KPop Demon Hunters

Posted on July 3, 2025 at 10:19 am

B +

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grade
Profanity:	None
Alcohol/ Drugs:	None
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended fantasy-style violence, sad death
Diversity Issues:	None
Date Released to Theaters:	July 3, 2025

Let me be the first to suggest that “Golden” be nominated for a Best Song Oscar. This animated story of a Korean pop trio who battle demons to save humanity has a bunch of bangers, but “Golden” is not only the best on the soundtrack but better than several recent Oscar winners.

“KPop Demon Hunters” is an unexpectedly entertaining mash-up of two seemingly unrelated genres. It works because it is colorful, funny, imaginative, and above all heartfelt and sincere.

Rumi (Arden Cho), Mira (May Hong), and Zooey (Ji-young Yoo) are the pop trio Huntrix. They are not only musical superstars and demon hunters; they are the best of friends. They are the inheritors of the skills and responsibilities of demon hunters through the ages, protecting the world with mad fighting skills and the magic of music and its connection to the fans, which spreads a protective shield called the Honmoon over the earth, woven from their music. (There is a charming glimpse of their forebears, trios through the decades.) If they can eradicate the demons completely, the Honmoon will turn gold.

This has a personal importance for Rumi. She has not told Mira and Zooey that she is half demon, as revealed by the “patterns,” markings on her arms and neck. Turning the Honmoon golden will make her fully human.

The demons are ruled by Gwi-Ma (Lee Byung-hun). When he becomes angry at the failures of his demons to defeat Huntrix, a centuries-old demon named Jinu (Ahn Hyo-seop) makes a proposal. If Gwi-Ma will erase the memories that haunt him, he will fight Huntrix on their own turf: he will form a boy band, the Saja Boys. Their first song, “Soda Pop,” is an instant hit. The battle is on — musically and with weapons. A devastating diss track is as important as the swords. But so is the the power of telling hidden truths.

The voice talent includes Ken Jeong as Huntrix’s manager Bobby, and Joel Kim Booster and Daniel Dae Kim as multiple characters. There is some silly humor but there are also are intense fight scenes and a sad death as a character who sacrifices himself to save others. There’s also a six-eyed bird wearing a hat and pajama pants with teddy bears and “choo-choo trains.” And, as noted, some excellent songs.

Parents should know that this film includes a lot of fantasy-style violence and a sad death. There are references to despotism and evil.

Family discussion: Why did Rumi think she could not tell Zoey and Mira the truth? Why did she trust Juni? Why did he trust her?

If you like this, try: the music and videos of BTS

Heads of State

Posted on July 1, 2025 at 6:16 pm

B-

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	PG-13 for sequences of strong violence/action, language and some smoking
Profanity:	Strong language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended peril, violence, and mayhem, with disturbing images. Characters use guns, knives, martial arts, and bombs. There is a plane crash. Characters sacrifice themselves. A lot of people killed for a PG-13.
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	July 2, 2025
Date Released to DVD:	July 2, 2025

“Heads of State” is an action comedy starring John Cena as Hollywood action star turned US President Will Derringer, Idris Elba as military turned British Prime Minister Sam Clarke, and Prianka Chopra-Jonas as British super-spy and lover of silly puns, Noel. Will is a friendly, optimistic guy who may not know much about politics or policy but brings his skills as a communicator to the White House. He has high approval ratings from American voters. And some of the movie’s best jokes are the titles and descriptions of his blockbuster movie franchise, where he is referred to as “the venom in denim.”

This does not impress Sam, whose approval ratings are sinking, and who believes, understandably, that the job requires seriousness, thorough study, and substance rather than popularity. Sam says that Will still hasn’t figured out the difference between a press conference and a junket to promote a film. “You know your lines but you’re not believable in the part,” Sam says.

This is, of course, just the right set-up for antagonists-to-BFFS on a journey, a relationship forged by common enemies. With three powerhouse performers so well cast for comedy and action, the movie is guaranteed to be entertaining, despite predictable twists. For me, the balance tipped too far into the carnage for an action comedy, with dozens and dozens of anonymous bad guys mowed down, and the comedy not as sharp as it should be. On the other hand, there are a lot of cool locations, the action scenes are exciting, Jack Quaid shows up midway though (and in a mid-credits scene) to liven things up, so all in all a pleasant streaming time-waster.

It begins with the real-life annual food fight, La Tomatina in Buñol, Spain, with participants hurling tomatoes at each other. Noel is under cover as a television journalist covering the event, but she is really there to track down an international arms dealer named Victor Gradov (Paddy Considine). But Gradov is clever and has decoys to distract them. Things go badly. Sam’s intelligence briefing reports that they have all been killed.

Will is arriving to meet with Sam before they go to a NATO meeting with other world leaders. The aides to both men urge them to try to be cordial, but the always cheery Will bears a grudge over Sam’s support for his opponent and Sam has no respect for Will’s superficial grasp of the issues. The aides decide that Will’s giving Sam a ride to the meeting on Air Force One will be a way to show good will and solidarity.

But Gradov’s thugs have taken over the plane. It crashes and explodes and the two heads of state are assumed to be dead. They survived, thanks to the sacrifices of the Secret Service. In order to make sure they are not attacked again they have to stay off the grid and walk through Belarus.

There are various encounters along the way, with fight scenes to determine who is “gym strong” vs. “strong strong.” The highlight, as noted above, is Jack Quaid as a US operative in a safe house, whose character deserves a movie of his own.

