The MadHouse

The 3rd film in the “Creed” series and the 9th film overall in the “Rocky” franchise dropped on Prime Video. This film was directed by Michael B. Jordan in his directorial debut. It sees Jordan along with Tessa Thompson, Wood Harris & Phylicia Rashad all return to their respective roles. Florian Munteanu also returns from the previous film. Newcomers include Jonathon Majors, Jose Benavidez Jr. & Selenis Leyva. The film takes place 5 years after the events of the previous film. Adonis Creed, now retired from boxing, takes on a new role as a promoter and has high hopes for the new Heavyweight Champion of the World but all that planning comes crashing down when an old friend from Adonis’ past, returns. Most notably missing from this is film is Sylvester Stallone who opted out of this film to creative differences with one of the producers of the film. Ryan Coogler, the director of the first “Creed” also takes a back seat, receiving a producer’s credit and a credit for the overall story. This would be the first film released by MGM since they were acquired by Amazon in 2021.

The 6th film in the series and the first that was not directed by Michael Bay. This film was directed by Travis Knight and stars Hailee Steinfeld & John Cena. The voice includes Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux & Dylan O’Brien. Peter Cullen returns once again as “Optimus Prime”. This film serves as both a reboot of the franchise but the storyline itself takes place prior to the first film, making it a prequel. In 1987, the Autobot known as “Bumblebee”, crashes on Earth after escaping the war on Cybertron. During a fight with a Decepticon, Bumblebee loses his voice and memory. A young teenage girl buys an old Volkswagen Bettle from a junk yard that turns out to be Bumblebee. While Bee and this girl begin a new friendship, 2 renegade Decepticons, arrive on Earth in a search of Bee and any other Autobots. Although this film was the lowest grossing film in the series, it was a hit with the audience and critics. It was the first film since the first one in 2007 to be a hit both financially and critically.

This is the 5th film in the franchise and would be the last for director, Michael Bay. Mark Wahlberg is the only character from the previous film to return and is joined by Anthony Hopkins, Jarrod Carmichael, Laura Haddock & Santiago Cabrera. Josh Duhamel also returns from the first 3 films as well as John Turturro. Stanely Tucci is also in the film but not as his previous character. The voice cast sees Peter Cullen, Frank Welker, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe & John DiMaggio return and joined by Omar Sy, Gemma Chan & Steve Buscemi. 5 years after the events of “Age of Extinction”, Optimus Prime is on a quest to find “The Creators”, the supposed founding fathers of the Transformers. Optimus is captured and brainwashed by an evil Queen robot who believe an Cybertronian relic is on Earth and has the ability to recreate Cybertron by using the Earth’s core. Now evil, Prime returns to Earth and attacks Autobots and Decepticons alike searching for the relic. The survival of Earth relies on Bumblebee and a handful of humans and Autobots to not only stop the Decepticons but now their former leader & friend. This film bombed at the box office bringing in only $600 million on a $260 million budget. Plans for another sequel were cancelled and Michael Bay confirmed prior to the release that this would be his last as the director but chose remain in a producer role for future projects.

The fourth film in this franchise was directed by Michael Bay but features an entirely new cast that include Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Li Bingbing, TJ Miller & Sophia Myles. Peter Cullen also returns as the voice of “Optimus Prime” and he also is joined by a new cast that include John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, Mark Ryan, John DiMaggio & Frank Welker. Welker voiced “Megatron” in the 1980s animated series and the 1986 animated film. This film takes place 3 years after the previous film and now the CIA has issued a Black Op mission to wipe out the remaining transformers, both good and bad. Optimus Prime is on run but is found and restored by a crackpot inventor from Texas. The inventor and his family become targets of the CIA while Optimus becomes a target for a Cybertronian bounty hunter. Despite this film being the highest grossing film of the year, it was yet again panned by critics for bland storylines, uninteresting characters and over reliance on big action sequences.

The 3rd in this series is once again directed by Michael Bay and sees Shia LaBouf, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel & John Turturro all return and joined by newcomers Frances McDormand, Patrick Demsey, Rosie Huntington-Whitley, Ken Jeong, John Malkovich & Alan Tudyk. There’s even a cameo appearance from Astronaut Buzz Aldrich & famed journalist, Bill O’Reilly. Peter Cullen & Hugo Weaving return as the voices of “Optimus Prime” & “Megatron” and are joined by the legendary, Leonard Nimoy who voices “Sentinel Prime”. 2 years after the events of the previous film, the war between the Autobots & Decepticons winds down but when new information about the US government covering up the “Moon Landing” of the 1960s is discovered, a new threat emerges and begins to invade Earth. Notably missing from the cast is Megan Fox. She was written out of the script after a behind the scenes falling out with her and the studio led to her departure from the film. Originally set for a 2012 release, Paramount was rush release this film ahead of Marvel’s “The Avengers” I order to beat out Disney. The film did financially better than the previous film but still received mixed reviews from critics despite being nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Visual Effects & Best Sound Mixing.

