Minions & Monsters review

MINIONS & MONSTERS: 

THE MINIONS GO HOLLYWOOD IN VERY FUNNY PREQUEL…TO A PREQUEL! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Something big is coming in Minions & Monsters

 

            Gru’s Minions have returned and this time, they’re invading the film industry in Minions & Monsters, the latest installment of Illumination’s Despicable Me franchise and the third Minions movie after 2015’s Minions and 2022’s Minions: The Rise of Gru. As I’ve said in my reviews for the other Despicable Me and Minions movies, the franchise is pretty hit-or-miss with a lot of reliance on silly gags and slapstick for the kids, but they’re often mixed with genuine heart, particularly with ex-supervillain Gru and his family. 

            For the most part, I think the formula works well enough, though there have been times where the tone is inconsistent and uneven, like the first Minions and Despicable Me 3 and 4. I consider these the weakest in the series, but they have their moments. The second Minions movie, The Rise of Gru, was honestly pretty funny and had decent comedic timing and visual gags; not a great movie, but a surprisingly good comedy that greatly improved upon the first Minions. 

            So, now we have a third Minions movie, and the marketing wasn’t really doing it for me; it just seemed like more of the same: Minions doing silly things with a bunch of slapstick, except now it has monsters. But I was cautiously optimistic because I did enjoy the last movie quite a bit, so perhaps the Minions in Old Hollywood might be able to recreate that magic…Actually, it does. 

            Again, Minions & Monsters isn’t a great film, nor would I consider it one of the all-time best comedies, but I found it incredibly funny with a lot of nods to silent films and classic cinema. It’s easily my favorite out of the Minions movies and right up there with the first two Despicable Me films. 

            The film is set in 1920s Hollywood and follows the Minions (All voiced by the film’s director, Pierre Coffin) on their quest to serve the most diabolical villain in the world and, through several missteps, fail at keeping a job. They find themselves mistaking a movie set for a train heist and discover the magic of cinema with help from film director Max (voiced by Christoph Waltz-Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein) who casts the Minions in several silent pictures. 

            But when the studio heads begin transitioning from silent film to talkies and the Minions are unable to speak fluent English, they are fired, with one aspiring filmmaker Minion, James, not wanting to give up his passion and begins making a film of his own. However, his production needs giant monsters, so he summons a monster known as Goomi (voiced by Trey Parker-South Park, Team America: World Police, The Book of Mormon; who also voiced Baltazar Bratt in Despicable Me 3) to recruit monsters for his big movie, only for them to run amok in Hollywood. 

            The film also features the voices of Allison Janney (American Beauty, I, Tonya, Bad Education; who also had a voice role in the first Minions) as Olivia, Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland 1 and 2, The Social Network, A Real Pain) as Dort, Jeff Bridges (Tron franchise, The Big Lebowski, Iron Man) as Frank and Elwood Bright, Zoey Deutch (Everybody Wants Some!!, Zombieland: Double Tap, Nouvelle Vague) as Debbie, Bobby Moynihan (The Secret Life of Pets 1 and 2, DuckTales (2017), Hoppers) as Phillips, Phil LaMarr (Futurama, DC Animated Universe, Samurai Jack) as Howard, and the man who created Jar Jar Binks as himself. 

            Overall, Minions & Monsters is pretty much what you’d expect: the Minions doing silly and goofy things in the Golden Age of Hollywood with monsters. It’s not particularly deep or emotionally rich, but as a light-hearted, wacky comedy, I laughed quite a bit during this film and not just chuckles and small laughs, genuinely hard laughs.

            There are so many parodies and homages to classic films in this that just had me smiling and laughing every time one would come up, from nods to Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, and Charlie Chaplin movies to the famous Rosebud scene from Citizen Kane. They even do an entire chase sequence with a monster that’s edited like it’s from a silent comedy film, complete with silly music. 

