Flix & Picks with Brayan Mendoza

The Guardians are back for Volume 3. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 finds THE superhero team going through a lot of emotional trauma, adventure, and self-discovery. James Gunn effectively mixes comedy, action and drama in his MCU swan song. Brayan Mendoza talks about his excited feelings regarding this film's major success as an emotionally gut-wrenching superhero movie.

The latest remake on Disney+. Peter Pan and Wendy makes a great amount of changes from the original source material. Yet, it feels like a replay of the same ole story that has been popular with audiences for decades. Brayan Mendoza discusses that the film's lack of cinematic ambition.

Evil Dead Rise officially leave the woods and into a Los Angeles apartment where the reunion of two estranged sisters is cut short by familiar bloodthirsty spirits. The new film in the franchise seeks to revamp and freshen up the long running cult franchise. Brayan Mendoza talks how successfully the scares are after so many years.

Nicholas Hoult goes toe-to-toe with Nicholas Cage's Dracula as the long-suffering Renfield. The once faithful servant of the dark lord is now planning to escape his toxic workplace, and find meaning somewhere else. Perhaps, it could be with a young traffic cop played by comedian Awkwafina. On this episode, Brayan Mendoza takes a look at the campy possibilities of this film, and how the performances save the writing.

Air is a movie about a shoe. Yes, a shoe. Specifically the Nike line of Air Jordans inspired by Basketball MVP Michael Jordan. This film covers the process of recruiting Jordan to sponsor the line, to its very creation, and Deloris Jordan's advocacy for her son. Brayan Mendoza talks about how this film about a shoe manages to be an emotional and inspiring tale.

Mario, his brother Luigi and their friends Princess Peach and Toad are back on the big screen! The Super Mario Bros. adapts the classic video game with strong sense of fidelity. Chris Pratt leads the star studded cast as the title character. Can he and other actors pull off being these iconic video game characters? Or will it tarnish the otherwise beautiful animation?

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is the first of a few films on the DCEU farewell tour before we get a soft reboot from James Gunn. The movie is rather disjointed by trying to do family subplots, Gods, teen romance and superhero hijinx all in one. Helen Mirren sells her performance as a morally complex God but can the same be said about her co-stars? Brayan Mendoza talks about how this film continues a trend of nailing the coffin of the DCEU and the end-credits scenes that make a joke out of imaginative characters.

We've come to the end of the first season of HBO's hit new series The Last of Us. Radio111 silver screen and tube reviewer Brayan Mendoza gives us his final thoughts on this adaptation of video games to film, and what he anticipates in subsequent installments.

With the success of last year's Scream(2022), filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett return to direct the sequel Scream VI. This time, Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) and her sister Tara (Jenna Ortega) find themselves terrorized by another Ghostface killer in New York City. As the bodies pile up, past secrets and legacy characters Kirby (Hayden Panettiere) and Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) make their way to the surface of this meta-slasher. Brayan Mendoza talks about the movie's great sense of humor, suspense, and the absence of Neve Campbell from the cast.

The Whale is Brendan Fraser's comeback film! His fans have been rooting for his return to the big screen and to see him succeed. He has achieved an Academy Award nomination for this film, and now its time to talk about it! However, there's controversy over the usage of the fat suit in the film. Brayan Mendoza talks about Brendan Fraser, Hong Chau and the fat suit controversy.