Will It Make 1 Billion? + Movie Review: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes + Trailer Park:  Despicable Me 4

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's movie podcast. I am your host Movie Mike. Today I want to share with you my summer box office preview, where the question is going to be, will it make a billion dollars box office? Right now? Look in a little dismal compared to where we were last year. So out of all the big movies coming out in the summer, even some later this year, which one has the best chance of crossing that billion dollar mark which is huge. In the movie review, we'll be talking about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. And in the trailer park we're breaking down Despicable Me for I saw the trailer who went to go see The Fall Guy and Man, the Minion just make me happy. So I want to share my thoughts with that movie coming out later this year as well. Thank you for being here, Thank you for being subscribed. Shouts to the Monday Morning Movie crew. And now let's talk movies.

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Speaker 2: In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast. A man with so much movie knowledge peace basically like a walking IMTB with glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network. This is Movie Mike Movie Podcast.

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Speaker 1: If you're listening to this episode on release day, which is May thirteenth, twenty twenty four, there is still not a billion dollar movie out. By this time last year, we had one already and it was a little bit un well, I don't want to say not expected or unpredictable, but it was a Super Mario Brothers movie, which is a great animated movie, and it was the first one in twenty twenty three to do it. Movie came out in April fifth, and by April thirtieth it had already made one billion dollars, which is amazing for an animated movie. Didn't really see that coming, but you think about how big the Super Mario franchise is. A movie made for kids that was just fun. There was nothing attached to it in any way. You didn't have to know a whole lot about it, so really, on paper, it had although recipe to make a billion dollars. It's also a big international film because not only a Super Mario super popular in America, it is a world wide property. So that was the first one, and there was only one other movie last year to cross that billion dollar mark, and it was Barbie, which ended up being the highest grossing movie of last year, making one point four billion dollars at the box office. But outside of those two movies, really nothing else came close except Oppenheimer, which was nine hundred and seventy two million dollars. Guardians at the Galaxy three finished around eight hundred and forty five million dollars, and rounding out the top five was fast Ax making seven hundred and four million dollars at the global box office, which is even a little bit below what they expect for Fast and the Furious movies, which are also big international movies that usually crossed that billion dollar mark. But The Fall Guy was said to be the start of the summer blockbuster season that opened to pretty underperforming numbers with one hundred and thirty million dollar budget, making around forty five million dollars in its opening weekend. I think, I think eventually it will at least break even on that one thirty million, but I don't see it now being a really high profitable movie, which is kind of a bummer. And you have Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes out now, which I'll give my full thoughts in the movie review and I'll mention briefly how well the Planet of the Apes movies have been at the box office, and twenty fourteen, Dollar of the Planet of the Apes made seven hundred and ten million, and that is the highest grossing so far. War of the Planet of the Apes made four hundred and eighty nine. Rise of the Planet of the Apes in twenty eleven made four hundred and seventy million dollars. So just looking at its history and given that it doesn't have the most passionate fan base, I mean, I enjoy them. I think the first one is highly underrated, but I feel like there was much more high back in twenty fourteen when it was part of a trilogy. So I don't see them kind of restarting this series now in twenty twenty four that it's going to do better than any of the predecessors. But they could prove me wrong. So those are the two big movies out. Now, let's go through the rest the list and see what else is coming out this summer and out of all these, which has the best to cross the billion dollar mark, because so far in twenty twenty four there's not a billion dollar movie. The only one that has come close is due in part two, which has made seven hundred and eight million dollars. Godzilla and Kong the New Empire is right behind it at five hundred and forty seven million dollars, and Kung Fu Panda four rounds out the top three with five hundred and twenty million dollars. But then there is a drastic dip between three and four. At four is Ghostbusters Frozen Empire making one hundred and ninety five million dollars, and that movie is really seen as a flop. So what we see here is those big franchises are bringing in a lot of money. So when I hear people complain about everything being a reboot, being a part of a franchise, I feel like a little bit. The studios are kind of in a weird position because those are the movies that are making the money. It shows in the numbers, and the original movies aren't doing as well. Because Civil War, which is an original movie, is at number seven with one hundred and four million dollars. So I can see why they would bank on things that people know and that people have an attachment to, and then we'll get people excited and get them back into seats. But I also think it's a bad formula moving along, because if we keep just reintroducing things we're already familiar with, we're never going to get anything new and never going to have anything push the envelope and create new franchises, create new sequels, create new legacies and movies because we keep making the same thing over and over. So what I try to do is support all the movies that I really believe in, no matter how big or how small. And that's why on this podcast, I review the big blockbusters, but I also review the smaller movies to give those movies more attention. And if you don't even end up seeing them in theaters, maybe you watch them on streaming, and therefore you find attachment to that and whenever there's a new one, you go watch that one in theaters. Because honestly, I get just as an as you looking at all