Fred Topel
Dark Phoenix Movie Review: The Unsatisfying X-Men
Maybe X-Men: The Last Stand wasn’t an accurate adaptation of the Dark Phoenix comics, but at least it was a fun celebration of an ensemble of character. Dark Phoenix feels joyless and obligatory. I do...
Godzilla: King of the Monsters Movie Review – Nojira
I understand if you didn’t like Gareth Edwards’ 2014 Godzilla. It was a choice to obscure the monsters and if that’s who you came to see, you’d be disappointed. Godzilla: King of the Monsters is defin...
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 30th Anniversary: Franchise Fred’s First Crusade
When I saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 30 years ago, I thought it was the best movie I’d ever seen. That’s a little strange to me now because I had seen Die Hard, Labyrinth and Back to the Futu...
Exclusive Interview: Scott Adkins on Avengement and Why He Regrets Doctor Strange
I discovered Scott Adkins when Vern reviewed Undisputed III, Ninja and The Tournament. I got my first chance to interview Adkins for Expendables 2 and we’ve been talking regularly ever since. So I def...
Aladdin Movie Review: Parrots Just Don’t Understand
Aladdin sure is a Fresh Prince Ali. It has a lot of fun with the animated classic in a live-action context and by casting middle eastern actors, gives Naomi Scott, Mena Massoud and Marwan Kenzari a we...
Avengement Movie Review: Scott Adkins’ Most Brutal Movie Yet
Scott Adkins has become such a reliable name in action movies, I’ll see anything he’s in at least once. Avengement delivers harder edged gritty action than some of the more flamboyant Undisputed, Ninj...
Exclusive Interview: Jesse V. Johnson on Avengement
Jesse V. Johnson became a filmmaker I paid attention to because of his work with Scott Adkins. I had seen his Steve Austin/Dolph Lundgren movie The Package, but with his run of Savage Dog, Accident Ma...
A Dog’s Journey Fetches Sequelitis
A Dog’s Purpose was a sweet movie about a dog reincarnated through the ages. It began when Ethan was a boy and they reunited when Ethan was a grown man (Dennis Quaid). Since that brought us pretty muc...
Franchise Fred Interview: Gregory Widen on Backdraft 2 and Highlander
Franchise Fred would want to talk to the writer of Backdraft 2 no matter who it was. But when the writer of the original Backdraft, Gregroy Widen, wrote the Universal Home Entertainment sequel, I defi...