            There’s also an entire B-plot involving a “Robot” named Dort that a bunch of Minions ally with because he claims to be the conqueror of the world that’s probably there to pad out the runtime, but I giggled quite a bit at how strange and odd his scenes are. Also, completely forgot it was Jesse Eisenberg doing his voice; I’m shocked he doesn’t do much voice acting in animation; he’s got a perfect voice for it. 

            Speaking of voice acting, Trey Parker once again continues to be a treasure in the Despicable Me/Minionsfranchise, but where Balthazar Bratt in Despicable Me 3 sounded like a supervillain Randy Marsh, Goomi has the voice of a high-pitched South Park child voice, and his delivery is freaking hilarious. But unlike Despicable Me 3, he has a consistently good movie surrounding his vocal performance this time around. 

            There’s not a whole lot to say about this movie; Minions & Monsters is a funny movie that kids will surely enjoy, and even adults will get some good laughs out of. This is the Minions formula really working, where you put them in different situations and hilarity ensues. It knows people are there just to laugh and have fun, and it delivers just that; if you wanted something more, then you would have gotten a ticket to see Toy Story 5 next door instead. 

Jackass: Best and Last review

JACKASS: BEST AND LAST: 

JOHNNY KNOXVILLE, STEVE-O, WEE MAN, AND THEIR FRIENDS TAKE YOU FOR ONE LAST OUTRAGEOUS RIDE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND MTV ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS

Johnny Knoxville and his team of Jackasses are back in Jackass: Best and Last

 

            Hello, I’m Nico, and this is supposedly my final Jackass movie review. Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man, and the rest of the gang return with Jeff Tremaine back in the director’s chair for one final ride in Jackass: Best and Last, the fifth main entry installment of the Jackass film series based on the MTV television series of the same name. As someone who was getting into very dumb, raunchy stuff in middle and high school (South Park, Family Guy, Beavis and Butt-Head, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, etc.), I think Jackass is friggin’ hilarious, and despite its idiotic and lowbrow exterior, there actually is quite a bit of thought put into many of their ridiculous stunts plus great comedic timing. 

            It’s a prime example of something that’s smart in its dumbness, with a TV show kicking it off followed by a series of movies from 2002-2026 and even a spin-off film, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa in 2013, which was kind of like Jackass’ version of Borat. I’m personally not as nostalgic for the Jackass show, but I’ve watched the movies many times on DVD, and I even saw Jackass 3D in theaters with a bunch of my friends in high school. 

            Still to this day, Jackass still makes me laugh even in my late-20s, early-30s; 2022’s Jackass Forever was a great watch with a crowd, and now, Jackass: Best and Last, while I’m not sure I’d call it the best personally, gave me exactly what I was looking for. By the time the fifth Jackass movie came around, you pretty much know what you’re getting into, and outside of the shocking things they do to each other on-camera, there really aren’t many surprises. 

            But as someone who loves the franchise and the formula, this was a great time and had me laughing constantly. However, what’s interesting about this film is it’s also a collection of the franchise’s best stunts from across the previous movies and the show, never-before-seen footage, and behind-the-scenes bits with new stunts and pranks added in to make it feel like a finale. 

            The film follows Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man, Chris Pontius, Dave England, Preston Lacy, Danger Ehren, Poopies, Rachel Wolfson, Zach Holmes, Dark Shark, and Jasper Dolphin…doing what they do best, pulling off outrageously crazy and dangerous stunts, pranking each other, and breaking out the gross-out humor. Things like a Robotic Rectal Exam, The Escape Room from Hell, Poopies on a balance beam with a shock collar on his penis, and Steve-O launching a ping pong ball out of his ass. 

The movie also shows the origins of Jackass via a 1998 video of Johnny Knoxville shooting himself in the chest (FYI he had a bulletproof vest on and padded it with Hustler magazines) and includes a greatest hits collection of the franchise’s best moments from the movies and the series such as the High Five from Jackass 3D, the Big Red Rocket from Jackass Number Two, Silence of the Lambs from Jackass Forever, and even a bit from the show involving Brad Pitt, I dare not say what they do to him if you’ve never seen the stunt. 