the movies coming out in twenty twenty four and seeing reboots and sequels, because I also crave that originality. But I also know if I want more of that originality, you have to put my money where my mouth is and talk about those and go see those as well and support them. So let's go through the rest of the list. But we're going to probably notice a trend here of a lot of the big movies that get the most attention are not original movies. That is just how it goes. But first up coming out this Friday on May seventeenth is IF, starring Ryan Reynolds. This is a movie about him and imaginary friends, which is interesting to me because we just had a movie come out earlier this year called an Imaginary which was a different take on the story. That was the Blumhouse horror movie where a kid had an imaginary friend and that imaginary friend was killing people. But here it's obviously a much more playful movie. Dear towards Failies. You have Steve Carell as the voice of the big Purple monster. I think this movie looks good in theory. It's directed by John Krasdinski, who you would know as Jim from the Office. He's also directed movies like A Quiet Place, and it doesn't really feel fully original. It almost seems like they borrowed a lot of different elements from cartoons, Saturday Morning TV shows, PBS shows. There's a little bit of a Muppets or Sesame street feel to this movie, so it doesn't really feel like it's bringing me into an entirely new world. But out of all the big movies coming out this year, it is an original movie. However, I don't think this is one that is going to cross that billion dollar mark. It'll probably make around forty million dollars in its opening weekend. It is so hard to make a movie geared towards kids right now, to get families out into the theater that's not a Disney property, And so far, there's nothing about the trailer or any of the characters that I feel really screams to a kid, hey go take me to see this movie. So I don't think that one is going to cross a billion dollar mark. May twenty fourth is an interesting date because we have two big movies coming out that are very different. So you have some counterprogramming here on May twenty fourth. Furiosa a Mad Max saga which actually looks pretty good. It is the prequel to Mad Max Fury Road, which came out in twenty fourteen. That movie caught me off guard on how much I ended up loving it, and that was a theater experience that I was completely immersed in. The visuals in Mad Max Fury Road are some of the best of the twenty tens, and I think I wasn't prepared for that. I wasn't prepared to be so invested in the story, and it so greatly improves on that franchise, and it also got so much critical acclaim. For a movie like that to do so well, it was kind of a no brainer for them to do another installment, and instead of making a sequel to that one, they made the prequel. And I feel like that attention it got from awards and all the critics loving that one, I don't really feel Furiosa getting that same attention because of the leads in this movie. It's Chris Hamsworth who is greatly trying to remove himself from thor and being the action guy. And then you have Anya Taylor Joy, who has become an incredible star not only in movies but TV shows like The Queen's Gambit. She was great in the Menu, but she is not quite yet at that level of movie star that is gonna pull in a billion dollars. And then if you look at the history of Mad Max at the box office, Fury Road, although it had a critical acclaim, it opened to forty five million dollars and then ended up making three hundred and seventy nine million dollars at the worldwide box office, so it didn't even cross the half a billion dollar mark. I don't feel there being any more hype for this movie, so I don't think Furiosa will get there. Also, on May twenty fourth, you have the Garfield movie coming out with Chris Pratt voicing a lovable Garfield who hates Mondays and loves Lasagna. I used to love Garfield and Friends the TV show as a kid, but none of the movies have really done the cartoon justice. He had the original one, which came out with Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, and I remember when that movie came out, I was like, why is Bill Murray the voice of Garfield? But what actually happened is there is a famous directing brother group called the Cohen Brothers, and Joel Cohen is a part of that and Bill Murray has worked with him. They've done movies like Burn after Reading Fargo and a lot of other movies, won a lot of awards. They're pretty famous in the movie industry. So he agreed to do it because he thought Joel Cohen was the one who was doing this movie, but there's a different Joel Cohen who spells it differently. There's one of the Coen brothers that spells at coe in and this other guy named Joel spells at cohg in, and he is responsible for writing movies like Daddy DeCamp and Cheaper by the Dozen. So he just finally said, oh, yeah, Joe Cohen's doing it, I will be the voice of Garfield, not knowing it was not the same Cohen. So I think it's interesting that you have two completely different movie styles coming out on the same weekend, but neither of those movies are going to cross that billion dollar mark. I see Furiosa doing better and Garfield just will probably not do so well. Next up on my summer blockbuster list on June seventh, we have Bad Boys Ride or Die. And as much as I enjoyed Bad Boys for Life, which came out in twenty twenty, I think that should have been the end of the franchise. A fourth movie really feels like a cash grab, like they're milking it. It also kind of feels like to me that Will Smith is trying to still do damage control and get audiences to like them again. I'm going to go see this movie more so for Martin Lawrence than I am going to see it for Will Smith. When Bad Boys for Life came out in twenty twenty, opened in January before the world shut down, so is one of the highest roasting movies of twenty twenty for that reason, making four hundred and twenty six million dollars. The trailer for this one actually looks a lot better than I was expecting it to, but it still has that same formula that we just got in Bad Boys for Life, and even the name of the movie to make a fourth when they should have saved it, because you could have made it Bad Boys with the number four life. That makes a lot more sense. So even the title says to me that they meant to just do a trilogy, be done with it, had nothing else going on, and decided to make another one. But like I said, it's the first major movie that Will Smith has done since the twenty twenty two Oscar slap. Emancipation had already been filmed by the time that that happened, So