The Minions can function within any time period as long as they serve the Big Boss. What "Minions & Monsters" does is still play to that concept while still paying a heavy tribute to early film history. While the first 1/3 builds up the mythology, the 2nd 1/3 is interesting in that it tells a creative original story about the Minions in Hollywood. The story does get very meta in the end (and in retrospect...the beginning as well) but it is a love letter from the Paris based Illumination back to the beginnings of Hollywood.

The context of apocalyptic movies is that in order to work they have to be bathed in myth. "Warriors Of The Wasteland" takes into account the fact that fuel would take on a key part of any survival. "Waterworld" did similar in a way. Here the film is bookended by a drifter playing a lute covered in bandages speaking of a man who challenged a city.

“The Voices Of Our Mother” which is an acquisition by Shudder is an interesting play in that it is a character drama piece wrapped in a one-way path of exorcism by where a caretaker is the necessary bout of evil but not as a victim but as the purveyor. At the center of this parable is the mother in question who is being cared for her own mother, who then passes away. The origin of her daughter needs to be kept in check as the circumstances surrounding her and her husband and by extension her children create the crux of the story.

The idea of trauma versus the notion of being calmed is an interesting irony in the tendency of the thriller/comedy/horror film “Touch Me” from Shudder. The film itself is all over the place but wants to establish that uncomfortable edge on its approach to identity, jealousy, the aspect of co-dependency, trauma and the effects of circumstance.

"Supergirl" hasn’t been attempted in a while...and rightly so in some ways because it has to get the tone right. With Milly Alcock, they have cast completely right but somehow the story doesn’t quite feel up to snuff and the villain a little too eccentric. There are moments when it really locks in like when Kara at one point jumps into orbit off a dying planet. Her devil may care attitude works well. The story is about helping Krypto so that does make sense. But the adjoining story of a little girl who needs help and the bad villain Krem (played by a well hidden Mathew Schoenaerts) doesn’t quite hit right.

The intention of a myth or at least its story is to either to soften the blow or provide a historical context of what something could be. With “The Death Of Robin Hood”, like a similar story of Odysseus starring Ralph Fiennes called "The Return" a couple years back, it is about deconstructing the idea of a myth. Hugh Jackman, covered in long hair, gristle and world weariness plays Robin Hood hiding himself from the world.

With any sequel, the question becomes necessity. It is not a question whether the 5th movie in the Toy Story franchise is good. It is more if it needs to be. "Toy Story 3" still is the pinnacle in what it did because of the stakes and the angst that permeated in the path of these toys. “Toy Story 5” does address a different world than 4 did in 2019...and things have changed...but the question of course becomes motivation.

During the First World War with the advent of the Panzer tank, all bets were off as the brutality of war was uncontained with barely any safe guards and chemical/gas weapons at optimal use. The story behind "Landship" is part of history but not brought to bear until 70 years later. It shows a Panzer team that made their way across to the German trenches without disappearing into a mortar hole but eventually was turned over by German artillery.

Steven Spielberg’s original concepts are pretty good and with a writer like David Koepp who did "Jurassic Park" making something like "Disclosure Day" should be an exceptional run. And while this feels like a more complete Spielberg film than many recent forays, it suffers from a lot of plot holes that take away from its overall power. There are some great moments of wonder for sure but it is almost like not enough time was spent on the script. There are also set pieces that are bridges but don’t really expound on the character structure to move the plot.