Double Feature: Spiral: From the Book of Saw & The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

Other than having the original release date of 2020 and being delayed to the summer of 2021 due to the COVID pandemic, what do Spiral: From the Book of Saw and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It have in common?  If the answer is both come from horror franchises created by horror master James Wan, then you are right! Spiral is the ninth movie in the Saw series while Conjuring 3 is the eighth film in the Conjuring-verse. Both franchises have been hit-or-miss unless Wan is behind the camera; having directed the first Saw film and the first two Conjuring films with frightening but fantastic results. Can these latest installments manage without Wan’s guidance?

Artemis Fowl: More Foul Than Fair.

Watching Disney's Artemis Fowl reminded me of Percy Jackson and the Olympians:The Lightning Thief, another infamous adaptation based on the first installment of a well-known book series. Neither did a proper job of adapting its source material; heavily changing the main story and leaving out crucial elements from the book. 

Scoob! is a Catastrophic Case too Confounding to Crack

As a kid, I always looked forward to the next case Mystery Inc. had on their hands, whether it be the classic Where Are You? era, accompanied by celebrity guest stars (The New Scooby-Doo Movies), trapping ghosts in a cursed chest (The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo), as children during Scooby's puppy years (A Pup Named Scooby-Doo) or set in a more modern era where Simple Plan sing the best iteration of the Scooby-Doo theme song (What's New Scooby-Doo?). The high point for the franchise came with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. The gang had grown-up, the mystery was darker, the monsters were real but the camaraderie between Scooby and the gang was alive and well. It even found time to poke fun at its own formulaic formula. It was everything that the live-action film from 2002 tried to be but failed. The movies that took place in Zombie Island's continuity were more lighter fare but had their own merits from the inclusion of Tim Curry and the Hex Girls in Witch's Ghost, Shaggy and Scooby finding love in Alien Invaders, and a digital encounter with their classic counterparts in Cyber Chase.   

Double Review: Onward & The Way Back

Two paths to take. Which should you choose? To go Onward with Pixar or The Way Back with Ben Aflleck? One is a fantasy adventure of two brothers bonding together on a road trip and the other is sports drama about a man given a second chance in life. 

Birds of Prey and the Missed Opportunity Because Harley Quinn had to be the Center of Attention

If you were expecting another home-run for DC with another female superhero movie, you'll have to wait until Wonder Woman 1984. It's a shame because the crime-fighting Birds of Prey team have had better iterations on television, only to be secondary characters in their own movie to make way for a certain popular psycho player to draw in the crowd....