this will be the true test on whether or not audiences are ready to I don't even want to say forgive them, because I think for the most part we've forgotten and moved on from it. But it also has changed the perception of him in a lot of ways, and it's done some damage to people that you really can't fix back, no matter how many movies you make in the Bad Boys Men in Black franchise, or even if you did another Independence Day, or even if you brought the Fresh Prince back himself. So this is one I think is going to open to some pretty sobering numbers for Will Smith, and I feel like he's really going to have to reflect after this movie does not make back that ninety million dollar budget. I think it's gonna be kind of a harsh reality for him, which I'm starting to see across the board for a lot of people who were famous in the late nineties early two thousands and have had this level of fame for so long. We're at a time now where those people aren't that cool anymore, and you can't really write off that same success as you did back when you were crushing it. I think he is somebody who is suffering from that. Now. We're seeing people on the music side, like Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Lopez put out albums and nobody really cares about him. So along those same lines, I could see Will Smith doing movies like this and nobody really caring about him. So not only do I do. I don't think it'll make a billion dollars. I don't think it'll make half a billion. I think it would be pretty generous to even make two hundred million dollars. Also, when June, you have Inside Out two from Disney and Pixar. In this one, Riley is now a teenager. Joy is back voiced by Amy Poehler, but you have new emotions like anxiety voiced by Maya Hawk, who was one of my favorite new actresses. Other new emotions include envy and embarrassment. So of all the Disney movies, this is the one I'm actually excited about because Inside Out one is so great. It also teaches kids about their emotions and it also helps adults like me who struggle with their emotions. But Inside Out one has some moments that really punch you in the gut, probably the most impactful moments from Pixar in the last ten years. So this is one that's a sequel that I actually feel there is a reason and a story there because introducing new emotions as Riley grows older is an important thing to teach kids. But it has been a while since a Pixar movie, or a Disney movie for that matter, has reached the billion dollar mark. The last Pixar movie to do it was in twenty nineteen Toy Story four that made just over a billion dollars. Before that was also in twenty nineteen with Aladdin on the Disney side, And you think about those two movies, Toy Story, I would say is the biggest property that Pixar has, and Aladdin back in twenty nineteen had much more of a demand for it. But both of those movies just barely crossed a billion dollar mark. Inside Out in twenty fifteen made eight hundred and fifty million dollars worldwide, and I think, so far on the list, this one has the best chance of doing it. The only problem that there is right now is the whole Disney plus model and the fact that you can just wait three or four months and it'll be available for you to watch it home for a streaming service you already pay for. That is what is hurting Disney and Pixar so much. Because family are the key demographic for these movies. It's expensive for families to go to the movie theater, which is really why box office numbers are down so much this year. We don't have a whole lot of extra money. And sometimes I forget that as somebody who goes to the movies every single week because I have Regal Unlimited, so I pay that flat like twenty three bucks and I can see as many movies as I want. After I watch two movies, I'm good. But sometimes I pay attention to people there in the lobby when they're talking about it, and some people say, I haven't seen a movie in three or four years. This is my first time back in a while. And really, for the most part, unless you listen to this podcast and are more dedicated to movies, maybe you go to one or two movies a year, So which is gonna be your one big outing feel like for the most part when it comes to families, it's gonna be a Disney movie. It's gonna be a Pixar movie. So that is why I think this movie has the best chance so far of doing that. But the Disney plus model is actually shooting them in the foot, so honestly, I think it'll end up bottoming out like right. If it does really well, it'll hit about nine hundred million dollars rounding out June. A Quiet Place Day one is coming out. It is the prequel to A Quiet Place, which Part two to that was pretty similar to Part one, And as much as I enjoyed both of those movies, I like a good horror thriller movie. John Krasinski is a decent director. He hasn't really wowed me with his imagination and storytelling, but they are solid movies. I'm not that interested in seeing a prequel to how Everything happened. I just want to see more of the demise of the world. I feel like that's better to be kept a mystery and not know the origin of it. It makes it scarier in my opinion. So I don't really feel like people are gonna be flocking to the theater to see a movie like this in twenty twenty four, so that one doesn't stand a chance. On July third, we have Despicable Me for gru and the Minions are back with the baby in the mix, and I'm gonna get into more of my thoughts during the trailer park talking about Despicable Me for and as much as I was kind of on the fence for Inside Out to because of the Disney plus model. There isn't one for Despicable Me For. Everybody loves the minions. So the only movie that I would actually put money on right now so far in this list to make a billion dollars is gonna be Despicable Me For. Because I think people just need a movie like this in their life right now, and this is one that's gonna feel like the Super Mario Brothers last year, like, how was this movie continuing to make money just because the minions are funny and they earn so much money and they're the cash cow for Illuminationean. So we'll add Despicable Me For to the list and talk about it more in the trailer park. On July nineteenth, we have Twisters. It's gonna be a standalone sequel where really you don't need to know anything about the story from the original movie. But I have to imagine they're going to do a lot of things to appease those fans and reward them for being, you know, lifelong fans of a movie like this, so I am excited for it. You also have Glenn Powell, who is really on the Rise right now. Daisy Edgar Jones was really great and where the Crawdads sing Anthony, It's almost is