M3GAN 2.0 (2025)

Hold onto your vaginas...

M3GAN gets an upgrade and is pitted against AMELIA (Autonomous Military Engagement Logistics & Infiltration Android), a secret government weapon that was built based on M3GAN's stolen code. This film also gets an upgrade, from a smaller sci-fi horror flick to a full scale action epic, in a turn similar to Terminator 2. And the movie suffers for it. There is a lot of exposition to get through and not enough of the fun of M3GAN herself. There are one too many ideas and characters introduced, until it eventually loses the plot completely.

So what's next for this series? Besides an inevitable 3.0, there's an upcoming spin-off entitled SOULM8TE, about a man who buys a companion doll, which is a subject close to my heart. (Let's hope she looks like Ivanna Sakhno, too.)

2½ neural implants out of 5

M3GAN (2022)

A robotics engineer creates M3GAN (Model 3 Generative ANdroid), a fully autonomous humanoid robot with advanced learning AI, in order to help her niece cope with the death of her parents. They quickly become inseparable, as M3GAN's processes accelerate and she develops sentience. What separates this from all the crap is the humor that's fully embraced in this horror concept. She's not an evil robot, she's just been programmed to protect her human's life at all costs. It all collapses in the final act, but by god, it's fun getting there.

3 friends to the end out of 5

Note: This film was hacked apart for its PG-13 cut; opt for the unrated instead.

The Life of Chuck (2024)

Mike Flanagan continues his successful collaborative effort with Stephen King in this spellbinding esoteric mystery revolving around a dude named Chuck.

Truth be told, the less said the better. Go into it blind as I did. It had a profound effect on me, even as I discovered how it all pieced together early in Act III.

This one won't be for the Materialists.

Proves that there are still great King adaptations to come.

4½ multitudes out of 5