Natasha Lyonne | Jmunney's Blog

‘Together’ We Can Take Our ‘First Steps’ (And Many More Steps to Come)

August 6, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Damon Herriman, Dave Franco, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Fantastic Four, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, lison Brie, Mark Gatiss, Matt Shakman, Michael Shanks, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Pedro Pascal, Ralph Ineson, Sarah Niles, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Together, Vanessa Kirby Leave a comment

July at the Picture House (CREDIT: Germain McMicking/NEON; Marvel Entertainment/Screenshot)

Together

Starring: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Damon Herriman

Director: Michael Shanks

Running Time: 102 Minutes

Rating: R

Release Date: July 30, 2025 (Theaters)

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Starring: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner, Ralph Ineson, Sarah Niles, Mark Gatiss, Paul Walter Hauser, Natasha Lyonne

Director: Matt Shakman

Running Time: 114 Minutes

Rating: PG-13

Release Date: July 25, 2025 (Theaters)

‘The Bad Guys 2’ Review: I Watched It, Here’s How I Reacted

July 31, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Alex Borstein, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Danielle Brooks, Lilly Singh, Marc Maron, Maria Bakalova, Natasha Lyonne, Pierre Perifel, Richard Ayoade, Sam Rockwell, The Bad Guys, The Bad Guys 2, Zazie Beetz Leave a comment

As bad as they want to be (CREDIT: DreamWorks Animation/Universal Pictures)

Starring: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Awkwafina, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Zazie Beetz, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne, Maria Bakalova, Alex Borstein, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh

Director: Pierre Perifel

Running Time: 104 Minutes

Rating: PG for Gravity-Defying Cartoon Action

Release Date: August 1, 2025 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Following their release from prison, the anthropomorphic professional criminal crew known straightforwardly as “The Bad Guys” – Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Tarantula (Awkwafina), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson), and Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos) – is trying to break good. But that’s not so easy with their notorious resumes holding them back. Plus, there are certain factions who would rather they stay in the heist game, particularly a group of lady criminals who frame them, kidnap them, and force them into their plan to commandeer a space station to steal all of the world’s gold. Through it all, they try to convince the skeptical chief of police (Alex Borstein) that she can trust them, even though they keep forgetting that she’s been promoted to commissioner. At least they have an ally in the form of Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), who’s tried to help them on the inside while doing her best to keep her own sketchy past a secret.

What Made an Impression?: Laughing the Story Along: The plot of The Bad Guys 2 revolves around a device called “MacGuffinite,” which made me and a few other adults in the screening chuckle. If you’re a cinephile, you probably already know that a MacGuffin (also spelled “McGuffin”) is a device that drives the action of a story forward, without being what the story is really about. I doubt that the youngsters that this movie is primarily targeted towards will get the reference, but it’s a nice touch nonetheless.
Vibrant Colors & Familiar Voices: Weirdly enough, I haven’t seen the first Bad Guys movie, nor have I read the graphic novels they’re based on, nor do I have any kiddos in my life to pester me about their love for them. So while I’m not bringing much emotional investment to this theatrical experience, I can still appreciate the zippy painterly animation (and its occasional hallucinatory switches into other styles) and also enjoy playing a round of, “Hey, Who’s That Actor’s Voice I’m Pretty Sure I Recognize?”
Completing the Assignment: Ultimately, The Bad Guys 2 held my attention and provided some mildly diverting attention for an hour and a half. And I wasn’t asking for anything more than that! Maybe you’ll vibe with this one a little more than I did, whether or not you’re a kid, and whether or not you have kids. But we can go ahead and file this review of mine under “Not a Rave, But Can’t Complain.”

The Bad Guys 2 is Recommended If You Like: Heists for Beginners

Grade: 3 out of 5 MacGuffinites

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

July 17, 2025

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Alex Winter, Amy Sedaris, Billie Lourd, Billy Campbell, Chase Sui Wonders, Chris Miller, Chrisy Prynoski, Dan Levy, Freddie Prinze Jr., Gabriette Bechtel, Hannah Waddingham, Hugo Miller, I Know What You Did Last Summer, I Know What You Did Last Summer 2025, IKWYDLS, James Corden, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jimmy Kimmel, John Goodman, Jonah Hauer-King, JP Karliak, Kurt Russell, Madelyn Cline, Marshmello, Maya Erskine, Natasha Lyonne, Nick Kroll, Nick Offerman, Octavia Spencer, Rihanna, Sandra Oh, Sarah Pidgeon, Smurfs, Smurfs 2025, Spencer X, Tyriq Withers, Xolo Maridueña 1 Comment

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.