also continuing to be an actor on The Rise. I thought he was really good in Transformers Rise to the Beast last year. They're also doing a lot of crazy promotion for this movie. They have a soundtrack with all original songs, which is something that was really big and important in the first movie. There are songs that I associate with Twister, shine On, shine On, I'm miss treat You Girl, like so many songs that were featured and sung in that movie that I love when movies had soundtracks that were impactful and moments in movies that you remember and associate this song with this movie. So for them to still have that theme going along with this one and have artists like Luke Combs out promoting the movie, I think that is also going to play a bit a key factor to the box office numbers for Twisters. But overall, I don't think it's a movie that's going to make a billion dollars, but I do think it's going to exceed expectations that people are setting for a movie that maybe seems kind of a throwaway movie of the nineties. What I'm here to say is one of my favorite movies of all time, So I'm super excited for it, and I'm glad that movie is coming out on July nineteenth, because if it came out any later in the summer, it would be struggling. So a big key factor for a movie to make a billion dollars is when it comes out. Twister's coming out on July nineteenth. The only reason I could see it fall off and not reach its full potential to get to that billion dollar mark is because on July twenty sixth, Deadpool and Wolverine is coming out, which I would also put my money on of this movie making a billion dollars. And I think Marvel is really banging on Deadpool and Wolverine to revive the MCU, which really slowly went into a decline, and people's perception of the MCU took a little hit after hit with all the TV shows that didn't really sit well with fans and movies that just left people with the bad taste in their mouth. You do one two of those and people really start to question the MCU. The fastest I've ever really seen people jump ship and say the MCU is terrible. Marvel is dead after the endgame, and it was a lot of rebuilding for them. What I think really happened is they tried to introduce so many new characters so quickly. The TV shows became a bit of a chore to watch, and the formula for the movies didn't really change much. They were introducing characters the same way. So not only were we getting burnt out on the formula, we also didn't really care about these characters. We wanted to see all the ones that we knew in love and spent over a decade with them in our life. So I do think they need to go back to the basics. Because the last Marvel movie to cross the billion dollar mark was Spider Man No Way Home. Because of how epic that one was and because how much it brought back moments from all of our childhoods, that is what they need to do right now. They are in a time where they need to bank on the nostalgia of nerds. They are crushing it right now with X Men ninety seven and making all the thirty plus year olds so happy and so excited and being dialed into that show and to disneyplus every single week. They need to have that same effect in the movie theater, and they have said that they're going to start reducing the amount of shows and movies they're coming out with, with this year, Dead pulling Wolverine being the only one they're putting out. I think that's also important too. Put all your money and intention on one property, put that out and have it be successful. And therefore, watch your girl back again, watch people be excited again. You're never going to recreate what you did of assembling the Avengers and having those movies be the bookend and pinnacle of the MCU. But in order to survive and not go the way of the Western, giving us little taste of something really good with Pristine's special effects instead of rushing everything through quickly, great stories and great characters, and the EMCU can be back. Although I never said the MCU was dead, I would never say that. So all you people at that jump ship, I'll be here, chilling, coasting down. I'll let you all back on. We're gonna be fine. Deadpool and Wolverine is going to crush it. It is easily, let me say this again, easily going to make a billion dollars or my name isn't movie Mike. It's really not. That's a name I made up for this podcast, but I would put a lot of money on it making a billion dollars. Rounding out the summer now, on August ninth, we have Borderlands, which is a movie based on a video game, directed by Eli Roth. It's an action adventure movie. Even though Eli Roth is known a lot for horror movies, He's also in Inglorious Bastards. But TV shows and movies based on video games are really hot right now, and it's been something in the history of and TV that's been really hard to get right. Look at all the bad video game adaptations that came out back in the nineties. Twenty tens were also hit or miss for video game adaptations, but now it shows like the Last of Us and Fallout, people are interested in them again five nights if Freddy's crushed at the box office. Super Mario Brothers movie we've been talking about, did really well, So everybody wants in on the video game adaptations because you have that built in audience. That is what it's all about. That's why we have so many reboots and sequels. Same way with video games, you can come out with a movie that feels original and do things that appease the fans of that video game, but also get people interested in watching the movie. Therefore, people go watch the movie, they maybe go back and play the video game. You come out with a new video game around the same time inside that franchise. That's what we call synergy problem is we may be a little bit too removed from these video games. Borderlands one came out in two thousand and nine, Borderlands two came out in twenty twelve, Borderlands the presequel came out in twenty fourteen, and Borderlands three came out in twenty nineteen. There was also a spinoff that came out in twenty twenty two. So we're not so close to the end of those games to ride off the success of the video game franchise. But we're also not that far out to make people really have time to be passionate about a Borderlands game coming out. It's not that nostalgia factor. I know. This has been a movie that's been in development for a long time. Usually, once you get a hit video game franchise, people are already chomping at the bit to put out the movie to cash in and I think some of the visuals look pretty good in the trailer, even though it really feels like they are doing a Guardians at the Galaxy impression. The main thing I feel is so underwhelming