After the huge success of the first film, a sequel was released and saw Michael Bay return as director as well as Shia LaBouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson & John Turturro. A few newcomers join in such as Ramon Rodriguez, Isabel Lucas, John Benjamin Hickey & Rainn Wilson. In this film, Sam Witwicky is warned by the Autobots of an imminent threat in the form the creator of the Decepticons, known as “The Fallen”. To save Earth, Sam must locate (yet again) another artifact from Cybertron that was lost on Earth. Despite this film being the 4th highest grossing film of the year, it received negative reviews for being overlong and lacking a plot. It won the “Razzie” for Worst Picture.

The first film in this series was directed by Michael Bay and is based on Hasbro’s toy line of the same name. The film stars Shia LaBouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rachel Taylor, Anthony Anderson, John Turturro & Jon Voight. Hugo Weaving & Peter Cullen would be the voices of “Megatron” & “Optimus Prime”. Cullen voiced “Optimus Prime” in the 1980s animated series as well as the iconic 1986 animated film. A teenage boy’s life is turned upside down after a group of robotic soldiers come to Earth looking for an artifact from their planet before another group finds it. This would the first of a 7 film series that has been released from 2007 - 2023.

This film was directed by Rob Cohen & written by Miles Millar & Alfred Gough. Previous director, Stephen Sommers took a producer’s role after directing 2005’s “Van Helsing” which has a similar premise. Brendan Fraser & John Hannah were the only actors to return from the previous 2 films. Luke Ford, Liam Cunningham, Isabella Leong, Michelle Yeoh & Jet Li all joined the cast. Rachel Weisz had originally planned to be in the film but after having doubts on the script and then announcing her pregnancy, she was replaced by Maria Bello. A decade after the events of the last film and the end of the Second World War, Alex O’Connell, son of world renowned adventurers, Rick & Evelyn, has discovered an ancient Dragon Tomb in deserts of Asia. Alex, inadvertently runs in to his parents at the Museum of China in Shanghai, where a rogue General and a small group of soldiers attack the Tomb and attempt to awaken the Emperor. The O’Connells along with Evelyn’s brother, Johnathon and a mysterious woman who claims to be a “protector” of the Tomb must venture through China’s winter mountain side to stop this rogue military leader from unleashing another ancient evil. According to Fraser, Bello & Ford, a fourth film was planned but then later cancelled by Universal. The studio decided on a reboot which led to 2017’s “The Mummy” starring Tom Cruise, which was supposed to be a beginning of a cinematic universe. However, that movie failed both critically and commercially and Universal pulled the plug on the “Dark Universe” before it was even released.

Phil Lord & Chris Miller co wrote this sequel to the 2018 smash hit alongside David Callaham. The directors, however, are first timers Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers & Justin K. Thompson. Majority of the original voice cast return such as, Shamiek Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Luna Lauren Velez & Bryan Tyree Henry. Newcomers included Daniel Kuulya, Issa Rae, Jason Schwartzman & Andy Sandberg. Oscar Isaac voices “Miguel O’Hara / Spider-Man 2099”, a character who was seen in a post credit scene in the previous film but is now front and center in the sequel. The film takes place one year after the events of the first film, Miles Morales is struggling to balance life as a high school teen and the new superhero of Brooklyn. A new threat arises in “Spot”, lab experiment that left a physicist with the ability to create voids at will and has a personal vendetta against Spider Man. Things get more complicated when the Multiverse is once again threatened and brings back more “Spider” people. This film had an original April 2022 release date but was pushed back to June 2023 due COVID-19 restrictions.

The first animated “Spider Man” film in both studios, Sony & Marvel, was directed by Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman & Bob Persichetti. It was written by Rothman & Phil Lord and produced by Lord and fellow filmmaker Chris Miller. The voice cast includes Shamaik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Jake Johnson, Bryan Tyree Henry, Nicholas Cage, Mahershala Ali, Liev Schreiber, Kathryn Hahn, Zoe Kravitz & Chris Pine. In this universe, Miles Morales is bitten by a radioactive spider and becomes the new Spider Man, despite Peter Parker being killed by the Kingpin. Things take an unexpected turn when Peter Parker from another dimension appears along with other “Spider” people. Together, Miles, Peter & the others must stop Kingpin and his crew from further disrupting the time / space continuum. This film was dedicated to the “Spider Man” creators, Stan Lee & Stan Dikto was both sadly passed away in 2018. The film would go on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, making the first non Disney/Pixar film to win the Award since “Rango” in 2011.