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Heritage in Motion: Iyanu Outshines Iwájú with Vibrant Yoruba Storytelling

Iyanu brings Yoruba culture to life with vibrant storytelling and striking animation, standing apart from Disney’s futuristic Iwájú. And we got info from SDCC regarding the former’s future. It’s bright!

Iyanu Movie Poster If you’re seeking an animated series that fuses vibrant cultural storytelling with striking visuals, put Iyanu on your radar. This isn’t just another fantasy—it’s a journey through a mythical African world where tradition drives destiny. Unlike Disney’s Iwájú, Iyanu offers a grounded, heritage-rich take on Yoruba culture that feels timeless and authentic. The two shows present contrasting visions, and while both have their place in examining this fascinating world, fans will play favourites–Iwájú races through a sleek, futuristic Lagos, while Iyanu thrives in a mythical past steeped in lore.

Iyanu draws strength from echoes of Princess Mononoke and Avatar: The Last Airbender—not as imitations, but in its balance of adventure, character growth, and cultural depth. Whether Roye Okupe’s graphic novels carry the same energy remains to be seen, but the adaptation compels me to find out.

Iwájú promotional poster Disney’s Iwájú ambitiously blends African, Eastern, and Western animation styles, yet the fusion sometimes feels disjointed. Its uneven pacing and high-tech, Wakanda-like aesthetic often eclipse traditional Yoruba elements. Tola Martins (Simisola Gbadamosi) is the young girl who learns how to reconnect with the past.

When that happens, the scenes that should showcase ceremonial rites or folklore fade into the background. In what’s more prominent are the bold neon skylines and high technology. Even the costumes, while bold, lean toward sci-fi glamour rather than authentic tradition. Although it shares Yoruba roots with Iyanu, its futuristic framing dulls the impact of those cultural beats.

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Site Movie Review – Time-Twisting Horror That Warps History and Reality

Although this film is a bit rough, Site twists time and reality into a psychological horror that forces a man to confront the sins of the past to save his future.

Site 2025 Movie Poster Blindness to the past matters in Jason Eric Perlman’s sophomore film, Site. Or should that be Sight? Here, Neil Bardo (Jake McLaughlin) wants nothing more than to be a family man, but his life unravels when work pulls him away and tragedy strikes. His son Wiley (Carson Minniear) is blinded in an accident. Overcome with guilt, Neil finds himself in a series of strange events that lean more toward fractured realities than pure cosmic dread.

Things change after he visits a property with Garrison (Theo Rossi). They hope to flip it for a profit, but inside they find a strange “Time Tunnel.” Its retro design recalls the 1960s sci-fi series on ABC. Like in that show, Neil can only observe events unfold—he can’t change them. Radiation from the machine sparks visions which won’t fade. McLaughlin captures the confusion well, showing a man who no longer feels in control of his own life. When Neil struggles to find work to pay for his son’s surgery, his world fractures even more.

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Fantastic Four First Steps – A Visually Daring Reboot That Undercuts Its Own Cosmic Legacy

Marvel’s Fantastic Four First Steps embraces a retro-futuristic vision and moral complexity but stumbles by downplaying 1960s history and reimagining Galactus as a lesser threat. A thoughtful but flawed cosmic reboot.

Fantastic Four First Steps is a visually striking and thematically ambitious take on Marvel’s “First Family.” Having read the early comics, I appreciated how the film evokes the optimistic worldview of a time when humankind stood on the brink of space exploration. Yet while it aims to capture that spirit, it also sanitises the era it tries to portray.

The 1960s weren’t all sleek rockets and moon landings. Assassination, war, and civil unrest—JFK, Vietnam, and the violent targeting of civil rights leaders—shaped the decade. The film glosses over these realities. And while its alternate-universe setting may justify the omissions, the lack of historical weight ultimately weakens the choice to set the story in this time period at all. That’s because the narrative Stan Lee originally crafted contained all those themes, and it’s beautifully explored in the essay “How Did the Original ‘Fantastic Four’ Change Comics?” published on History.com.

