Chuck's Movie Breakdown

        Hey guys, Chuck here. And, it's time to talk about, quite arguably, one of the best baseball drama films ever made: Field of Dreams . Based on the bestselling novel Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, this film from Universal Pictures was written and directed by Phil Alden Robinson, and stars Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta, Amy Madigan, Timothy Busfield, Dwier Brown, and Burt Lancaster.        The movie tells the story of Ray Kinsella, an Iowa farmer living with his wife, Annie, and daughter, Karin. One night, while walking in his cornfield, Ray hears a voice telling him "If you build it, he will come," and sees a baseball diamond in his cornfield. With the blessings of Annie, but to the confusion of others in town, Ray clears out a decent section of his cornfield to make space for a baseball field. Unfortunately, the cost of making the baseball field and lack of corn to recoup the cost leaves the Kinsella family in danger of losin...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. F1  is the latest film from director Joseph Kosinski, who of course had a massive success a few years ago with Top Gun: Maverick. This movie, released by Warner Bros. and produced by Apple Original Films and Jerry Bruckheimer, stars Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Kerry Condon, Damson Idris, and Tobias Menzies.         So, the movie focuses on Sonny Hayes, who finds himself brought back into the world of racing in Formula One as part of the APXGP racing team, which includes young upstart named Joshua "Noah" Pierce, who is both Sonny's teammate and rival in racing Formula One.         So, I will admit that I am far less familiar with Formula One by comparison to my familiarity with NASCAR. But, I will say that I absolutely LOVED this movie. First off, this is easily Ehren Kruger's best screenwriting work, and the fact that he co-developed the story with director Joseph Kosinski is absolutel...

         Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's been a while since we talked about the Netflix animated series Carmen Sandiego , and it was in my review of the series that I mentioned that a new Carmen Sandiego video game was being made for a 2025 release. Well, in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Carmen Sandiego  franchise, the game is officially here, and I have a few thoughts on it.         So, the game sees the player take control of Carmen, marking the first time in the game franchise that Carmen herself is the central protagonist. With help from her long-time ally, the White Hat Hacker known as Player, Carmen embarks on a globetrotting journey to follow clues, gather Intel, and help ACME bust the various capers being carried out by operatives of VILE. And, Carmen gets another ally in this game in the form of Agent Hyde, who is a new recruit for ACME.         Each caper is pretty straightforward. C...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, it's finally time to dive in to Nickelodeon's annual event: the Kids' Choice Awards,  which were hosted this year by international music star Tyla. There were tons of celebrities, slime, and orange blimps being handed out, so let's see who the big winners were this year.       So, in the Movies category, the winners were as follows: Wicked (Favorite Movie), Jack Black (Favorite Movie Actor for A Minecraft Movie ), Ariana Grande (Favorite Movie Actress for Wicked ), Inside Out 2  (Favorite Animated Movie), Dwayne Johnson and Auli'i Cravahlo (Favorite Male and Female Voice from an Animated Movie for Moana 2 ), Jim Carrey (Favorite Villain for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ) and Emma Myers (Favorite Butt-Kicker for A Minecraft Movie ).      In the Television category, the winners were as follows: The Thundermans: Undercover (Favorite Kids' TV Show), Jack Griffo and Kira Kosarin (Favorite Male and Fem...

       Hey guys, Chuck here, and today marks the official fifty-year anniversary of the release of the Universal Pictures classic: Jaws . The movie that made audiences afraid to go into the water, this 1975 classic, often dubbed "the original blockbuster," was directed by Steven Spielberg, and stars Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Lorraine Gray, and Murray Hamilton.          The movie is set on Amity Island, which is preparing for it's annual Independence Day celebration, which means a lot of beachgoers. However, multiple individuals have been victims of a shark attack, prompting concern from Amity Island's police chief Martin Brody, who wants to hold off on any festivities and close the beaches until the matter is properly investigated. This doesn't sit well with Amity Island's mayor Larry Vaughn, who urges Brody to reconsider closing the beaches, as their closure could lead cause the summer economy to suffer. But, when a bounty...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. And, it's certainly been a while since I've talked about one of the James Bond movies, hasn't it? So, just for fun, I'd like to take a look at the 1989 Bond film Licence to Kill , starring Timothy Dalton as James Bond, and also starring Robert Davi, Carey Lowell, Anthony Zerbe, Talisa Soto, Benicio del Toro, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Everett McGill, Grand L. Bush, David Hedison, Wayne Newton, with Desmond Llewellyn as Q, Caroline Bliss as Moneypenny, and Robert Brown as M.         So, the movie opens with the DEA getting ready to arrest Latin-American drug lord Franz Sanchez. The DEA is joined by ex-CIA agent, currently a DEA agent, Felix Leiter, who is getting married that very day, and MI6 agent James Bond, who is to be Leiter's best man. The arrest is successful, and Leiter's wedding goes off without a hitch. Unfortunately, another DEA agent named Ed Killifer manages to help Sanchez escape from custody, and Sanche...