about the trailer and about all the posters out for this movie. The cast just doesn't look that good. Kevin Hard, Jamie Lee, Curtis Jack Black is in it, but he's a voice of one of the characters. It has big Hollywood movie written all over it with an expensive price tag. But just for the fact that Kevin Hart is in it alone leave me to believe that this movie is going to bomb. Even with Kate Blanchett also one of the main characters. I think this movie is going to flop, has no chance of making a billion dollars. Rounding out the summer. On August sixteenth, we have Alien Romulus coming out in twenty twenty four. Don't see that one making a billion dollars. On August twenty third, we have The Crow, which is the remake of the classic. In my eyes, Brandon Lee is the only person who should play The Crow. So I am still boycotting this movie. I don't think it's going to do well. I think it's going to tank no way of making a billion dollars. So that's really all the movies I think have the potential to make a billion dollars this summer. We have two out of all those, Despicable Me for and Dead Pull and Wolverine have the best chance in my opinion, of making a billion dollars. Looking at the rest of the year, we have Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice coming out on September sixth, so eyeing for that Halloween time. Beetlejuice has the benefit of having that nostalgia factor with the eighties being so big and prominent this year in movies. I think it'll actually do fairly well, but probably more in the three hundred to two hundred and fifty million dollar range. We also have Transformers One, which is the animated Transformers movie, coming out on September twentieth. Don't think that one will get there. The only other movie I can see having a chance at making a billion dollars is Joker Fole I Do coming out on October fourth. The first one did it, and this one looks to be like much of the same, but also advancing on the story, adding Lady Gaga. I feel like there is a big passionate fan base for an R rated movie set in the DC universe. So that is the only other movie coming out this year that I would also put my billion dollar mark on. I don't think Mufasa will get there. I don't think Sonic the Hedgehog will get there. Gladiator two is also coming out on November twenty second. I don't see that one get there. And Venom the Last Dance is coming out on October twenty fifth. That movie will be lucky to make its money back. All right, that is the list. We'll come back and talk about Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and then the trailer Park. We'll get into why I'm so excited about Despicable Me for Let's get into it now. A spoiler free movie review. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes one of my most anticipated movies of the summer. I feel like the Planet of the Apes movies as a whole are a little bit underrated. There are ten of them now. The trilogy of the twenty tens is top tier. I love those movies so much. In particular, the first one is the one that really changed my mind on the Planet of the Apes because all the original ones, the Mark Wahlberg one. I never really got too into those. I enjoyed more when the Simpsons would parody the Planet of the Apes movie, Homer Simpson screaming at the top of his lungs statue of liberty. Wait a minute, that was our planet. Damn you, damn you all ta hell. That was my introduction to the Planet of the Apes movies. So I always found the early iterations to be a little bit comical. That completely changed in the twenty tens, whenever the movies had a much more serious approach. The first movie has one of my favorite theater experiences of all time. The first time Caesar spoke in that movie. I remember people in the audience gasping. It is such a huge moment, and just to have one of the best character developments of Caesar going from the first one. Then when director Matt Reeves took over from there, it was an incredible run. But I feel like whenever people rattle off some of the best trilogies of all time, or even just the best trilogies of the twenty tens, they often get overlooked, even though they are so clutch and also performed so well at the box office, So coming from loving those movies going into this one, which it's all kind of part of one big saga, even though those first three movies now stand on their own, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is really the start of a new series. They're going to do this brand new saga. They have two more movies planned after this and maybe one more on the tail end to wrap this whole thing up. Matt Reeves is no longer directing. Instead we have director West Ball, who I'm really not that familiar with. I know he did the Maze Runner movies. He did that trilogy, but outside of that, he really doesn't have a tent poll this is what I'm known for, and I found that he had a bit of a different approach to these movies where the tone completely shifted. Now where we start off and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, it takes place three hundred years after the reign of Caesar, and all the roles have reversed because in that one, the humans around the world it takes place in modern day at that time, and the Apes are the ones who are just coming into being able to speak, being able to create their own civilization. And then that leads to that entire trilogy, So going into this one, you don't really have to know or have seen all of those original movies, but having watched those, it does help really establish in your mind who Caesar is. But within the first minute of the movie you get this slate of text telling you kind of his entire story. It really tells you all you need to know. But there are a lot of references throughout this one talking about Caesar because you have some apes in this story who have no idea who Caesar is, and then you have this bad group of apes who their interpretation of his outlook on the world and how he feels about humans is a little bit radicalized. It is almost as if they don't really know what Caesar intended and they kind of skewed it to fit their own type of mentality because they hate humans. They want to capture all the humans, kill humans. But the overall plot it centers around a character named Noah who his family gets captured. Their entire home gets completely destroyed by this radical group of apes, so it is now Noah's mission to go find and rescue his family. Along the way, and right before that, he encounters this human who keeps following him, so he is on a journey to try and find them. Along the way, he finds another ape named Raca, who teaches them about Caesar, teaches them about humans, and again