The Running Man (2025)

A totalitarian, dystopian game show seemed oddly prescient back in 1982 when King's novel was first published. In 2025, it's depressingly accurate. 

This new adaptation by Edgar Wright attempts to be more faithful to the source material about an everyman who competes on a reality show for a large cash prize by surviving for 30 days in a city full of hunters. This is an extraordinarily stupid movie full of bad decisions that somehow succeeds in making the 1987 film seem more competent by comparison. It's quite a feat.

1½ lucky socks out of 5

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

A very very dumb murder mystery that is actually a lot smarter than it lets on. A group of spoiled rich kids spend the night in a mansion where one of them is found brutally slain. I had a lot of preconceived notions going into it, but I appreciated how it poked fun at the vapidity of Gen Z. This won't be for all tastes, but it's surprisingly subversive as long as you buy into the silly premise and shallow archetypes.

Stick with this one; it's the payoff that makes it worthwhile.

3 kettlebells out of 5

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY [2014]

Disney took a huge risk producing a big budget comic book movie based on a little known Marvel comic book.  They took even a bigger risk by enlisting the unhinged James Gunn to direct Chris Pratt in the lead role.
Fortunately Guardians Of The Galaxy succeeds in nearly every way possible.
The final film in Marvel's Phase Two before Avengers: Age Of Ultron, GOTG sets up for a larger story to be seen in Phase 3 but holds up well on it's own.  Gunn blends his trademark wackiness quite well into a comfy balance of humor, heart and action all neatly placed in the correct spots of the narrative to keep things in check.  It's a fast-paced wildly imaginative treat that feels like Farscape buggered The Fifth Element up the arse to the musical sounds of the 70's.

4 great heroes named Kevin Bacon out of 5