Despite a committee-written script and Matt Shakman’s steady direction, the film’s strengths lie more in its aesthetic than its narrative. It’s full of promise—but frequently stumbles.

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Yerden Telemissov’s Stinker is Weird Yet Wonderful. And Why It Wins Big at Fantasia Film Festival!

Yerden Telemissov’s movie is no Stinker. Instead, it’s a charming tale concering, I won’t know.

Spoiler Alert

Although the initial moments of the movie Stinker (originally titled Sasyq) introduce a vino, Sadyk Ospanovich (Dulyga Akmolda), absolutely hammered and laid out in a field, this setup is perfect. When he walks out onto the highway, the abrupt ending may well shock. That’s because of the fake credit sequence. But the story does not end there. Maybe what that’s supposed to mean is that he’s imagining the rest of the film. Until I get to interview writer and director Yerden Telemissov, I won’t know.

What follows is a quietly powerful story of loneliness and acceptance. In his small Kazakh village, Sadyk is a harmless drifter. After the death of his wife, he’s without purpose. He’s given up on life, and locals are used to his presence. But lateone night, everything changes. He witnesses a UFO making erratic moves and it soon crashes! Although the wreckage and mention of gets swept under the rug and nobody wants to talk, this individual finds meaning by taking care of the alien (Chingiz Kapin).

Their bond is rather unusual. Both yearning for a connection. I doubt this relationship is like the one in E.T. The Extraterrestrial. Instead, I see this presentation as a tale about bridging worlds together.

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[Fantasia Film Festival] Transcending Dimensions (次元を超える) To Boldly Go Where No Soul Has Gone Before

Presented here is not a very traditional story about a hitman hired to take out a cult leader and rescue a brother. There’s added layers in Transcending Dimensions which suggest it’s best not to challenge some of these mystics, and here’s why:

Transcending Dimensions poster — **This movie played at the 2025 Fantasia International Film Festival on July 24th, and has an encore performance July 28th. Get your ticket here.**

Transcending Dimensions is less a conventional narrative and more of an immersive sensory experience. While this review delves into its themes and stylistic choices, readers who prefer to encounter the film with absolutely no prior knowledge of its unconventional journey may wish to proceed with caution regarding potential thematic insights.

As an instalment in the series of films by writer/director Toshiaki Toyoda, this latest in his Wolf Mountain series delves further into thematic tones about the perils of human ignorance. Each film concerns the repetition of historical mistakes. This movie is not always straightforward, and some viewers might find it challenging to follow. Shinno (Ryûhei Matsuda), a professional hitman, is the focus here, and everything he will soon experience may well reshape his world view!. Here, his sister, Nonoka (played with quiet charm by Haruka Imô), recruits him to find her brother, Rosuke (Yôsuke Kubozuka). He is apparently brainwashed, and she hopes to rescue him from the cult he is now part of.

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Jurassic World Rebirth: Top Three Things That Push the Franchise Into the Future

Although Jurassic World Rebirth looks like it’s a rinse and repeat spectacle, the underlying message may well chart what the future is for later films!

Spoiler Alert

Jurassic World Rebirth continues the franchise’s recurring theme: the danger of playing god by resurrecting, if not enhancing, dinosaurs! That premise can sometimes limit how far these stories can develop. While David Koepp’s screenplays often skip Biosyn’s internal drama, the Jurassic World animated series wisely explores that territory—allowing the feature films to shift focus. With this latest entry, Koepp and director Gareth Edwards help set the stage for what’s next.

Before diving into the story, it’s worth noting how this film came together. Typically, a director and screenwriter collaborate on story development. But in this case, Steven Spielberg and Koepp shaped the narrative and brought Edwards on board to direct. According to reports, the producers welcomed this director’s input—particularly for enhancing the tension in key set pieces, like the cliff-side sequence featuring pterodactyls. He also had direct communication with this creator to tweak dialogue that didn’t land. While these moments inject bursts of excitement and suspense, I never felt the stakes were truly high.

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