they encounter this human who they are now trying to help out because even Noah is hesitant of humans, but Raka is trying to teach him that they can be friends live in harmony, because that is the way that Caesar intended. Now, all the apes in the movie can speak, they're smart, but all the humans have regressed and there was this virus that took away their ability to speak. All the roles are reversed and it is the humans now who are few and far between. They don't speak. They refer to them as echoes because they are essentially echoes of the past. The first thing that really me in with this movie was the astounding visual effects. I was really immersed into the world of Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes because it looks so beautiful, and a lot of this movie is the effects. I think maybe forty to fifty percent of the movie is all just cgi characters. And how they do these movies is they have real actors playing all these people. They have them in these motion capture suits. If you've ever seen behind the scenes some of these movies, they put all the dots on their face, so it's actually their voices and movements from their face, which I think a lot of this stuff was pioneered back with James Cameron and Avatar, And while watching this movie, that is really what it reminded me of that world of Pandora that was so immersive and so big and so huge. It kind of felt like that in a way, except less in the blues sci fi way, and more of this could probably actually happen to be in a world where humans once ruled and now these apes have taken over. So out of all the Planet of the Apes movies, this one really felt like I was on a planet of the Apes. And the visual effects just had this incredible depth that was so fun to watch, even just the little hairs on all of the apes that would flow in the wind, and how intricate it was. It really made me look at every other movie using via effects in the wrong way and think, see, it is possible to do. If you're gonna make a movie of this caliber and really want to get people into the theater to watch a spectacle. You have to make visual effects like this. It has to go next level, otherwise there's gonna be no reason for people to go see this movie in theaters. And that is also what I enjoy about these movies is they really have a reason to go see them because they are this immersive, they are this big, and I thought the movie started out with some really good action, but aside from that, I felt the pacing was a little bit all over the place. And I do understand what they are trying to do in this iteration now. They are trying to make it feel a lot different than what we have seen before and give it a little bit more room to breathe, and also focus a lot more on the story, which I think was more prevalent in this movie. A focus on what is actually happening between the relationship of humans and apes, and focus more on those idiosyncrasies. So it almost feels a little bit more sophisticated. Even though I felt the twenty ten versions were a lot more sophisticated than the movies from back in the day, it almost feels like they are taking this in another direction. So I really think that was my main issue with it. The second act kind of drags to a point that I was still invested in it, but it didn't really have me on that roller coaster of emotion and action that I was expecting. But it has about a two hour and twenty minute runtime and I really felt that and by the end of it, I was kind of ready for it to be over. And that's not the best sign. Not to say it's a bad movie, but it really felt like the best is yet to come, and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is really laying the groundwork for the two films that are going to come after introducing us to the characters, introducing us to the world, which is a hard thing to do because I feel like there is a lot going on and I don't want to spoil anything. But after watching this movie, it really easily leads into the next one, and in my head, I can kind of see how all of these chapters of the story are going to play out. So I think the next movie will be even better than this one. But I really think where this one is going to shine is in that final third movie, because I see this movie being a really perfect trilogy. But unlike the twenty eleven version, which I feel like was the best of that trilogy. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is not quite there, but it is still, without a doubt, a crowd pleaser. There were also a lot of funny moments that I wasn't expecting, and we also have a whole new cast of actors, which I was a huge fan of Andy Serkis as Caesar. I don't know that these actors have them down just yet, so maybe give them a little bit more time to get familiar with the technology. It's still the first movie, and they will also get better because I felt that while the visual aspect was there, the emotion in some of their voices and their performances didn't really suck me in. And for a movie like this that doesn't have a whole lot of humans, Freya Allen, who is the female lead in this movie, is really the only human. I needed a little bit more from her performance and her interaction with all the CGI characters because I didn't really feel that same chemistry. And it's also probably hard because in this one it's all the apes doing the speaking, which we didn't have in the trilogy before this. Really Caesar was the only one who would speak. Some of the other ones would say a few words, but they also communicated a lot with sign language with subtitle, so I feel like that took me a little bit of getting used to just the way they decided to make all of the apes speak, So I think that'll probably change a little bit as more characters get introduced later in this trilogy. So while I don't feel this franchise is going in the wrong direction, it's just not quite there for me yet. Still a good movie, still enjoyable. If you've been a fan of all the other movies, you're going to enjoy this one, But I don't think it's going to be your favorite. Looking at the box office numbers, it is performing so well, so I feel that even though people don't always talk about these movies being so good, the numbers are there, the money is there, and we're gonna keep having Planet of the Apes movies probably until the end time, until we're actually living in the Planet of the Apes. But for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, I give it three out of five horses. That was the only visual aspect that felt a little bit weird, like they almost didn't have the animation downright of seeing all the apes riding the horses. Yeah, maybe they retool that a little bit too.

