Dark Phoenix flies and Pets are unleashed

The new movie Dark Phoenix ends the Fox series of movies after 19 years of X-men characters. The merger between Disney and Fox finally came together, so expect the merry mutants to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the future.

Overall, the franchise has had many high points with Wolverine marking his territory all over the place. In the last few films the cast was made younger by hopping through time and luckily it worked well for audiences.

Sophie Turner is flying high after her success on Game of Thrones and plays the title character in this direct sequel to X-Men: Apocalypse. The Dark Phoenix saga depicted in the original comic books was one of my favorite storylines. It was a long one though shown through multiple issues in an arc and difficult to bring to the screen. The Last Stand tried to rush the Phoenix saga in the past, so this one at least takes its time a bit.

The ensemble cast is strong as ever, although some of the stars are not given enough to do. Evan Peters deserved more screen time, as he's hilarious, and there's not much humor overall, which was a shame. Jessica Chastain's character doesn't work though, but at least having Dazzler in a bit part made my heart sing.

Some fans are trashing the film, but it's not anywhere near what they are saying. We are living in a time where people chatter on social media about rewriting excellent movies like Avengers: Endgame. I encourage them to rise from the ashes and make their own movies with their phones instead of being so negative.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 deserves a catchier name. The sequel to The Secret Life of Pets beats the sophomore slump with an enjoyable romp.

Patton Oswalt replaces the voice of Louis C.K. as Max, a Jack Russell Terrier. He does an ample job but allows himslef to be upstaged by the vocal talents of Kevin Hart as Snowball the white rabbit. My girl Jenny Slate seems to have the perfect chops to play a Pomeranian, although I wasn't sold on Tiffany Haddish voicing Daisy, a Shih Tzu. I scratched my head at her in The Lego Movie 2 also. I understand that producers like her to tell a story, but the voice doesn't match the drawing in my opinion once again.

Many of the other talents work though, especially Dana Carvey playing an aging Basset Hound named Pops that is reminiscent of his past Saturday Night Live character.

The Secret Life of Pets 2 has some laugh out loud moments and tackles some tough issues effectively like mental health in animals and the mistreatment of circus animals.

There's plenty for adults to enjoy and kids will get a kick out of it. Now, let's just come up with a fresher title for part three!