After a week away, the beginning of June has been a busy time for new films. Below are my thoughts on a slew of releases, both in theaters and on digital, the past two weeks. If you’d like to see more of my scores for films and thoughts, feel free to follow me on Letterboxd here.

Elemental (Theaters)
Starring: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Catherine O’Hara, Ronnie Del Carmine, and Shila Ommi
Synopsis: The latest from Pixar is one of the animated events of the summer. It’s a tale of family and love set among elements. To be specific, Fire, Water, Earth and Sky, who all come together to live in Element City. But mostly, the elements don’t mix. That’s particularly true of Ember (Lewis) and her fire family. They keep to themselves in their part of town, where she’s working to one day take over her father’s (Del Carmine) store. When an accident brings her face-to-face with a water inspector named Wade (Athie) it begins an adventure, and an unexpected connection, that changes their worlds. This is a beautifully crafted story. I liked the visuals here and the way the characters are created. Lewis and Athie have great chemistry and the story of Ember and Wade is engaging and engrossing. Pixar has created some beautiful and some memorable stories and this film is among my favorites from the studio. It was also great to see a Pixar tale back in theaters. This is a charming and engaging tale that will be some great family fun this summer.
Rating: Rated PG for some peril, thematic elements and brief language

Extraction 2 (Netflix)
Starring: Chris Hemsworth and Golshifteh Farahani
Synopsis: I remember back when I heard Michael Crichton was writing a sequel to Jurassic Park built around the character Ian Malcolm. It seemed impossible because Malcolm died in the first book. And yet, life finds a way. That’s how I felt when I heard we were getting Extraction 2 starring Hemsworth, whose character died at the end of the first film. Or did he? We pick up in the moments after the end of that film and our hero miraculously pulls through. After recovering, he goes on another harrowing extraction mission. Bullets fly, punches are thrown and plenty of explosions cover the journey. Hemsworth is a great action star. This film delivers all you’re looking for from an action film of this type. There are good fights, a decent story and plenty of big set pieces. It felt a little long for my taste and I wasn’t hooked by the narrative. If you liked the first one, you’ll like this. I could see Hemsworth making a few more of these.
Rating: Rated R for strong/bloody violence throughout and language.

Flamin’ Hot (Hulu)
Starring: Jessie Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Dennis Haysbert, Matt Walsh, and Tony Shaloub
Synopsis: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos have become an engrained part of the culture, but it wasn’t always like that. This new biopic on Hulu shares the story of Richard Montanez, who started at Frito Lay as a janitor, worked his way up and, along the way, introduced an idea that changed the company and our culinary options forever. Richard had a dream and a motivation to see it through. This film captures his story; how he and his wife, Judy (Gonzalez) worked to support one-another. I liked the humor and the way this film, directed by Eva Longoria, sought to pay tribute to the culture that inspired Richard to bring his idea to market. It’s a fun and engaging look at the story behind the snack food and the man who dedicated his life and career to engaging people through these snack foods. It’s well worth checking out.
Rating: Rated PG-13 for some strong language and brief drug material.

Stan Lee (Disney+)
Synopsis: For years, Stan Lee has embodied the Marvel brand. He’s the face of the organization and his face was part of every Marvel film before he passed away. In this new documentary, which was released on the streamer Friday, we get to hear from Lee in his own words and hear stories from some of his collaborators. It tracks Lee’s life and his career at Marvel, with the writer and later publisher sharing stories of the brand that he helped build. It spends some time looking at co-collaborators Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby—though their families still contend Lee gets more than his fair share of credit. The film doesn’t dwell much on the disagreements that saw both eventually leave Marvel. Instead, it focuses mostly on Lee, his life, his contributions and his legacy. For big Marvel fans, this will be a can’t miss documentary. It serves as a nice celebration of the man and the brand he helped bring to life.
Rating: TV-14

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Theaters)
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Pete Davidson, Peter Dinklage, Ron Perlman, Michelle Yeoh, and Peter Cullen
Synopsis: This is the seventh live-action Transformers film since 2007. By now, we know what to expect. A few human characters intersecting the battles between alien robots who have come to call Earth home. This film sets the action in the 1990s, putting it between the timing of prequel Bumblebee and the original Transformers film. As such, we get a different Optimus Prime (Cullen), as this film’s plot in fact helps explain the approach Prime takes with humans. Here, the Autobots team with the Maximals to try and prevent a key from slipping into the wrong hands and bringing Unicron to destroy the Earth. A former soldier (Ramos) and an archeology intern (Fishback) get mixed up in the plan and join the fight. There are a few things that stick out in this film when it comes to continuity. We haven’t seen the Maximals before, so it’s fair to wonder where they are in the other films. There are also some skills that new Autobot Mirage (Davidson) can do that haven’t as yet appeared in Transformers films. But continuity probably isn’t why you’re here. By now, those that go to the Transformers know what to expect. There’s some humor, a bit of a plot, some connections formed to the human characters and plenty of epic robot battles. This film is shorter than some of the Michael Bay epics and has more heart than most of the sequels. For me it doesn’t reach the heights of the first Transformers film nor the first prequel, Bumblebee. It does project a connection to a larger franchise world, so doubtless there will be more Transformers action in our future. This is a solid summer blockbuster, one of the better live action offerings from the franchise.
Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.