Movie Review Out of Darkness

Out of Darkness (2024) 

Directed by Andrew Cumming 

Written by Ruth Greenberg

Starring Safia Oakley-Green, Kit Young 

Release Date February 9th, 2024 

Published February 9th, 2024 

Out of Darkness follows a small tribe of people in the Paleolithic era as they flee from fighting and oppression. The leader of the tribe is Adem (Choku Modu), a hard man who leads with fierce, muscular pride. With Adem is his pregnant wife, Ave (Iola Evans), and his beloved son, Heron (Luna Mwezi). Adem's younger brother Geirr (Kit Young), is green and still learning to hunt while also having to carry a leadership role under his brother. 

Not all of the tribe are family however. Odal (Arno Leudig) is an older man, valued more for his experience and wisdom than for contributing to the small tribe as a hunter. But the true outcast, outsider, of the group is Beyah (Safia Oakley-Green). Beyah is quite young but also quite headstrong and tough. She knows that she has to protect herself as Adem makes clear, he will protect his family first while Beyah and Odal fend for themselves.

Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Drift

Drift (2024) 

Directed by Anthony Chen

Written by Susannah Farrell, Alexander Maksik 

Starring Cynthia Erivo, Alia Shawkat 

Release Date February 9th, 2024 

Published February 12th, 2024 

Drift stars Cynthia Erivo as Jacqueline, an African woman struggling to get by on the streets of Greece. We meet Jacqueline as she's struggling to find a place to stay and stay safe for a night. She has a small bag and the clothes on her back. She has no money and only finds a brief refuge as she sleeps for a night in a cave on the beach. Washing her clothes in the ocean, she's a mystery, we don't know why she's here or where she intended to be. 

Struggling for money or food, Jacqueline takes to offering foot massages to tourists on the beach. This gets her a couple of bucks to get a sandwich that may be her only meal for a day or so. Meanwhile, an African man keeps popping up, calling her sister, and claiming he wants to help her. Is he for real? Is he trouble? We will never know as Jacqueline manages to escape him twice before we can see what his motives are.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Arthur the King

Arthur the King (2024) 

Directed by Simon Cellan Jones 

Written by Michael Brandt

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Simu Liu, Juliet Rylance 

Release Date March 15th, 2024 

Published March 15th, 2o24 

There is nothing remotely surprising or unique about Arthur the King, aside from that strange title. Forgive me a moment of being pedantic, but, in context, I have no idea what led to this title or the name of this dog. In the scene where Mark Wahlberg, as Adventure Racer Michael Light gives the dog the name Arthur, The King, he says the dog is acting like a King because he wasn't begging for food, he was patiently waiting to be offered food? And this is, I guess, a reference to King Arthur? Was King Arthur known for patiently waiting to be offered food before he ate? 

It feels like a reach and the movie gives us no context for why Michael Light made this logical leap to 'he's a King because he doesn't beg and waits patiently,' you know, like Kings do. I'm sure that the real life Michael Light had a more reasonable explanation than this in arriving at this moniker for his new dog friend. The movie just makes it feel awkward and bizarre because it's in a rush to keep this overly familiar, sports crossed with dog movie moving. Title aside, Arthur the King delivers exactly what is promised, a charismatic pooch, a rugged athletic hero, and an underdog story that lives up to the word, underdog, in more ways than one.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here

Movie Review Road House

Road House (2024) 

Directed Doug Liman 

Written by Charles Mondry, Anthony Bagarozzi 

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor MacGregor 

Release Date March 21st, 2024

Published March 25th, 2024

Imagine if someone tried to remake The Room without Tommy Wiseau. Imagine if they tried to take Wiseau's premise and treat it with seriousness and make it into a serious drama? Would it even still be The Room? No, the magic would be gone. It would be a boring soap opera. No, the magic of The Room is the unique alchemy that emerges from when Tommy Wiseau's outsized ambition crashes headlong into his complete lack of talent and a movie is forged in the fire of his self-delusion. You cannot remake that. You cannot recapture that kind of magic. 

