The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

So this is how I break my Oscar nominee streak: with something the Academy would probably never honor. It is extraordinarily popular for a video game adaptation, even among adults in my circles, but professional critics aren't as thrilled. I went in with cautious optimism.

Brooklynite fraternal twins Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) have a failing plumbing business when they happen upon a long-hidden pipe that sucks them into another world, albeit in separate directions. In the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario meets friendly fungal fellow Toad (Keegan-Michael Key), who surmises from his details that Luigi wound up in the clutches of King Bowser (Jack Black), a sort of turtle-dragon hybrid bent on world conquest. Their best bet for saving Luigi is to team up with another displaced human, Princess Peach Toadstool (Anya Taylor-Joy), who's already planning to stop Bowser via an alliance with gorilla king Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen) and his son Donkey (Seth Rogen). Mario may be short, but he is dedicated, and his past unlucky antics have honed his athletic skills even before he's introduced to power-up items.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Initially, I put this title off because I felt like I'd already learned all there is to know about it. Then I put it off more when I learned that Ben Stiller starred and directed (he's even more of a red flag for me than Will Ferrell) and Jack Black was among the highest billed. But recently, I heard an interview in which Robert Downey Jr. reflected fondly on it. Maybe it would be worth a viewing after all.

The production of a modern Vietnam War epic is going slowly and over budget, apparently because the director (Steve Coogan) doesn't know how to work with prima donnas. At the advice of the gritty writer of the book being adapted (Nick Nolte), he sends the five main actors deeper into the jungle for a more authentic experience. Little does any of them know that this jungle is home to a strong gang of heroin manufacturers, who mistake the fake soldiers for Drug Enforcement Administration officers (do they have international jurisdiction?). The actors, in turn, take a little while to realize that the criminals aren't other actors.

Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

Having enjoyed the first two in the series, I was rather dismayed to sense a lukewarm reception for this. Sure, it blew away Norm of the North in its first duel, but even weeks before Zootopia stole its thunder, few people seemed interested in it. Even the dumb-looking Sing is ahead by a majority of estimates. Well, as one of the minority of viewers who preferred the second movie to the first, I thought I might beg to differ again. Besides, I saw nothing to lose by streaming.

You've likely seen ads indicating that fanboy-turned-champion Po (Jack Black) finally reunites with other pandas, whom he had presumed wiped out. As hinted at the end of KFP2, the first one to find him is his original father, Li (Bryan Cranston), provoking the jealousy of adoptive father Mr. Ping (James Hong). This is not as incidental to the main conflict as you'd think, for the latest national menace, the oddly solid spirit of a bull named Kai (J.K. Simmons), can be defeated only by a "master of qi" -- pandas' historical area of expertise. Po accepts Li's invitation to the hidden panda village, where, if he doesn't master qi in time, at least he'll learn more about his identity, the question of which is plaguing him once more.