00:38:46
Speaker 2: It's time to head down to movie Mike Traylor, Paul.

00:38:50
Speaker 1: The Minions are going to save cinema this summer. I was talking about it a little bit earlier. Despicable Me for is coming out on July, and I remember whenever the first Despicable Me movie came out back in twenty ten. It's now been fourteen years of Minions. I thought, what a dumb concept for a kid's movie. These weird little yellow things that speak a hybrid of Gibberish and Spanish. There's no way that this movie is going to be successful. But that movie proved me wrong because it went on to gross half a billion dollars at the box office. There are now a total of six movies in the Despicable Me franchise, including the four Despicable Me movies two Minions movies, that have grossed over four and a half million dollars total at the box office, which is a lot of money. And I want to talk about why these movies are successful, why they have a special place in my heart, and why I think Disney needs to look at Illumination, which is the company that makes all the Minions movies in order to put their trajectory back on track, because well, I don't want to get into all that now. But again, the movie is coming out out on July third, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate the birth of our nation little lovable minions. So before I get into more about what this movie is about, here's just a little bit of the Despicable me for trailer.

00:40:14
Speaker 3: Nice one, gentlemen, you will be the first to test our supercitum designed to transform you into cutting agents or babies and gentlemen secrets with a BEGUNI.

00:40:36
Speaker 1: M that just makes me laugh, hearing the minions talk and hearing them laugh and seeing them do dumb things. In that clip, we saw what is described as Mega Minions, which looks hilarious, these souped up minions. One of them looks like the thing they have, like these crazy superpowers. They're a little bit tanners, so their skin is a little bit more yellow. It looks hilarious. What a great way to bring a little breath of fresh air into this franchise, which for me, by the time you get to a part four in an animated movie, you really start phishing for ideas and sometimes it feels like you're running out of story. If you look at Toy Story four, that movie really feels like the epilogue in the entire Toy Story franchise, them kind of having like, Okay, let's make another Toy Story movie because it could be successful, it can make us some money. And now they're making Toy Story five. So I think that movie should have ended with Toy Story three. However, with the Minions, it's just NonStop fun, NonStop action, and putting them in situations that are just more and more hilarious. So this is a way that I think Disney can learn from Illumination is sometimes you just need to make a movie that is mindless and dumb for kids, because kids just want to go experience something fun. And the Minions appeal to every type of kid, like a really young kid, an older kid. They appealed to me for crying out loud. I am nowhere near the key demographic, but Mean Kelsey both enjoy going to watch a Despicable Met or a Minions movie. Back in twenty twenty two, when Minions two came out, we were so excited for it. We were the only people who showed up in the theater without kids, and we're not above that, and we had a great time. The Minions are for everybody, for kids, if for adults, for your grandma on Facebook who keeps posting the same Minions meme and gifts that have about two pixels and the entire thing over and over again. And that is what Despicable Meat is going to do. Give everybody some new things and gifts to post online. So I feel like Disney movies always have to teach a kid a lesson, which is important. I learned a lot of things from Disney movies growing up. Times. They were that parental figure in my life, teaching me things that my parents just didn't know to teach me, didn't have time to teach me. I learned a lot from different Disney movies about different emotions, different situations. They just helped me with. And I feel like that is because Disney movies are rooted in fairy tales, usually have some type of moral At times, they could probably feel a little preachy to a kid who just wants to go see an animated movie where characters do wacky things because that is what's fun, and from that that kid goes on to want to buy a toy from the movie, go buy a t shirt, a coloring book, or some kind of merchandise because they love those characters that much. And last year we saw all the Disney movies that came out in theaters didn't really translate to what they wanted them to do. But then you had Illumination put out the Super Mario Brothers movie, which was just a big, fun movie that didn't really have I don't want to say a whole lot of substance, because there is some there. I think them making Princess Peach in that movie not being the one who needed to be rescued and her instead being the one to help Mario, I think was an important lesson for kids and showing young girls and young boys that it doesn't always have to be the princess being rescued, so there can be things in Illumination movies that teach kids lessons without just shoving it down their throats. But also that movie was just big, dumb and fun at the same