Jackasses doing dumb things, laughing at each other, and hitting each other in the nuts, all that good stuff, but there actually is something pretty heartfelt and nostalgic hearing the cast members reminisce about major moments from Jackass. All wrapped together in a blood, urine, feces, splooge, and animal bodily fluid-stained bow. 

Overall, Jackass: Best and Last is…well, a Jackass movie, and while I can’t say there’s anything in here for the uninitiated (I mean, this is movie #5 so, I’m not expecting any uninitiated people going to see this…unless they were dragged by someone who really loves Jackass), fans will surely have a great time at the theater. I was laughing, wincing, and covering my eyes very often during the film, though I wish I had a better crowd (It was only three other people and me). 

The Jackass movies are better in a theater when you have a big crowd laughing and reacting to everything, and if you’re able to see it that way, it makes a huge difference. Still, I laughed, reacted, and had a good time, which is really what these movies are all about. 

It was really neat to see all this unseen footage of Jackass, and it’s pretty crazy that Johnny Knoxville and these guys essentially risked their lives in hopes of making the show, bringing it to air, and finding an audience. Hey, in some bizarro universe, when Johnny Knoxville did the gun stunt, he actually died, and that universe never got a Jackass. 

Anyway, seeing where they started and how this franchise grew over the past two decades with old and new cast members (One of whom has passed away, Ryan Dunn) and them finding new and insane ways of pushing the envelope for what they could get away with is really fascinating. My jaw was on the floor when old footage of Johnny Knoxville dressed like an escaped convict with handcuffs on going into a tool shop to buy a hacksaw and was nearly arrested, thus putting Jackass on hiatus before MTV even picked it up; it was wild. 

It’s a good time, but I do have some issues that make me favor Jackass 3D, Forever, and Number Two over it, reusing the old stunts from the other movies and show. Don’t get me wrong, it was nostalgic seeing all those stunts again on the big screen, but we had already seen them before and aside from the occasional never before seen bit during filming, most of them play exactly the same, it was probably just so Ryan Dunn and Bam Margera (Who was fired during Jackass Forever’s production) could technically still be in the film since it’s the last…supposedly. 

I don’t think Jackass: Best and Last is the best in the films (I personally like Jackass 3D the most), but it’s a good sendoff for Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Wee Man, and all their dumb pals. Fans of the franchise will surely get what they’re looking for, and it’ll definitely be the most epic film release of 2026…*Looks over at posters for The Odyssey, Dune: Part Three, and Avengers: Doomsday*…Yup! 

Supergirl review

SUPERGIRL: 

A SUPER…FINE SUPERMAN SPIN-OFF! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DC STUDIOS (WARNER BROS. PICTURES)

Milly Alcock as Supergirl

 

            Before anyone asks, yes, this is better than the previous Supergirl movie from 1984. Anyway, Superman’s cousin returns to the big screen in Supergirl, the second installment of James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe and spin-off of his Superman movie from last year. I’ll be honest, I’m no expert on Supergirl. I never read any of the comics featuring her, but I knew about her and had a basic understanding of the character. 

            That’s not to say I wasn’t completely devoid of Supergirl fare, I really enjoyed the CW Supergirl TV series from 2015 that starred Melissa Benoist and was part of the ArrowVerse and…I subjected myself to the terrible 1984 Supergirl movie starring Helen Slater and Faye Dunaway before watching this one, which is like Superman IV: The Quest for Peace if it had an actual budget, but still just as awful. Needless to say, Supergirl has had a pretty shaky history when it comes to adaptations, but I was curious when this new film version of the character was announced, with Superman (2025) director James Gunn (Slither, Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, The Suicide Squad (2021)) producing, while Chris Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella, Dumb Money) directs. 

