermen out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated R
Opens: March 28, 2025
Kevin says A WORKING MAN kinda sucks!

Jason Statham goes on another rampage in the new film A WORKING MAN.

The story follows a military vet who works a humble construction job pulled back into a world of violence when the daughter of a friend is kidnapped. He goes on the warpath to get her back and punish anyone involved.

This film falls into an emerging subgenre of action films about average Joes going after human traffickers. Never mind that this isn’t actually how most trafficking works. It serves as a male-centric hero fantasy.

What this movie does well is the fight sequences where Statham dispenses justice. At those moments, it’s exciting, visceral, and thrilling.

What this movie doesn’t do well is… everything else. From a nonsensical script and goofy acting to presenting the most flamboyant version of the Russian mob we’ve ever seen, where anyone over 40 dresses like a mortician and anyone under 40 looks like they use Flavor-Flav’s stylist.

Statham is good doing what he does best, but the movie as a whole with its absurd moments and cartoonish villains doesn’t quite work.

A WORKING MAN gets two hard hats out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated PG
Opens: March 21, 2025
Kevin says SNOW WHITE ROCKS!

After months of a ballooning budget, political controversies, and off-set drama, SNOW WHITE is in theaters, and it’s a film that – for better or for worse – will turn heads.

The latest Disney live-action remake takes a new perspective on the Mouse House’s first full-length animated film.

Rachel Zegler stars as the title character, a princess reduced to scullery maid by her evil step-mother. After being abandoned in the forest, she meets seven dwarfs who help her try to win back her kingdom.

Director Marc Webb walks a tightrope with this film, keeping true to the imagery and flavor of the original while filling in the gaps to tell a full story. After all we have to admit the 1937 version has only about 20 minutes of story, no real character development, and moments that don’t quite hold up 88 years later.

A lot is added, but it doesn’t feel bloated like BEAUTY AND THE BEAST or THE LITTLE MERMAID. With a fantastic performance by Zegler and a great look – though admittedly clunky presentation – by Gal Gadot, this new Snow White is remarkably bright, entertaining and fun.

SNOW WHITE gets four apples out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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Rated R
Opens: March 14, 2025
Kevin says NOVOCAINE kinda rocks!

The Nepo Babies leap into action this week with the new film NOVOCAINE.

Jack Quaid stars as an assistant manager at a bank who has a crush on one of the tellers. When they finally go out, he confides in her that he has a medical condition in which he does not feel pain.

When a group of bank robbers, led by Ray Nicholson, takes the teller hostage, he embarks on a mission to save her while taking full advantage of his kinda-sorta super power.

This film has some entertaining and often hilarious action set pieces, bringing a frenetic energy to keep things going. And that’s good because there’s enough silly logic and factual nonsense in the script to make Bugs Bunny blush.

Quaid makes things work because he has taken a different image path than daddy Dennis, playing the nerdy guy in extraordinary situations. Though Nicholson channels his papa Jack too much and comes across as a bad SNL caricature.

Still, NOVOCAINE is a good time as long as you check your brain at the door.

NOVOCAINE gets three and a half epinephrine injections out of five. I’m Kevin Carr, and that’s the way I see it.

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