Showing posts with label 2025. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2025. Show all posts

Documentary Review Thank You Very Much

Thank You Very Much 

Directed by Alex Braverman

Written by Alex Braverman 

Starring Andy Kaufman 

Release Date March 28th, 2025 

Published March 26th, 2025 

One thing people don’t think about a lot is how many decisions are made out of a sense of insecurity. We also don’t tend to consider how a decision made by someone feeling insecure affects the rest of the world or, indeed, a nebulous future that introduces new people to that decision and the ways it changed the world. The ripple effect of Andy Kaufman’s feelings of insecurity from his childhood into adulthood is massive. 

As a child, Andy Kaufman’s parents chose not to tell him that his beloved grandfather had died. Instead, they told their young, impressionable boy that he was traveling for work. This led Andy to stay in his room and stare out the window for endless hours, hoping that his grandpa would return home. The passage of time led to a deep sadness that could only be sated when Andy was performing, first performing for a fake audience in his bedroom and then, in front of neighborhood kids at birthday parties.

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



Movie Review Disney's Snow White

Disney’s Snow White 

Directed by Marc Webb

Written by Erin Cressida Wilson

Starring Rachel Zegler, Gal Gadot, Andrew Burnap 

Release Date March 21st, 2025 

Published March 21st, 2025 

Disney’s Snow White is exactly the movie we need at this moment. At a time when supposed leaders say things like ‘The fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy,’ Disney’s Snow White takes a stand in favor of empathy. Indeed, the film boils down to a battle of good versus evil where a venal, greedy, oligarch is defeated by empathy, compassion, and courage. And not a single sword pierces flesh, no arrows fly, and no bodies pile up in the process. The triumph of good over evil is a victory of community over the selfishness of the few. 

Disney’s Snow White stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White, the princess of a kingdom run with benevolence, honesty and compassion by her parents, played by Hadley Fraser and Lorena Andrea. When the Queen dies, the King falls under the spell of a newcomer who comes to be known as The Evil Queen (Gal Gadot). When the King goes to war and does not return, The Evil Queen locks Snow White away while she steals the wealth of the kingdom, starving the people, and enslaving the farmer as guards under her magic spell.

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



Movie Review Black Bag

Black Bag 

Directed by Steven Soderbergh 

Written by David Koepp 

Starring Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, Rege-Jean Page, Marisa Abela 

Release Date March 14th, 2025 

Published March 19th, 2025 

Black Bag stars Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett as George and Kathryn Woodhouse, married British spies. George, we are told, is a human lie detector, his job is reading people and weeding out their lies. George’s latest task is locating a traitor within the spy ranks. Someone is trying to steal a dangerous weapon to sell it to terrorists targeting Russia. After a brief meeting with a fellow spy in the field, George is given a list of names of potential traitors. George’s wife, Kathryn, is on the list. 

In order to suss out the traitor, George has invited the people on the list to come to his and Kathryn’s home for dinner. He is going to play a game with them that will reveal their deep dark secrets. The dinner guests include Freddie (Tom Burke), George’s friend and immediate subordinate, Clarissa (Marisa Abela), a computer expert who happens to be dating Freddie, Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), a psychiatrist who is treating everyone except for George, currently, and Col. Stokes, a rising star in the agency who happens to be dating Dr. Vaughan.

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



Movie Review The Electric State

The Electric State 

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo 

Written by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeeley 

Starring Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan 

Release Date March 14th, 2025 

Published March 18th, 2025 

The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown as Michelle, a human exposition machine. Michelle’s job is to give us reams of backstory before we can finally get to some passable action scenes. Thus we get an opening movie monologue where a too touchy pair of brother and sister, Brown and Woody Norman as Michelle’s little brother Chris, having a most unnatural conversation introducing their backstory. Chris is a genius who is headed to college at a very young age. He doesn’t want to go, fearing being away from his big sister. 