Jeff’s Wacky SNL Season Finale Review: Natasha Lyonne/Japanese Breakfast

May 22, 2022

jmunney Saturday Night Live, SNL Weekly Recaps, Television Japanese Breakfast, Natasha Lyonne, Saturday Night Live, Saturday Night Live Season 47, SNL, SNL Season 47 Leave a comment

SNL: Kenan Thompson, Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner, Natasha Lyonne, Kate McKinnon

Big weekend for Natasha Lyonne. She was spoofed by Jinkx Monsoon in the Snatch Game on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, and now she’s hosting the season finale of a little show called Saturday Night Live. She’s a New Yawker, SNL‘s a New Yawker, I bet it’ll be right up her alley.

And what about Michelle Zauner? I guess it’s only appropriate that her band Japanese Breakfast would eventually end up on SNL, considering that they probably actually are eating breakfast in Japan while SNL is airing in America. Actually, now that I look up the time difference, it might actually be lunchtime instead. Or maybe a late breakfast could still be happening! If anyone knows Japanese mealtime traditions, let me know.

Now on to the review section of this review! This whole season, I’ve been listing the sketches in various oddball orders, so for the season finale, I’ve decided to repeat the order that I enjoyed the most. And that order is… Views on SNL‘s YouTube channel (Most First). What can I say, I like getting a sense of what’s popping with viewers.

The Semi-Autobiographical ‘Honey Boy’ Puts Shia LaBeouf’s Decades-in-Coming Therapy on the Big Screen

November 4, 2019

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews Alma Har'el, FKA Twigs, Honey Boy, Lucas Hedges, Maika Monroe, Martin Starr, Natasha Lyonne, Noah Jupe, Shia LaBeouf Leave a comment

CREDIT: Amazon Studios

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Noah Jupe, Lucas Hedges, FKA Twigs, Maika Monroe, Martin Starr, Natasha Lyonne (but only on the phone)

Director: Alma Har’el

Running Time: 93 Minutes

Rating: R for A Dad and a Young Son Using Way Too Much Profanity with Each Other

Release Date: November 8, 2019 (Limited)

Honey Boy is an almost-biopic, based on Shia LaBeouf’s preteen days as a child actor with a pushy, erratic father. I had not read any synopsis ahead of time, so I was unaware of this fact until the credits started to roll, so for me it was a nice little bonus that put everything into clearer focus. And we needed that perspective, because it’s exhausting to spend so much time in a motel with Shia stand-in Otis Lort (Noah Jupe) being emotionally abused the same way over and over by his balding, pot-bellied father James (LaBeouf doing a riff on his own dad). At least the rehab scenes with an older Otis (Lucas Hedges) offer some opportunities for a breakthrough. A particular highlight is his tête-à-tête with an as-stone-faced-as-usual Martin Starr about the nature of acting and sincerity (Otis, and presumably the real Shia, believes that day-to-day-living is just another form of acting).

While I found much of Honey Boy too unpleasant to fully embrace, its nakedly autobiographical nature is fascinating. It reminded me in particular of the Community Season 1 episode “Introduction to Film,” wherein aspiring filmmaker Abed makes a short documentary-fiction hybrid in which he covertly casts his friends as his divorced parents. Its experimental nature flat-out confounds his study buddies, but it leaves his usually cold father in a puddle of tears. So similarly, while I found Honey Boy off-putting, I can imagine that for LaBeouf and those close to him, this is exactly the sort of therapy they need. When he shows it to his dad, maybe it will prove to be the spark that leads to their relationship being healthier than it’s ever been.

Honey Boy is Recommended If You Like: Artists working through their familial demons in their art, That time when Shia LaBeouf watched his own movies

Grade: 3 out of 5 Cheap Motels