Did you know that nachos are named after a guy named Nacho? He once invented the on-the-fly snack for some hungry customers. There’s no particular reason why I’m telling you this, but since we’re providing recommendations in this feature, I recommend nachos with no caveats. I don’t have paragraphs to write about it, but below are some of our editors recommending things they’ve been looking at recently. Check back weekly for more. The point here isn’t really that anything is new; it’s worth your time. This week, Hawk recommends sonic the hedgehog 2Caemeron checks out AMC’s digital short cooper barand Lor watched old Gamera movies.

Movie recommendation: sonic the hedgehog 2

Falcon Ripjaw: 2020s sonic the hedgehog was, in many ways, one of the best video games for film adaptations, and in some ways, the best. Sure, the fiasco that was the hedgehog’s original design nearly doomed it, but the redesign was a near-perfect take on it, and the movie itself was a lot of fun – if a bit juvenile – and filled with the eggs of Easter for fans. sonic the hedgehog 2 is an improvement on almost everything the original did well.

The film opens with Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) still stranded on the mushroom planet, but with no shortage of gadgets and Rube Goldberg machines made from mushrooms. Finally able to transport himself off-world, Robotnik encounters Knuckles (Idris Elba), an echidna bent on retrieving the “Master Emerald” and destroying Sonic (Ben Schwartz) to avenge his tribe. Fortunately, Sonic also makes a new friend in Tails the fox (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and it’s a race to see who can find the emerald first.

I laughed early and often at this sequel. There’s still a lot of childish humor, but there’s less of it, replaced by really funny jokes. They don’t all hit, but the ones that I personally didn’t find funny will work on kids. Jim Carrey, now sporting the absurd mustache he gained at the end of the last movie, is going even crazier this time around, and it’s clear he’s relishing the chance to return to his more zanier days. Wisely, the film also takes Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) out of the plot thread by sending them to Maddie’s sister’s wedding. The Sonic/Tom dynamic worked well enough in the first film, but it held it back as well. Now that Sonic has settled into the family, there’s a lot less baggage to build relationships.

Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails are all beautifully animated and expressive, Jeff Fowler’s direction is energetic and sleek, and the film is rarely boring (I could have skipped the dance battle). It’s so great to finally see them all together on the big screen! There’s plenty of heart, too, as Sonic builds his father/son dynamic with Tom and develops his legendary friendship with Tails. And every few minutes we are treated to a surprisingly dynamic, inventive and thrilling action sequence.

It is by no means a masterpiece, and it may not be remembered for long, but sonic the hedgehog 2 is better than the lion’s share of video game movies and family movies, and it does what seems to be so rare lately: it’s fun! It’s a fun, silly, and entertaining movie for everyone, and there are even more references to Sonic lore. A third movie has been confirmed, and with the fun I had with the first two, I can’t wait to celebrate with other Sonic fans that we finally have a video game movie franchise to be about. excited, instead of worried.

cooper bar

Cemeron Crain: This week I decided to check cooper bar, which was just released as a digital short by AMC. I have to admit, the decision to do so was based almost entirely on Rhea Seehorn being a part of it, and considering how the release of cooper bar was timed to be on the heels of the You better call Saul mid-season finale, I feel like that was what AMC was counting on.

cooper bar is a TV show set at Cooper’s Bar about the locals of Cooper’s Bar trying to make a TV show about Cooper’s Bar. I find the meta aspect of this entertaining, even though it seems clear that the cooper bar The TV show they’re trying to make diegetically isn’t the same as the one we’re watching…or at least it would take a little imagination for that kind of ouroboros effect to happen.

Most, cooper bar is just a fun, easy-to-digest bit of TV. The episodes are around ten minutes long, and with only six of them in the season, you can easily watch the whole thing in one sitting. However, it’s to the show’s credit that I didn’t feel very inclined to do so. It was quite engaging, mind you; what I mean is that each episode actually felt like an episode rather than a short segment of a longer set that was cut for no good reason.

Each episode might be just the length of a scene, but each nonetheless has the kind of thematic coherence to be a unit in their own right. There’s not much to the plot, which focuses on the antagonism between Cooper (Louis Mustillo) and Seehorn’s Kris Latimer. We’re probably supposed to be cheering on Cooper and his friends, but I don’t know if I really was. Whatever, I found cooper bar to be a nice thing to watch as I had a snack and handed it out to myself on a few evenings that way.

Maybe put it on the next time you eat a plate of nachos.

Gamer

Lor Gislason: My partner is a huge Godzilla fan (his favorites are Biollante and Destroyah, if you’re wondering) but neither of us was too familiar with his clammy cousin and “every kid’s friend”, Gamera. We went through the movies thanks to the Arrow Video box sets of the Showa and Heisei films, respectively, and while they certainly had stinkers, it was a fun experience.

Gamera by nature is a bit less agile than Godzilla, but what he lacks in melee combat he makes up for by firing rocket boosters out of his shell! Seeing him spin around like a UFO is just adorable, and he seems pretty effective slamming guys like that. I’ll admit that one of my frustrations with the Kaiju movies is the emphasis on human characters, though I understand that for plot and budget reasons. Gamera is particularly addicted to this recurring duo of a Japanese schoolboy and his American counterpart – and I don’t care at all. Who let those boys pilot a submarine? ! Now they are in space and I guess Gamera has psychic powers because he knew exactly what planet to find them on?

Our favorite moment so far was completely unexpected and brought us to tears of laughter. In Gamera vs. Gyaos, the winged villain gets his toes nibbled by our hero. It retreats to its lair to regenerate and once its new foot has sprouted, the monster lets out a triumphant cry and a celebratory leap, dislodging a icicle that lands squarely on its toes. Gyaos closes his eyes – as if letting out an exasperated sigh – and screams. I don’t know if it was meant to be this funny, but the simplicity of the movements and the relatability were just too perfect. I don’t know how more modern movies can top it, but we’ll see!

What have you been doing this week? Let us know in the comments!