            I thought the movie looked fine from the advertisements, and I thoroughly enjoyed Gunn’s Superman film last year. I was hoping the cast and crew would be able to recapture some of that magic with this, and…Supergirl is alright. This is a perfectly serviceable interpretation of Supergirl with good performances and decent action, but if you’re looking for something on par with the 2025 Superman…no!

            The film follows Kara Kent/Supergirl (Milly Alcock-Upright, House of the Dragon, Sirens) partying hard on several planets with her super-dog, Krypto in celebration of her 23^rd birthday. But when Krypto is suddenly attacked by a group of space pirates known as the Brigands, Supergirl reluctantly joins forces with a young girl named Ruthye (Eve Ridley-Casualty, The Witcher, Emerald) who vows revenge on the Brigands' leader, Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts-Rust and Bone, The Danish Girl, The Old Guard 1 and 2) for murdering her father. 

            The film also stars David Krumholtz-Harold & Kumar trilogy, Oppenheimer, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) as Zor-El, Emily Beecham (1899, Hail, Caesar!, Daphne) as Alura In-Ze, Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones, Fast X, A Minecraft Movie; who previously portrayed Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe) as Lobo, and David Corenswet (The Politician, Pearl, Twisters) reprising his role as Clark Kent/Superman. 

            Overall, Supergirl is a huge step down from the 2025 Superman, but it’s a fine enough superhero movie and I don’t regret seeing it on the big screen. It’s a very standard comic book movie that doesn’t aim to break new grounds and is like a mix between True Grit, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Mad Max except nowhere near as good as those and even recycles plot elements from the last Superman movie with Krypto being captured or injured and now the hero has to rescue him, didn’t we just see that in the last movie? 

            I’m not kidding about the True Grit comparison because the plot is literally about a young girl avenging the death of her father, teaming up with a washed-up character (In this film’s case, it’s Supergirl), and embarking on a quest to bring the killer to justice. I’m not saying this is bad, but I don’t think this is what people wanted with a Supergirl movie. 

            Despite its recycled narrative, I will give this movie credit that the acting is pretty solid with Milly Alcock portraying a radically different version of Supergirl compared to ones we’ve seen before and adds a lot of snarky energy and wit to her performance, she’s not trying to be like Helen Slater, Melissa Benoist, or even Sasha Calle from The Flash movie, it’s her own Supergirl and she plays it well. Jason Momoa as Lobo is f*cking great and easily the best part of the film. He is funny and completely mad every time he’s onscreen. Watching him was a blast, and I hope to see him in future DC projects because out of all the characters in the film, he left the biggest impression. 

            Everyone else is fine. I can’t say anyone is bad in this, but outside of Alcock and Momoa, I didn’t find any of the other characters to be all that memorable, not even Matthias Schoenaerts’ Krem, who is sometimes fun and hammy, but most of the time he’s just a stock villain and a significant downgrade from Nicholas Hoult’s Lex Luthor in Superman. Had he channeled more of that devilish charisma or the film made him more diabolical, he could have been a great DC villain, but as is, he’s about as memorable as Ronan the Accuser from the first Guardians movie. 

            Despite an overabundance of CGI and much of it not looking especially good, I was impressed by the practical effects and makeup on a lot of the alien creatures in this. In an age where motion-capture and computer animation are the norm with comic book movies, it’s refreshing to see aliens and monsters that are actually in front of the camera, and some of the designs were giving me Guardians of the Galaxy and Star Wars vibes. 

            The action is decent and can be pretty fun, but there is one fatal problem with the action sequences: the editing. The editing is terrible in this movie, with random cuts and unnecessary camera movements that ruin a potentially epic scene. They even go Zack Snyder slow-mo during a fight scene, and it just made me think of Man of Steel or Batman v. Superman. 

            Supergirl is a very passable comic book movie that doesn’t do anything that new or spectacular, but those looking for a decent amount of superhero fun should get what they’re looking for. It’s certainly not “Super”, but it thankfully isn’t Nuclear Man or “Save Martha!” either. 

Washington State Summer Con 2026 Recap