by Ted Giese Focusing on the second half of Frank Herbert’s 1965 science fiction novel, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two chronicles the rise to power of a young prince thought dead. This occurs after the tragic extermination of his father and people by their sworn enemies, House Harkonnen. The extermination took place shortly after House Atreides arrived to replace them as stewards on Arrakis, the planet that oversees the most lucrative and vital resource in the universe, the spice melange. The spice, found only on this desolate planet where it never rains, facilitates space travel, and exten ..read more

by Ted Giese In a future where the western world is at war with Artificial Intelligence (AI) while the eastern world seeks to live in harmony with them, growing fears of a secret weapon prompts the American military to attempt to neutralize the AI threat. Roped into the mission is Joshua, an ex-special forces soldier and former undercover operative who ends up on a journey of personal discovery which reveals his own unexpected relationship with the enemy.  One of the central themes of in writer/director Gareth Edward’s new film is the intersection between the compassion and love of humani ..read more

by Ted Giese A botched kidnapping attempt by the golden-skinned alien Adam Warlock gravely injures the target, Rocket. With Rocket’s condition critical, Peter Quill (“Star-Lord”) and the rest of the Guardians venture into danger to save their friend in a showdown that sees them face off against the villains who transformed Rocket from a baby raccoon into the irascible and resourceful Guardian.    At the heart of the film, then, is Rocket and his tragic background as a laboratory experiment of the High Evolutionary. This diabolical intergalactic mad scientist is revered and feared by ..read more

by Ted Giese Near the end of the Irish civil war in the 1920s just off the west coast of Ireland on the island Inisherin two long time friends suddenly become estranged when folk musician Colm Doherty stops talking to the affable but somewhat oblivious Pádraic Súilleabháin. Pádraic is flummoxed by this abrupt rebuff and has no idea why his friend won’t talk to him. The mystery of why Colm stopped talking to Pádraic and the disturbing events that unfold as a result is the driving force undergirding this dark comedic tragedy. Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, portraying Colm and Pádraic, turn i ..read more

by Ted Giese When Janette Smith brings home a hippy hitchhiker named Lonnie Frisbee to meet her father, Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, Smith is surprised to discover the young man is a street preacher. By embracing the growing swell of hippies being evangelized in the shadow of 1967’s drug, sex, and rock-n-roll “Summer of Love,” Calvary Chapel balloons from a handful of members to a couple thousand regular attendees—a symbol of the era’s “Jesus Movement” and its “Jesus People.” Directors Jon Erwin and Brent McCorkle’s adaptation of Greg Laurie’s 2018 book Jesus ..read more

by Ted Giese Black Adam is a DC film that tells the story of a modern-day return of a virtually indestructible champion Teth-Adam (Dwayne Johnson). Teth-Adam had been entombed for five thousand years following an ancient conflict with a tyrannical king, Anh-Kot, over the control of a crown with the power to open the gates of hell. When the crown is discovered by archeologist Adrianna Tomaz, the last descendant of Anh-Kot, Ishmael, tries to get it for himself. Teth-Adam—dubbed Black Adam by the end of the film—returns to save the Middle Eastern nation of Kahndaq from becoming an open gate to he ..read more

by Ted Giese Capt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, portrayed by Tom Cruise, is sent to the United States Navy’s Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI, otherwise known as “Top Gun”) to train a team of the Navy’s best pilots for a clandestine mission. With only weeks to prepare and faced with unresolved personal relationships from his past, Maverick must gain the respect of his students and prepare them for their seemingly impossible assignment before a foreign military-grade uranium enrichment facility becomes operational. Director Joseph Kosinski is proving to be a bit of a Top Gun himself ..read more

by Ted Giese Sam Raimi’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is the follow-up to Scott Derrickson’s 2016 film, Doctor Strange, which introduced neurosurgeon Dr. Stephen Strange into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  A lot has happened to the character between the first film and this one. He helped defeat intergalactic villain Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. He became foolishly entangled in Spider-Man’s multiversal-web in Spider-Man: No Way Home. In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Strange and fellow sorcerer, Wong, team up to protect a teenage girl with the ..read more

NOTE: Spoilers follow. by Ted Giese At the end of 2019’s Spider-Man: Far from Home the villain Mysterio revealed to the world Spider-Man’s secret identity. Spider-Man: No Way Home begins with Peter Parker dealing with the pressures of suddenly being known publicly as Spider-Man, and discovering that this newfound fame/infamy negatively impacts his Aunt May, girlfriend MJ, and best friend Ned Leeds. To fix the problem, Parker appeals to the sorcery of Doctor Strange, hoping to alter reality so no one remembers Peter Parker is Spider-Man. When the spell goes awry, however, Parker and his friends ..read more

by Ted Giese When Mayor Don Mitchell, Jr. is murdered, Lt. James Gordon brings Gotham City’s cowled vigilante into the homicide investigation, because a card addressed to “The Batman” is found at the crime scene. The card contains a cipher and a riddle which leads to the unravelling of high-level corruption in the mayor’s office, the city police, the court system, and Gotham’s elite class. More bodies crop up murdered in grizzly horrific ways, each pointing to some kind of retribution for corruption, and each accompanied by riddles and ciphers addressed to the Batman. This detective serial-kil ..read more