Roadhouse is like The Room. The magic of Roadhouse comes from the unique alchemy of director Rowdy Herrington's love of sleazy bars with sticky, beer soaked floors, holes in the walls from errant fists, and from Patrick Swayze's unmatched ability to be bizarrely emotionally detached and fully physically present in every scene. His Zen bouncer is a miscalculation in theory but in practice, it is cheeseball comic gold. He's funny but only because he has no idea that he's funny. The joy of Roadhouse is in how deeply dedicated Swayze and everyone else is to this sleazy, cheeseball nonsense.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Ghostbusters Frozen Empire

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024) 

Directed by Gil Kenan 

Written by Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan

Starring McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Dan Akroyd, Ernie Hudson, Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Bill Murray

Release Date March 22nd, 2024 

Published March 22nd, 2024 

Recently, I worked out my concerns over the trailer for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in an article that worried that there were too many stories, too many characters, and a generally overstuffed quality to the movie. My concerns were not entirely unfounded. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is stuffed to the gills with plot and characters. But, to the credit of director Gil Kenan and co-screenwriter Jason Reitman, do bring all of these characters together well enough. It's not a great movie, but Frozen Empire is better than my worst fears for it. Good enough that I can recommend it, with some minor reservations. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire picks up the story of the Spengler Family, Egon's daughter, Callie (Carrie Coon) and her two kids, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard), the oldest, and Phoebe (McKenna Grace), the genius, as they take on ghosts in New York City. Oh, and Gary (Paul Rudd), is also there. They are the Ghostbusters and we join them as they are chasing what looks like a flying electric eel. Property damage and other such mayhem ensues and it leads to Phoebe getting kicked off the team, at least until she's 18.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Documentary Review Kim's Video

Kim's Video (2024)

Directed by David Redmon, Ashley Sabin 

Written by David Redmon, Ashley Sabin 

Starring Yongman Kim, Cinema 

Release Date April 5th, 2024 

Published April 4th, 2024 

Kim's Video is a documentary turned heist thriller and an overall tribue to the love of movies. Directed by Ashley Sabin and David Redmon, Kim's Video is about an obsession and a director who perhaps shares a little too much about his unique way of seeing the world. David Redmon, acting as co-director and narrator, details his obsession in a fashion that could be off putting if it weren't directed in a most unique and noble direction. 

In the 1980s a video store opened in New York City, one that was like no other video store around. Yongman Kim owned a dry cleaning business in New York City where he happened to stock a few videos in the corner for rent. This was the beginning of the VHS boom and Kim found the videos were more popular and successful than the dry cleaning. From there, Kim collected the most eclectic and unique collections of videos imaginable.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Hundreds of Beavers

Hundreds of Beavers (2024) 

Directed by Mike Cheslik 

Written by Mike Cheslik, Ryland Brickson Cole Tews 

Starring Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Olivia Graves, Wes Tank

Release Date Streaming April 12th, 2024 

Published April 12th, 2024 

Hundreds of Beavers is among the funniest movies of 2024. It's a wildly inventive, entirely unique and utterly bizarre comedy and I loved every minute of it. The brain-child of Mike Cheslik and his star Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, the film mixes animation, furry costumes, and old west tropes to craft a live action Looney Tunes movie about an old west trapper and the wacky animals he traps and violently murders in the name of love. 

Jean Kayak (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews) was a successful tavern owner. He served apple based alcohol to mighty trappers, hunters, and burly, manly, manly, men. Then winter came and Kayak, now a stumbling drunkard, accidentally blows up his apple grove, home, and thanks to some interfering beavers, his gigantic barrels of alcohol. Waking up covered in snow, Jean suffers through the winter, unable to kill anything for food and being tormented by the elements and the animals.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Abigail

Abigail (2024)

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Written by Stephen Shields, Guy Busick 

Starring Melissa Barrera, Kathryn Newton, Dan Stevens, Kevin Durand, Alisha Weir 

Release Date April 19th, 2024 

Published April 20th, 2024 

Abigail 0pens on a heist. We meet a series of criminals as they are preparing to break into a home. Joey (Melissa Barrera) is picked up by Frank (Dan Stevens) and Peter (Kevin Durand), they wear all black and put on masks. In a different vehicle at a different location, Dean (Angus Cloud), is talking with Sammy (Kathryn Newton), who is hacking the security of the home where they just dropped off Rickles (Will Catlett) who has a rifle and positions himself on a nearby rooftop to watch the home that is about to be robbed. 

If you have not noticed the naming convention for these characters, it's The Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra's group of friends who ran Hollywood and Las Vegas in the 50s and 60s. These are the aliases chosen by the group's benefactor, Mr. Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito). But this is not an ordinary heist. You see, the target isn't money or a hard drive filled with crypto or ancient art worth millions of dollars on the black market. Rather, the loot in this heist is a little girl named Abigail (Alisha Weir). Abigail is the daughter of a very rich, very powerful man and the goal is to ransom the child for millions of dollars.

Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Sasquatch Sunset

Sasquatch Summer (2024) 

Directed by Nathan Zellner, David Zellner 

Written by David Zellner 

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Riley Keough, Nathan Zellner, Christophe Zajac-Denec 

Release Date April 19th, 2024 

Published April 20th, 2024 

Sasquatch Sunset isn't a movie. Let me explain. Technically, there are actors, it was filmed with cameras by a director with the aid of a film crew on a scouted location. All things that add up to making a movie. But that's just a technicality. The reality is that brothers Nathan and David Zellner have tricked a modest audience of indie movie lovers into paying money to watch them screw around in the forest. I can admire the audacity of making a movie as a prank on the audience but figuring out the joke doesn't make the movie any less of a pain to sit through. 

There is no plot in Sasquatch Sunset. The film has four actors dressed in Sasquatch suits. These are quite good suits, this was not a cheap prank, it's elaborate. It's also quite a good looking setting that is beautifully captured by cinematographer Mike Gioulakis. And yet, what you are watching, for all the skill on display, is an elaborate troll job. They've got your money, they have you in the theater and now you are sitting there watching actors in Sasquatch costumes grunt at each other in between times when they are scratching their privates and smelling their fingers, picking their noses and eating it, and waving their skinny genitals at each other.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Back to Black

Back to Black (2024) 

Directed by Sam Taylor Johnson

Written by Matt Greenhalgh

Starring Marisa Abela, Jack O'Connell, Leslie Manville, Eddie Marsan 

Release Date May 17th, 2024 

Published May 21st, 2024 

Why did director Sam Taylor Johnson want to tell this story? Is she a fan of Amy Winehouse? It's hard to say based on Johnson's new movie Back to Black. This is a nothing biopic that offers no insight on Amy Winehouse, her art, or her tragic death. The emptiness of Back to Black reminded me more of Johnson's Fifty Shades sequel than her slightly more accomplished John Lennon movie, Nowhere Boy. In that film, at the very least, we sensed that there was joy in the discovery of artistic talent and the forming of bonds that would become legendary. Back to Black carries little joy beyond playing Amy Winehouse's music. I could have gotten the same insights sitting at home next to my record player. 

Back to Black opens on an odd image. Amy Winehouse, played by Marisa Abela, is running down a London Street alone. The camera is shooting down at her from overhead. If this were a male director I'd want to ask why they have decided to aim the camera in a way that centers Marisa abela's cleavage as it bounces while she runs. The odd angle is perhaps, if I were to stretch a little, a visual comment on the strange way we view celebrities, but that's a pretty big stretch. Realistically, I can't think of a good reason for this visual. It's also a piece of a scene that unfolds later in the movie, not the end, it's not a preview of the end of the movie, it's a piece from around the end of the second act. So why does the movie start with this? I can't think of a reason.

Find my full length review at Beat.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Babes

Babes (2024) 

Directed by Pamela Adlon 

Written by Ilana Glazer, Josh Rabinowitz

Starring Ilana Glazer, Michele Buteau, Hasan Minhaj, John Carroll Lynch

Release Date May 17th, 2024 

Published May 28th, 2024 

Babes stars Ilana Glazer as Eden and Michele Buteau as Dawn. Best friends since forever, the two are so close that their share photos of their bowel movements. You know you're close when a significant bowel movement is a subject of your text chats, am I right? No, no one does that? Awkward. Well, Eden and Dawn do that and the dialogue that introduces the concept goes a long way to setting up the bond of friendship that will be tested by the story about to unfold. 

The friendship of Eden and Dawn is tested on multiple fronts. First, Dawn is having her second baby. It's Thanksgiving and she and Eden are at the movies when Dawn's water breaks. A rush to the hospital and some very gross, and quite funny jokes about the process of giving birth, leads to Dawn having a healthy baby. This will further tax the time she gets to spend with her closest friend, Eden, who has no children or family to occupy her time.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Summer Camp

Summer Camp (2024) 

Directed by Castille Landon

Written by Castille Landon

Starring Diane Keaton, Kathy Bates, Alfre Woodard, Eugene Levy

Release Date May 31st, 2024 

Published May 31st, 2024 

In a season 7 episode of The Simpsons, titled Sideshow Bob's Last Gleaming, the character of Sideshow Bob is pushed over the edge when he hears that beloved actress Vanessa Redgrave is starring in a vapid television show that casts her as a wacky granny who is going 'haul her ass to Lollapalooza' before peeling out on a motorcycle. So bereft is Sideshow Bob that he decides he must destroy television. 