Naturally, this is setting up a story where they will be separated, something you know just because you’ve experienced stories being told before. Chris is subsequently kidnapped though Michelle is told that Chris and her father have died in a car wreck. Cut to an unspecified amount of time later, Michelle is somehow still a teenager, still in High School. The film does little to let us know how old she’s supposed to be but one scene she’s fretting over her little brother getting to college before her and after a time jump, she’s somehow still in High School.

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



Movie Review Opus

Opus 

Directed by Mark Anthony Green 

Written by Mark Anthony Green 

Starring Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Juliette Lewis 

Release Date March 14th, 2025 

Published March 17th, 2025 

Opus is yet another in a growing sub genre of ‘Vibes’ movies. What is a ‘Vibes’ movie? It’s a film where atmosphere and oddity are as, or more, important than plot and character. A great example of a Vibes Movie is Mark Mylod’s 2022 film, The Menu. That film develops a menacing and confounding air, sending up thriller feels but preferring to keep the audience off balance more than terrified or breathless. Some also consider the work of Ari Aster in the genre of Vibes Movies. I get that, though I prefer to keep Aster in the horror genre, there is no denying the Vibes Movie feel of Beau is Afraid

Naturally, because our modern culture does not slow down, there are already critics who are talking about being tired of Vibes Movies, even as they haven’t been around all that long. But with many of these movies having been highly praised by critics, myself included, tropes in vibes movies are beginning to emerge and stagnate the sub genre, as always happens when a unique new way to approach a film story takes hold. Others have called this A24-Core, as A24 is the home to Ari Aster but Neon and other indie studios have been in the Vibes Movie Sub-Genre since it took hold in the later part of the previous decade.

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



Movie Review Novocaine

Novocaine 

Directed by Dan Berk, Robert Olson 

Written by Lars Jacobson 

Starring Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Jacob Batalon, Ray Nicholson 

Release Date March 14th, 2025

Published March 14th, 2025 

Novocaine stars Jack Quaid as Nate Caine, aka Novocaine, a nickname given to him by childhood bullies. You see, Nate has a rare medical condition which causes him to not feel pain. When kids found out about his condition, they immediately wanted to test it and set about beating Nate up on a regular basis. All grown up, Nate takes great care not to get hurt. He is, of course, not afraid of pain but rather, if he were to get hurt, he would not know it. He could be bleeding out and he wouldn’t know it until he saw the blood. 

Nate works as an assistant manager at a bank where he has recently fallen in love with a newly hired bank teller, Sherry (Amber Midthunder). She doesn’t know he’s in love with her, but he very much is. When she asks him to lunch he trips all over himself before finally accepting. They flirt and chat and he opens up about his unique condition. The two end up spending the night together and it seems as if Jack’s dreams are coming true. That is until he gets to work the next day. While daydreaming about Sherry, bank robbers dressed as Santa Claus, yes, Novocaine is a Christmas movie, enter the bank and proceed to rob the place.

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



Movie Review The Damned

The Damned 

Directed by Thordur Paisson 

Written by Jamie Hannigan 

Starring Odessa Young, Siobhan Finneran 

Release Date January 3rd, 2025 

Published January 2nd, 2025 

The Damned stars Odessa Young as a 19th century era widow in charge of a small, Icelandic fishing outpost. It’s been a year since the death of her husband, Magnus, and she has surprised his crew of fishermen by continuing to man the fishing outpost. The harsh winter makes the job a sorrowful and punishing one but she does it to maintain his legacy. Struggling to provide food and supplies, the rowdy crew is still loyal to Young’s Eva, especially Daniel (Joe Cole), a loyal friend of her late husband. 

The plot of The Damned kicks in when a foreign ship is dashed against the rocks within seeing distance of the fishing outpost. The fisherman could attempt to rescue members of the foreign crew but, as the lead fisherman points out, it could be more than a dozen more mouths to feed on the limited supplies that they already have. Eva is left to make the difficult decision not to mount a rescue. However, when supplies from the dashed ship wash up on shore, including a barrel full of bait, Eva decides that rescuing the supplies might be worth the risk.

