28 Years Later Is Very Good While Materialists & Elio Aren't Bad Either

Ben Montgomery. Getty Images.

When summer comes along, you know you'll get blockbusters in the movie theaters. What you don't know is if these movies will be worth a damn. I've been pretty encouraged this Summer. Just in the last month, there's been quite a few entertaining movies. Among the big releases Mission Impossible, Lilo & Stitch and Karate Kid: Legends were all entertaining. We can now add some more movies to the "decent summer release" pile

28 Years Later was a nice reminder of how good of a director Danny Boyle can be. This is his first movie since 2019’s Yesterday. I didn’t like that movie but appreciated the creativeness behind it. This is much more in his wheelhouse.

While I did like this movie a lot, it is a bit disjointed. There are some interesting takeaways from the second half of the movie but the first half is much more entertaining. I'm guessing most people seeing this would agree? This has a great performance by Alfie Williams (as a young boy living in this zombie infested world) that does tie the movie together.

I don’t know if this the best of the 28 Timeframe Later movies but it stands just as tall as the first two(it's unquestionably better than 28 Weeks Later). The end of the movie also sets this up for a sequel which was very jarring way to end this somber film. I’d be happy to visit this world again but I didn’t love how it was presented.

28 Years Later: B+

Materialists is at its core, a traditional romantic drama but good performances and a sleek directing job by Celine Song does elevate this.

Your opinion of this movie may depend solely on how you feel about Dakota Johnson. Not only is she left to carry this movie but her cold elegance seeps over the entire movie. I appreciated the aloof cynicism that made this feel different than a standard rom-com. Pedro Pascal is the closest looking classic movie star since George Clooney. I found his performance to be perfect for the character. Chris Evans is 44 playing someone who is 37 but acts like they are 27 and it doesn’t quite fit.

This isn’t as good as Past Lives but don’t let that get in the way of seeing this. Materialists is still a good summer date movie. Just be like some of the characters in this movie and manage your expectations.

Materialists: B

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Elio is a perfectly fine family movie with some impressive visuals. It just doesn’t meet the quality of some other Pixar films. It’s heartwarming but nowhere near Up. It’s creative at times but nowhere near WALL-E. It’s miles below what Toy Story can offer.

These may seem like unfair comparisons but with the Pixar label comes lofty heights. The timing of this release does it no favors. Orphaned child meets alien was just done pretty well (and very financially successful) with Lilo & Stitch. Elio coming out just a couple weeks later makes it feel like a retread. This is much more impressive from an esthetic standpoint but I cared much more about Lilo and her sister than I did for anyone here.

This sounds like a more negative review than I intend to give. This is decent kid’s movie that doesn’t talk down to the audience. I like that they didn’t force feed lame “jokes” for adults. This is a quality family movie. 

It’s just not good Pixar.

Elio: C+

2025 

1)Sinners 

2)Presence 

3)The Life Of Chuck 

4)Black Bag 

5)The Ballad Of Wallis Island 

6)Warfare 

7)Friendship 

8)Mission Impossible 8 

9)28 YEARS LATER 

10)Novocaine 

11)Final Destination 6 

12)The Amateur 

13)Drop 

14)Dangerous Animals

15)Death Of A Unicorn 

16)The Accountant 2 

17)The Damned 

18)One Of Them Days 

19)MATERIALISTS

20)Lilo & Stitch 

21)Paddington 3 

22)Thunderbolts 

23)Clown In A Cornfield 

24)Bring Her Back 

25)Hell Of A Summer 

26)Karate Kid 6 

27)Fight Or Flight 

28)Valiant One 

29)ELIO

30)Rule Breakers 

31)Heart Eyes 

32)Mickey 17 

33)The Surfer 

34)Last Breath

35)Flight Risk 

36)Minecraft 

37)Den Of Thieves 2 

38)Dogman 

39)Companion 

40)A Working Man 

41)The Last Rodeo 

42)Shadow Force 

43)The Alto Knights 

44)The Penguin Lessons 

45)The Chosen Part 2 

46)Looney Tunes 

47)Opus 

48)Becoming Led Zeppelin 

49)Captain America: BNW 

50)Until Dawn 

51)The Chosen Part 1 

52)Riff Raff 

53)Inheritance 

54)The Chosen Part 3 

55)The Wedding Banquet 

56)The Legend Of Ochi 

57)Night Of The Zoopocalypse 

58)The Phoenician Scheme 

59)Sneaks 

60)Ash 

61)The King Of Kings 

62)The Friend

63)Dan Da Dan 2 

64)Snow White 

65)The Unbreakable Boy 

66)Brave The Dark 

67)Wolf Man 

68)Hurry Up Tomorrow 

69)The Monkey 

70)Love Hurts 

71)The Last Supper 

72)Woman In The Yard 

73)Juliet & Romeo 

74)In The Lost Lands