Movie Reviews: Making a Sentence Out of Two Titles Edition: The ‘Smurfs’ and ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’

July 17, 2025

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We Smurfed What You Smurfed Last Smurf (CREDIT: Paramount Animation; Brook Rushton/Columbia Pictures)

Smurfs

Starring: Rihanna, James Corden, John Goodman, Nick Offerman, JP Karliak, Dan Levy, Amy Sedaris, Natasha Lyonne, Sandra Oh, Jimmy Kimmel, Octavia Spencer, Nick Kroll, Hannah Waddingham, Alex Winter, Maya Erskine, Kurt Russell, Xolo Maridueña, Hugo Miller, Chris Miller, Billie Lourd, Marshmello, Spencer X, Chrisy Prynoski

Director: Chris Miller

Running Time: 92 Minutes

Rating: PG for Smurf Action and Some Rude Smurfin’

Release Date: July 18, 2025 (Theaters)

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Starring: Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Jonah Hauer-King, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Billy Campbell, Gabriette Bechtel

Director: Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

Running Time: 111 Minutes

Rating: R for Twisting, Poking, and Hanging, Plus a Few Seductions and a Couple of Joints

Release Date: July 18, 2025 (Theaters)

A couple of decades-old franchises are getting revived at the multiplex this weekend. That sentence could apply to just about any weekend from the past 25 years or so. But in case you’re reading this review from the future (or the past), the weekend I’m specifically referring to right now is the one that begins on July 18, 2025. And the movies I’m talking about are Smurfs (no “the”) and the same-titled lega-sequel I Know What You Did Last Summer. Is there any way both of these movies could possibly appeal to the same person?! Let’s use myself as a test case.

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Is ‘Sacramento’ a Treat?

April 18, 2025

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The Sacramento boys (CREDIT: Vertical)

Starring: Michael Angarano, Michael Cera, Maya Erskine, Kristen Stewart, AJ Mendez, Iman Karram, Rosalind Chao

Director: Michael Angarano

Running Time: 84 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: April 11, 2025 (Theaters)

Whenever I think about the capital of California, my mind inevitably goes to that episode of Full House when Joey is a substitute teacher for Michelle’s class, and during a geography lesson, he says, “starts with Sac and ends with ramento.” So now you know where my head was at while I was watching a movie called Sacramento directed by Michael Angarano and also starring Angarano and other people now in their 30s who have been entertaining us since they were kids.

So now the question of course is: would I ever like to visit Sacramento? It’s an especially pressing matter, considering that the hook of this movie is that Angarano plays a guy who tricks an old friend (Michael Cera) into a road trip to Sac-Town. He says he’s going there to spread his dad’s ashes, but really he’s working up the courage to visit an old hookup (played by Angarano’s real-life wife Maya Erskine) for the first time since she gave birth to their kid. As far as I can tell from the evidence provided, there’s nothing particularly flashy about the titular city, especially compared to its in-state competition. But it does appear to provide decent space for chillaxing and coming to grips with your hangups, so this was a worthwhile trip in that regard.

Grade: 3 Babies out of 5 Daddies