Click here for my full length review at Geeks.Media



Documentary Don't Die The man Who Wants to Live Forever

Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever 

Directed by Chris Smith 

Written by Chris Smith 

Starring Bryan Johnson 

Release Date January 1st, 2025 

Published January 3rd, 2025 



Does the reality of death make life more meaningful? Does the notion of an ending to life make what you do while living matter more? I thought about these questions a lot while watching the new Netflix documentary Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever. The documentary examines the story of former Tech CEO and multi-millionaire, Bryan Johnson. After spending years on the grind to build his company Braintree into a major player in online payment technology, Johnson sold the company and dedicated himself to trying to live forever. 

Bryan Johnson exists at the intersection of legitimate breakthroughs in aging science and being a con-man or grifter who takes advantage of vulnerable, frightened people desperate for the secret to not getting old. As the documentary tracks Johnson’s journey from deeply depressed grindset-mindset tech-bro to a man who claims to no longer use his ‘mind’ and is thus a functioning automaton guinea pig, we really cannot tell which side of the grifter-scientific pioneer fence Johnson falls on.

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



Movie Review Aladdin 3477-1 The Jinn of Wisdom

Aladdin 3477-1: The Jinn of Wisdom 

Directed by Matt Busch

Written by Matt Busch 

Starring Erik Steele, Lin Zy, Aaron Golematis

Release Date January 3rd, 2025 

Published January 5th, 2025 

Experimental artist Matt Busch has directed his first feature film, the strangely charming, low budget, Aladdin meets the future flick, Aladdin 3477-1: The Jinn of Wisdom. This unique take on the Aladdin legend takes the young thief and beggar into a far future where major cities now float in the sky over the slums that remain on the ground and robots keep the classes divided by acting as future law enforcement. In this bizarre mix is Aladdin, played by Erik Steele as a schemer with a heart of gold. 

The story follows Aladdin as he is recruited to steal a legendary Genie’s lamp from a dangerous and cursed cave. All the while, Aladdin is chased after and protected by Oomi (Lin Zy), a homeless martial arts expert who has, for reasons we are not privy to, dedicated her life to protecting Aladdin. We can tell that Oomie is desperately in love while Aladdin is both unaware of Oomie’s feelings, to a hostile degree, and unworthy of such loyalty. Oomie is the best character in the movie and the main reason to see Aladdin 3477-1: The Jinn of Wisdom.

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



Documentary Review Lady Like

Lady Like 

Directed by Luke Willis 

Written by Luke Willis 

Starring Lady Camden 

Release Date January 3rd, 2025 

Published January 6th, 2025 

What is it that drives people to want to take joy away from others? Is this some kind of caveman instinct? Is our too slowly evolving intellect still recalling a time when being loud and happy might attract predators and thus we must crush those aspects of humanity for the protection of the tribe? I don’t understand why anyone would look at a child who loves to dance or play dress up or emulate a lifestyle that they weren’t born into and decide that this expression of self, this joy and comfort in what they enjoy, needs to be taken away from them. 

This is literally what so many parents and members of general society attempt to do to a group of people who simply wish to follow their muse and live a life that brings them joy. The boy who grew up to be Lady Camden, runner up on Season 14 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, knows this feeling all too well. She grew up wanting to dance and play with Barbies and many people stepped in to try and take that away from her. Whether it was angry bullying or ugly shaming, somehow people looked at this vulnerable child and thought that what was best for them was to take away what made them happy.

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



Movie Review Disfluency

Disfluency 

Directed by Anna Baumgarten

Written by Anna Baumgarten 

Starring Libe Barer, Ariela Barer, Chelsea Alden 

Released January 10th, 2025

Published January 9th, 2025 

Disfluency stars Libe Barer as Jane, or Jane the Brain, or Blue Jay, depending on which family member or friend who is speaking to her. Jane has a loving and supportive group of friends and family, all of whom are worried about her. After having spent her life as an overachiever with well built goals and accomplishments, Jane failed her final university exam, causing her to wash out. Returning home for the summer, she’s here to lick her wounds and dodge the questions of her parents as to how it happened that she bombed in the one class that she needed to graduate. 