I bring up this beloved memory of The Simpsons not because it relates to the new movie Summer Camp but rather to remind myself that I once enjoyed the work of actress Diane Keaton. I held her in high regard once, not unlike how Bob feels about Vanessa Redgrave. And now, when I hear that Diane Keaton has a movie coming out, I want to burn down the very concept of movies.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Bob Marley One Love

Bob Marley One Love (2024) 

Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green

Screenplay by Terence Winter, Frank E. Flowers, Zach Raylin, Reinaldo Marcus Green

Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton

Release Date February 14th, 2024 

Published May 30th, 2024

You can tell that Bob Marley: One Love has four different credited screenwriters. The film has the chaotic feel of too many cooks in the kitchen. That's not to say that this is a bad movie, as music industry biopics go, this is among the better ones. Rather, it's just an observation of the style and tone of the movie which seems to shift gears oddly. You can sense a herky jerky quality of visions for the story changing and merging, and ideas not entirely cohering. The chaos comes however, in a haze of marijuana smoke and good vibes that prove to a saving grace. 

Bob Marley: One Love stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as musician, radical, and revolutionary, Bob Marley. A star beloved around the world, Marley once wielded so much power that warring factions of Jamaica's would be leaders, vied for his attention, alternately threatening and offering to protect Marley from harm. All the while, Marley asks for none of this responsibility, accepting the kind offers from both sides while naively hoping that he can bring the two sides together by the sheer force of good vibes. Bob Marley: One Love portrays the star as a man overwhelmed by wielding far more power than he deserves and a desperate ache for peace for himself and the people who have raised him to such a position of power in his home country.

Find my full length review at Beat.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Bad Boys Ride or Die

Bad Boys Ride or Die (2024) 

Directed by Adil and Bilal 

Written by Chris Beamer, Will Beall 

Starring Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig 

Release Date June 7th, 2024 

Published June 7th, 2024

To say that my expectations for the fourth film in the Bad Boys franchise were low would be a grave understatement. I loathed Bad Boys 2 all the way back in 2003 and never forgot that feeling. When Bad Boys for life arrived in 2020, it did not improve my feelings at all. Thus, with a fourth film arriving with the cultural baggage of being Will Smith's first big summer blockbuster comeback since his Oscars... moment, I had no good reason to be even remotely interested in Bad Boys Ride or Die. 

I assumed the franchise would coast on what it has always done, be loud, be colorful, make terrible jokes, bullets, bullets, bullets, credits. Indeed, there are plenty of bullets in Bad Boys Ride or Die but I am surprised to say that the franchise is not coasting. The fourth film actually introduces a few interesting character wrinkles into the storytelling while still remaining a blockbuster action movie. The action of Bad Boys Ride or Die is a significant improvement for directors Adil and Bilal whose bad impression of Michael Bay in Bad Boys for Life made for a nearly unwatchable movie.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review The Watchers

The Watchers (2024) 

Directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan

Written by Ishana Night Shyamalan

Starring Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Olwen Fouere, Oliver Finnigan 

Release Date June 7th, 2024 

Published June 10thth, 2024 

The Watchers stars Dakota Fanning as Mina, an emotionally scarred young woman hiding from her problems as an ex-pat in Ireland. She works for a pet shop and when her boss asks her to take a rare parrot to a zoo in Dublin she leaps at the chance to break the monotony of her life. This monotony includes encounters with strange men in bars while she's wearing a wig to hide her identity. What this proclivity has to do with the rest of the plot of The Watchers is up to you, I suppose. 

While driving her new parrot friend to Dublin, Mina finds herself lost in a forest that doesn't appear to be on her map. When her vehicle breaks down, she gets out of the car and with her parrot, she goes searching for help. As the sun begins to go down, she starts hearing a strange rustling sound. Soon, she's beckoned to come into a strange looking building an urgent woman we will come to know as Madeleine (Olwen Fouere). She instructs Mina to stand in front a mirrored wall as 'the watchers' arrive to stare at them.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review The Vourdalak

The Vourdalak (2024) 

Directed by Adrien Beau 

Written by Adrien Beau, Hadien Bouvier, Aleksei Tolstoy 

Starring Kacey Mottet Klein, Ariane Labed, Gregoire Colin

Release Date June 27th, 2024 

Published June 11th, 2024

In our very American style of romanticizing things that should not be romantic, we've seemingly lost the notion that vampires are grotesque, horrible creations intended to communicate the ways wealthy elites suck the proletariat dry. Vampires are a symbol of the rich and powerful and how they have risen to power for centuries by sucking the life blood out of the people they supposedly lead and care for. 

The French understand this far better than us Americans do. They've also proven to be far better at revolution that we are. After all, the guillotine and the damning phrase 'Let them eat cake' are French creations that symbolize the working class taking vengeance upon the ruling class in no uncertain terms. It makes sense then that a French filmmaker is the one to show us the utter grotesquerie of both the ruling class and the vampire at once.

Find my full length review at Horror.Media, linked here.