The Qwipster Film Review Podcast

The action in It takes place in the fictional small town of Derry, Maine, where we mostly follow a group of about seven adolescents on their break during the summer. The de-facto leader of the group, Bill Denbrough, has recently been plagued by thoughts of his younger brother Georgie's disappearance, though we in the audience know that the tyke is but the latest victim of a sewer-dwelling, fear-feeding demon who mostly presents himself in the form of a clown named Pennywise. Georgie's not the only child to go missing of late, and the group soon learns that Derry has a special history for children who disappear without a trace about once every generation, causing them to have to confront their innermost nightmarish fears, lest they become the latest victim of the sinister Pennywise.

Set in Berlin in 1989, shortly before the collapse of the Berlin Wall, we find an MI6 agent named Lorraine Broughton on a mission to try to get a much sought after highly classified list of spies working for Western agencies around the world, kept hidden within the case of a luxury watch, in order to prevent it from going to the KGB. Operating in flashbacks as the bruised and fatigued agent divulges the details of her botched mission to her immediate superior, as well as to a bigwig in the CIA, we learn of her covert mission to acquire the list, initially assigned to work with the chief operator in Berlin, David Percival. In the meantime, they must contend with dangerous Soviet operatives, the East German military, Stasi officers, and an unknown double agent working both sides of the Wall.

Kumail Nanjiani stars and co-scripts this romantic comedy about himself (more or less), a Pakistani immigrant to America turned stand-up comedian living in Chicago who ends up going out and then falling into a romantic relationship with a white, non-Muslim psychology graduate student named Emily. Contrary to both of their desires to stay unattached, things are going remarkably well, though that is also part of the problem, as his very strict and traditional Pakistani family expect - no, require - Kumail to find a Pakistani woman to court and marry, which they are busy trying (and failing) to arrange, so he keeps his relationship with Emily on the sly. Meanwhile, the young comedian must keep his head in the game to try to secure a spot in an important comedy festival that may kick-start his career in show business beyond local gigs. Life gets even more complicated when it is discovered that Emily is suffering from an illness that has the doctors baffled, leaving Kumail and Emily's parents flying in from North Carolina to bond during the hospital visits, while also knowing that Kumail and Emily may not end up together, if, and when, the medical ordeal is over.

In this outing, we find Peter Parker as an awkward teenager, who has a crush on schoolmate Liz, while also brushing up on his knowledge on a school team vying for a national academic competition. He also happens to have an internship with part-time father figure Tony Stark, who is using the opportunity to mentor the lad on the ways to use his technologically advanced costume that's enhanced like a magic Swiss-army knife by an AI control device Peter dubs 'Karen' (all tech courtesy of Stark Industries) to thwart criminals around the city. He gets more than his match when the Vulture, a spurned blue-collar Joe turned hi-tech criminal named Adrian Toomes, comes on the scene, having confiscated alien technology (from the Chitauri, as a seen in Marvel's The Avengers) in order to manufacture and sell ultra-powerful weapons on the black market.

Set in Atlanta, Ansel Elgort plays Baby, a baby-faced (naturally) but extremely talented driver who constantly plays music on several of his old iPods while he works to overcome his persistent tinnitus, the result of a childhood car accident that left him an orphan. The trouble is that Baby hates what he does and wants out as soon as his debt is paid off, which he does, only to find Doc knows he's the best driver in the business and won't let his golden goose go.

Brain Candy deals with a drug company, Roritor Pharmaceuticals, that is in need of a hit wonder drug, launching a new and mostly untested antidepressant they call Gleemonex, which promises to locks its patient into the sensation of reliving their happiest memory. The new drug quickly becomes the number one on the market (even more popular than penicillin), as we follow several people who use the product, as well as the drug's inventor, and the CEO and board members of Roritor as they deal with the overnight success of their product.

Tom Cruise plays a roguish armed forces associate who doubling as a tomb-raiding antiquities procurer, Nick Morton, who, along with smart-alecky partner-in-crypts, Chris Vail, earns his living digging up ancient artifacts, then selling for the highest price he can get on the black market. Soon the men join forces with noted Egypt expert and archaeologist (and Morton's chance to hook up) Jenny Halsey while in Iraq, where a mammoth underground burial site lies under the sand, housing a mysterious sarcophagus containing the dormant body of Ahmanet, an Ancient Egyptian princess cursed to evil after an attempt to murder her family and usurp the throne to become pharaoh. Now revived from her tomb, Ahmanet decides that Nick will be the new conduit to bring evil to Earth as the host for the god of death, Set.