time, which is what the Minions movies continue to do and Despicable Me does as a franchise, and the plotlines are pretty basic in this one. We have Steve Carell back is Grew, Kristin Wigg returns as Lucy, and then you have two new villains voiced by Will Farrow and Sophia Vergara, who are trying to get revenge on Grew. And in this one they have Grew Junior, who is the baby who in the trailer loves his mom but has some beef with his dad and looks like it's going to be his job to torment his dad foil his plans, and I feel like probably by the end of the movie they will end up bonding because gru has two daughters and now he finally has his boy. But I guess he's probably in a weird position of the boy not really liking him, so it looks like he's gonna take him on some of his adventures with him, take him on a couple of heist and maybe through that they will bond a little bit. So there's also a whole other storyline being made there of Grew Junior growing up. So really, they could continue doing Despicable Me and many these movies for so many years to come. And the other thing I love about the Despicable Me franchise is they continue to advance on their animation style, and just by watching this trailer, I can see all the little cinematic touches that they are putting in the kids movie that you don't really have to include, but it really makes a difference when you go watch an animated movie with that level of sophistication on their animation style, it really becomes much more of an immergent experience. Therefore gives families a reason to see it on a big screen because it does get your attention more on the screen, and that's probably really important when it comes to younger kids who have shorter attention spans. So that combined with a fantastic voice acting as great of a career that Steve Carell has had going from television into film, this is still one of my favorite roles of his because it's so much different than everything else he does, and even though grew at the same time sounds like him but also at the same time sounds nothing like him. I think he is such a perfect fit. Kristin Wig is also great in this Miranda Cosgrove, and it's nice to see Will Ferrell in an animated movie that doesn't suck. So the Minions and Despicable Me are just a great crowd pleaser and they bring me a lot of joy. So even though for me being thirty two gonna turn thirty three next month, does feel a little bit weird to me to go watch a kid's movie, but again, I gotta watch it to talk about it here on the podcast. But now that I have Kelsey, it feels a little bit more normal, I will say. The last Illumination movie which to go see together was Migration and we walked in and we happened to see a couple who is a friend of a friend, so we know them. They were there with their kids and they saw us and we said hi, And even though they didn't say anything, I felt that tension of them wondering, I wonder where their kids are. They didn't mention anything. They were just like, oh, hey, good to see you, but I know in their head they were thinking, these two adults came here willingly. And to that, I say, yes, We'll do it again. On July third, we go watch Despicable Me four and.

00:47:39
Speaker 2: That was this week's edition of movie Bar Framer Bar.

00:47:43
Speaker 1: Oh Yeah, and that is going to do it for another episode here of the podcast. Before I go, I got to give my listeners shout out of the Week. I think this was two maybe three weeks ago where I asked you guys, if you would be so kind to leave a review of the podcast. If you listen on Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, or Spotify, you can go leave a five star review and write a quick little review because I am continuing my battle trying to reach the top of the charts when it comes to other movie podcasts. We are consistently in like the top twenty twenty five given the week, but I really want to crack that top ten. So it would mean so much to me if you went and whatever streaming service you listen on, hit that five stars and write a quick little review because it really really helps. Sitting at a four point nine rating right now on Apple podcast which is amazing. I think the person who gave me a one was somebody who complained really early onto the podcast when I was still figuring things out and they didn't like that I laughed while talking about things. So sorry, guy, sad you gave me that one, but you probably didn't stick around past episode ten. But for this week's listener shout out of the Week, I'm going to the reviews on Apple podcasts. We have a review here from pot podcast listener fourteen. You know somebody is an expert on podcasts if their username is podcast listener fourteen, they wrote great movie podcast. Mike is an excellent movie reviewer. I enjoy his podcast. I listen every Monday. He gives honest and informative reviews every week. Love the Trailer Park. That is such a great review. You could probably accuse me of hiring somebody to leave that review, but I did not. If I could figure that out, I probably would. But these are all genuine reviews. So thank you podcast listener fourteen. Appreciate that. Appreciate you right now for listening. Hope you have a great rest of your week, and until next time, go out and watch good movies and I will talk to you later