        Hey guys, Chuck here. Back in November, I talked about the '90s family classic Free Willy , and how the led to a grassroots movement by fans, specifically children, to convince marine wildlife experts to put the film's animal star, an Orca named Keiko, on the path to freedom. Well, while the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation worked tirelessly on the ambitious project, Warner Bros. capitalized on the success of the film by producing sequels, which certainly helped keep the public aware of the ongoing efforts to rehabilitate and eventually free Keiko.          The first of these sequels was the 1995 film Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home , which would be directed by Dwight H. Little, and would see the return of cast members Jason James Richter, August Schellenberg, Michael Madsen, Jayne Atkinson, and Mykelti Williamson. New cast members for this movie would include Francis Capra, Mary Kate Schellhardt, Elizabeth Peña, Jon Tenney, and M. Emmett...

       Hey guys, Chuck here, and this is my review of How to Train Your Dragon , Universal and DreamWorks' live-action reimagining of the 2010 animated film of the same name, which in turn is based on the novel by Cressida Cowell. This movie was written and directed by Dean DeBlois, and stars Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost, Julian Dennison, and Peter Serafinowicz.        So, to quickly recap the original How to Train Your Dragon animated series, the story follows Hiccup, a Viking from the isle of Berk, who manages to befriend and form a bond with a dragon. Specifically, a Night Fury that he named Toothless. The friendship between Hiccup and Toothless goes on to have an impact on the rest of Hiccup's clan, who all begin to befriend various dragons that aren't a danger to them. And, these friendships between Vikings and dragons is explored over the course of a film trilogy, that sees Hiccup and Toothless face various new threat...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, last month I discussed the 2003 game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic . Today, I'm taking a look at its 2004 sequel Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords . Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, as opposed to BioWare, The Sith Lords was not nearly as well received as its predecessor, but was still fairly entertaining to play.         Much like the original Knights of the Old Republic, The Sith Lords has the player, who takes on the role of the Jedi Exile, choose their character class and gender. And, much like how Star Wars Legends canon set Revan as a Light Side male in the first game, the Jedi Exile, according to canon, is intended to be a Light Side female named Meetra Surik. However, it's entirely player's choice. Male or female, Jedi Guardian, Jedi Sentinel, or Jedi Consular, and of course the morality system setting up for either Light Side or Dark Side, and based on player choices. Howeve...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. From the world of John Wick comes the new action movie Ballerina , directed by Underworld director Len Wiseman, and starring Ana de Armas, Angelica Huston, Norman Reedus, Gabriel Byrne, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Ian McShane, and Keanu Reeves.         The movie, which is set sometime around the events of John Wick: Chapter Three - Parabellum , this movie follows Eve Macarro, a ballerina who was trained in the ways of the assassins by the Ruska Roma, and the journey she takes to avenge the death of her father, which sees Eve meet some familiar faces, such as Winston and Charon at the New York Continental, as well as the Baba Yaga himself: John Wick.          So, the plot of this movie is pretty basic and straightforward, much like that of the very first John Wick . But, where the movie falls slightly short in plot it makes up for in action. And, the action scenes are absolutely fantastic, espe...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, I finally got to see the live-action remake of Disney's Lilo & Stitch , directed by Dean Fleischer Camp, and starring Maia Kealoha, Sydney Elizabeth Adugong, Amy Hill, Kaipo Dudoit, Courtney B. Vance, and Tia Carrere, with the vocal talents of Chris Sanders, Billy Magnussen, Hannah Waddingham, and Zach Galifinakis.         So, the plot of this movie is pretty verbatim to the animated original. The Galactic Federation has captured Dr. Jumba Jookiba and his latest creation, Experiment 626, and the latter escapes in a red space cruiser. Crash landing on Earth, 626, later referred to as Stitch, comes to be taken in by a girl named Lilo, who is being raised by her elder sister Nani in Hawaii, and all manner of hijinks ensue.       Where to start? First, the human performances were really good. Both Maia Kealoha and Sydney Elizabeth Adugong were fantastic as Lilo and Nani, and their dynamic...

       Hey guys, Chuck here. Karate Kid: Legends is the newest film in the Karate Kid franchise, and it stars Jackie Chan, Ralph Macchio, Ben Wang, Ming-Na Wen, Sadie Stanley, Joshua Jackson, and Aramis Knight, and is directed by Jonathan Entwhistle.         The movie follows kung fu prodigy Li Fong, who was trained by Mr. Han, as he and his mother move to New York. It's here where he grows close to a girl named Mia, and meets her father Victor, who is a former boxer and pizzeria owner. Unfortunately, Li draws the attention of local karate champ Connor, and Li must face him in the upcoming Five Boroughs karate tournament. To help prepare Li, Mr. Han recruits Daniel LaRusso to travel from Los Angeles to New York to train Li in the art of Miyagi style karate.        So, I  should mention that the summary I just gave is only the back half of the movie. The first half sees Li growing close to Mia, as well as Mia's father ...