Wonder Woman starts with her origin on the shrouded and magically hidden island-paradise of Themyscira, where the Greek gods are real, and Diana is born and raised into the ways of the Amazons, who teach her honor and how to battle. All of their training is put to use when an American pilot and spy named Steve Trevor crashes in his plane off of the island's coast, with a boat of well-armed German soldiers following suit, who battle with the Amazons to tragic results. Sickened by the violent ways of men, Diana is compelled to travel back to Europe in the throes of the Great War -- complete with trademark magic lasso of truth, indestructible bracelets, and god-killer sword -- hoping she can locate the God of War, Ares, and kill him to put an end to all war as we know it.

Frantz is set in Quedlinburg, Germany, in 1919, just after the Great War (World War I) has concluded, though the aftermath is still quite fresh in the hearts and minds of the people. A local woman named Anna is but one of many who are mourning for the loss of young men in the war, grieving her beloved Frantz, killed in battle before he would return and marry her as planned. Living under the roof of Frantz's parents, Dr. Hans Hoffmeister and his wife Magda, Anna regularly places flowers on Frantz's vacant grave-site, only to discover a mystery man has already come to do the same.

Set in 1940, around the time of the London Blitz during World War II, Their Finest stars Gemma Arterton as Catrin Cole, a fledgling screenwriter from Wales who has been hired on by the British Ministry of Information, Film Division, looking to women to fill in jobs for some of the men lost to fight the war, to work in London on inspirational films geared toward women. Later, she is hired on to help with a full-length feature, meant to shore up the viewing public, particularly the female viewers, to the cause, as well as to keep morale up in a bleak time for the country.

Amy Schumer stars as Emily Middleton, who cajoles her divorced doting mother Linda to accompany her on a non-refundable vacation to a posh resort in Ecuador she booked back when she had a job and a significant other to come with her. It's fun for the ladies at first, with Emily meeting hunky suitor James and Linda enjoying the poolside with a good book. Sure enough, as warned not long after arrival, the two tourists end up getting "snatched" -- kidnapped -- and put up for ransom by a fierce Colombian drug lord. Now it's up to the helpless mother and daughter to try to figure out a means of escape.

Batman & Bill is a Hulu-original documentary that asserts that, contrary to popular belief, that Bob Kane was not only not the sole creator of the DC Comics' superhero, The Batman, but wasn't really the main ideas guy behind his most iconic aspects. As you could guess from the film's title, there is another person, a reclusive but creative man named Bill Finger, who molded Batman from the get-go to how we experience him today, from the trademark cape-and-cowl look of Bruce Wayne's costume, to his tragic backstory, to giving a name and atmosphere to Gotham City, to the Bat Cave, to Robin, to many of the rogues gallery of villains, like The Joker, The Penguin, and Catwoman.

This second volume finds Peter Quill and the gang getting their bacons saved by someone who is more than a man, named Ego, who claims to be Peter's father. Despite skepticism due to Ego's seeming abandonment, Peter is invited to join Ego on the latter's own Eden-like planet, called, of course, Ego's Planet, where he must periodically return to in order to keep it alive, residing there with only his assistant, an empath named Mantis. Meanwhile, there's an powerful golden-skinned race called The Sovereign out to retrieve some stolen and highly valuable batteries from Rocket Raccoon, a fleet of Ravagers is on the hunt, and signals the comeback of Yondu.

Kristen Stewart plays Maureen Cartwright, an American artist working in Paris as a personal shopper for an internationally famous model and celebrity named Kyra, who wants her to purchase the latest in designer clothes and jewelry before they are worn by anyone else. Maureen is unhappy in both her career and location, tempted somewhat by her long-distance boyfriend, who is currently living in the sultanate of Oman. What she's lingering for is some sign from her recently deceased twin brother, who died of a congenital heart condition that she may also fall susceptible to, utilizing their shared gifts as spiritual mediums to make final contact, as they had made a promise to do to prove their belief in life after death, and begin the process of moving on with her life.

In this entry, we open with Dominic Toretto on honeymoon with his beloved Letty in Havana, Cuba, where, of course, he gets into a bit of racing for pink slips on the never-too-crowded city streets. Dom finds his stay not entirely blissful when he is confronted and blackmailed by a strange woman called Cipher, who reveals herself to have something on him so powerful that would make him turn away from all he holds dear -- his newfangled family of car jocks -- in order to go rogue and perform a top secret mission for the cyber-terrorism organization she heads. Now it's up to the rest of Dom's crew to figure out what's making their buddy turn bad guy, joining forces with government goon Mr. Nobody and his by-the-book assistant to throw a wrench in Cipher's plans to upend the world order she's threatening thanks to Dominic's success at the nefarious missions she gives him.