the @popcollin reviews

Feeling like little more than 90 solid minutes of over-the-top mayhem and the thinnest plot this side of a nursery rhyme, this kiddie film based on the video game franchise is the very definition of ‘eh’. Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black lead the voice cast (as Mario, Peach, […]

Wildly inspired by (but not directly about) the late, great Bob Ross, this Indie comedy about the decline of Vermont’s number-one public television personality is a beyond-quirky trip into a Wes Anderson-ish world. Owen Wilson stars as Carl Nargle, who, after three decades of pleasing the masses with his gentle […]

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston reprise their roles as private detectives Nick and Audrey Spitz in this so-so follow-up to the 2019 Netflix hit. In what may be the ultimate case of if-you-liked-the-first-you’ll-like-this-one-too, the sequel comes off as essentially a ninety-minute continuation. It’s not terrible by any means, and you […]

With a wildly ludicrous coincidence as its main plot point (the two sets of parents of a young couple in love are having—or close to having—affairs with each other, without knowing their relationship to each other), this Nora-Ephron-wannabe is a comedy that never has the legs to get going, much […]

Written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg (based on his 2020 Audible drama), this comedy-drama has its moments, but overall never really figures out where it’s going. Finn Wolfhard stars as Ziggy, a wayward teenager who live-streams his original songs to fans but has no other real purpose in the world. […]

Co-written by Vince Vaughan, this raunchy take on a Hallmark holiday movie does have a couple of moments that make it pseudo-worth a watch… but not much more than that. Brittany Snow is a photographer who decides to spend the holidays with her ex’s parents (George Wendt and Julia Duffy) […]

Along the lines of ‘Wicked’ and ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’, director Karen Maine’s ‘Rosaline’ offers a unique take on an established literary work. (This time, it’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’.) Unlike those examples, however, this thing starts wearing out its welcome fairly early on, relying on the same joke over […]

Another Stephen King adaptation and another collective ‘meh’. Based on the 2020 short story, this tale of a kid whose elderly benefactor helps him out from beyond the grave, simmers along just fine… but never really comes to a full boil. Director John Lee Hancock (who also adapted the screenplay) […]

Based on the best-selling novel by Jessica Knoll (who also wrote the screenplay), this pulpy drama stars Mila Kunis as a boarding school rape victim who also survived a school shooting and is now dealing with the fallout. Despite Kunis’ hefty (and possibly career-best) performance, it’s tough to shake the […]

Sylvester Stallone (yep, he’s still kicking it at age 76) stars in this superhero flick about a long-ago crusader living in anonymity in the fictional Granite City… until a precocious kid discovers his true identity. Good timing, because a local bad guy is starting to wreak havoc. It’s not a […]