You may already be guessing what might have caused a bright young woman to suddenly lose everything, tripping over the final hurdle. It’s probably exactly what you think and yet, Disfluency comes at this revelation from a unique perspective. Jane is fighting to keep her secret while giving off every indication of her growing depression stemming from the traumatic incident that sent her spiraling toward that class failure. The film captures the complicated, roiling, and chaotic emotional conflicts that come with such trauma.

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



Movie Review Sing Sing

Sing Sing 

Directed by Greg Kwedar

Written by Craig Bentley, Greg Kwedar

Starring Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin 

Release Date July 12th, 2024

Published January 16th, 2025 

Sing Sing follows the story of a group of men incarcerated at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility who have found a unique way to rehabilitate and find new purpose and meaning. The inmates are part of a theater troupe that uses the art of theater and acting to give these men the space to explore their emotions, their frustrations, and the aspirations for when they may no longer be behind bars. The spiritual leader of the troupe is Divine G (Colman Domingo), a man who fully believes that he was wrongly incarcerated but has nevertheless dedicated himself to healing through art. 

Divine G has written plays for the group and has been the lead actor in a number of productions. He’s also the lead recruiter for the group, always with an eye on the yard looking for a lost soul who might benefit from this unique art therapy. The most recent inmate to catch G’s attention is known as Divine Eye, aka, Clarence Maclin (played by real life former inmate Clarence Maclin). It’s unclear exactly what G sees in Divine Eye but he nevertheless pursues the young man and slowly draws him into their circle.

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



Movie Review The Wolfman

Wolf Man 

Directed by Leigh Whannell

Written by Leigh Whannell, Corbett Tuck

Starring Christopher Abbott, Julia Garner

Release Date January 17th, 2025

Published January 17th, 2025 

Wolf Man stars Christopher Abbott as Blake Lovell, a loving father in a struggling marriage to Charlotte (Julia Garner). Out of work, Blake spends all of his time with their daughter, Ginger (Matilda Firth), which has caused Charlotte to become resentful of their bond. In an effort to repair their marriage and family, Blake asks Charlotte to come with him to Oregon where his late father lived in a remote cabin. Blake’s eccentric father, Grady (Sam Jaeger), disappeared a while ago and has recently been declared dead. Blake is set to travel to Oregon to clean out the cabin and sees an opportunity for a family vacation. 

Arriving in Oregon in a massive moving van, Blake, Charlotte and Ginger get lost and encounter a man named Derek Kiel (Benedict Hardie), a creepy, haunted man whose own late father was a close friend of Grady. Derek agrees to lead them to Grady’s cabin but on the drive, a man in the center of the road causes Blake to swerve into nearby trees where the truck rolls over. Derek is thrown from the truck and in quick succession, he’s attacked and dragged away by some kind of monster on two legs. The monster also attacks Blake, scratching his arm, just as he’s able to escape with Charlotte and Ginger. The three find Grady’s cabin with the monster fast on their tail.

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



Movie Review Eat the Night

Eat the Night 

Directed by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel 

Written by Guillaume Breaud, Caroline Poggi, Jonathan Vinel

Starring Lila Gueneau, Theo Cholbi, Erwan Kapoa Fale 

Release date January 10th, 2025 

Published January 19th, 2025 

Eat the Night stars Lila Gueneau and Theo Cholbi as siblings, Appoline and Pablo. Having apparently been abandoned by their parents, Pablo supports the two of them by selling drugs while the two share a bond over a video game called Darknoon. The game is pretty much Appoline’s obsession. It became her world when she and her older brother began playing together and it became a source of comfort and continuity amid the chaos of their day to day lives. 

Thus, when the makers of Darknoon announce that the game is coming to an end in just mere months, it sends Appoline and Pablo on separate paths. While Appoline remains obsessed with the gaming world, Pablo looks outward. After being assaulted while selling drugs on gang turf, Pablo is cared for by Night, a kindly hotel employee. Pablo returns to see Night the following day on the pretense of offering him a job producing and selling drugs with him.

Click here for my full length review at Pride.Media, linked here. 



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 ...