Parents should know that this film has a lot of mayhem for a PG-13, with many characters killed, mostly but not all anonymous bad guys. There are guns, knives, martial arts, explosions, plane crashes, and chases. Characters use some strong language.

Family discussion: What were Sam’s and Will’s most valuable qualities as world leaders? How could they improve to be better?

If you like this, try: “My Fellow Americans,” with Jack Lemmon and James Garner, and this year’s “G20” with Viola Davis and the wildly deranged “Rumours” from director Guy Madden

Jurassic World: Rebirth

Posted on July 1, 2025 at 5:43 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	Middle School
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence/action, bloody images, some suggestive references, language and a drug reference
Profanity:	Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Brief reference to marijuana
Violence/ Scariness:	Extended peril and violence with many jump scares and graphic and disturbing images, many characters killed including several eaten by dinosaurs
Diversity Issues:	Diverse characters
Date Released to Theaters:	July 3, 2025
Date Released to DVD:	August 13, 2025

There’s a cheeky moment at the beginning of “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” the latest in the series about dinosaurs brought back to life, originally based on the book by Michael Crichton. (I think it is very funny that the screenwriting credits say “based on characters created by Michael Crichton,” when the only “characters” in the movie based on his book are the dinosaurs.) We think we know where it’s going when we hear a roar and see the tops of the high trees rustling, then shaking.

We sit back, expecting a dinosaur. But no, it’s just a helicopter. And then there’s another wink at the audience, a close-up harking back to the first film, one of the greatest shots in film history. But this time, it’s not a dinosaur in the rearview mirror. It’s just a traffic jam. Caused by a dinosaur. But at this point, the stuck driver we zero in on not wonderstruck or terrified. He’s just annoyed, as he might be if he was just being blocked by construction.

All these years after the dino DNA was extracted from the amber, humans have acclimated to, even bored with the idea that prehistoric creatures are a part of 21st century life.

Most of them have died off. The scary ones are pretty much located in the equator, closest to their habitat 66 million years ago, before they went extinct. That area is now off limits to all humans.

But one thing we’ve learned from the previous films and from ancient Greek tragedies about hubris and from pretty much all of human history is that the greatest adaptive and the greatest self-destructive quality of human beings is that we just don’t like being told what we can’t do. And so, screenwriter David Koepp, who has been writing these films since the first one, faces his greatest challenge in trying to give the human characters a new reason to put themselves in danger by going back to the dinosaurs again, what Alfred Hitchcock called the MacGuffin (or Maguffin), the simplest possible explanation of what it is the heroes need to get or accomplish.

In this case, it’s….dino DNA. Martin Krebs (Rupert Friend), the representative of a pharma company, approaches adventurer/soldier of fortune Zora (always-game Scarlett Johansson), whose specialty is getting people and objects into and out of places they are not supposed to be. For money. He tells her his company can make a revolutionary new medication that can forestall heart disease, adding as much as 20 years to people’s lives, if they can get samples of DNA from three of the largest dinosaurs, found only in the forbidden equator territory. It has to be taken from no more than 10 meters from the three biggest and they have to be alive because blah blah biology blah blah we need a reason for our characters to get into risk getting eaten situations. See: MacGuffin

Martin brings along a paleontologist, Dr. Henry Loomis (Jonathan Bailey, as magnetic and charming as he was in “Wicked,” even with an American accent).

Zora brings Martin to her long-time friend and colleague, the dashing Duncan (Mahershala Ali). He is the boat captain who will transport them, with his crew. Meanwhile, Reuben (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is out on his sailboat with two daughters and one’s boyfriend. Once we have had a chance to get to know them (cute little girl played by Audrina Miranda, useless teenage boyfriend played by David Iacono, for quasi comic relief and something of a redemption arc). The sailboat is toppled by a gigantic swimming dinosaur. Will our group in search of dino DNA take a detour to rescue them? Yes.

And then, what we came for: dinosaurs chasing (and eating) people. And, just to mix it up a bit, some people chasing dinosaurs. A sprinkle of humor (useless boyfriend), a touch of warmth (useless boyfriend becomes useful), a very brief detour into morality and some might say politics only because everything seems to be political these days, but mostly the aforementioned chasing. The actors do as well as possible to hold their own on screen opposite leviathans, benefitted by Ali’s rakish charm and core of integrity, Johansson’s toughness-with-a-heart portrayal of Zora as someone who has seen the worst of humanity and perhaps done some, too, but never became cynical, and Garcia-Rulfo as a wholeheartedly devoted to his daughters.

The dinosaurs are (still) hugely (in all senses of the word) impressive. The way they move, the weight that digital effects often fails to get right, the scale/size, all spectacular. The movie seems to lose track of the set-up at the beginning about a lab experimenting with cross-breeding and mutating dinosaurs, but so much is happening it is understandable. Perhaps they’re saving that for the next one. We’ll be there.

Parents should know that this is a very intense and scary movie with constant peril and some graphic and disturbing images. Characters, including a little girl, are in danger and many characters are eaten by dinosaurs. There are brief sexual references and a reference to weed.

Family discussion: If you knew you could cure a disease by taking a risk like this, would you do it? Do you agree with the decision made by Henry and Zora? What are the upsides and downsides?

If you like this, try: the previous “Jurassic” movies and Crichton’s book