Classic Movie Review Rope

Rope (1948) 

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock 

Written by Arthur Laurents 

Starring Jimmy Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Sir Cedric Hardwicke

Release Date September 25th, 1948 

Published June 10th, 2024 

Director Alfred Hitchcock enjoys a good thought experiment. Take an average man, place him in a situation and watch him use his wits to get him out of it. The plots become a series of mini puzzles that the main character has to solve before the story can progress and the main character can make their escape. Usually, these puzzles are spread over the course of an adventure whether across a city, a country or the globe. But, for his 1948 film Rope, Hitchcock decided to create a puzzle for himself as a director. 

Adapting a script by Arthur Laurents, Hitchcock creates a series of traps for himself. How will he navigate a thriller set entirely in one location with none of the trappings of his globe trotting adventures. He also has no spies, detectives, or dangerous women to push the story forward. Instead, he has only a lavish apartment building and a gathering of intellectuals. Oh, and a murder. It wouldn't be Hitchcock if there weren't a murder to get the ball rolling.

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. 

Movie Review Reverse the Curse

Reverse the Curse (2024) 

Directed by David Duchovny 

Written by David Duchovny 

Starring Logan Marshall Green, Stephanie Beatriz, David Duchovny, Pamela Adlon

Release Date June 14th, 2024 

Published June 13th, 2024 

Reverse the Curse stars Logan Marshall Green as Ted, a failing writer. It's 1978 and Ted is working as a peanut vendor at Yankee Stadium for little pay and less respect. He wants to write the great American novel but, he's told by a publisher, played by Pamela Adlon, that his story doesn't have a plot and that he lacks life experience to draw from. She advises him to go commit a crime, get f##### in the a## prison, and come back when he has a story to tell. 

That this line of thinking comes from the mouth of Pamela Adlon, a skilled wordsmith when it comes to the profane, is the only reason this dialogue works. My point will be proven in the rest of the movie where profanity appears and is poorly used. Being profane is a skill and Adlon is a skilled proprietor. The rest of the cast of Reverse the Curse lacks her talent for the irreverent and filthy. They are amateurs compared to Adlon who could give sailors and truck drivers a good talking too.

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

Movie Review Inside Out 2

Inside Out 2 (2024) 

Directed by Kelsey Mann 

Written by Meg Lefauve

Starring Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Adele Exarchopoulis, Phyllis Smith, Ayo Edibiri, Paul Walter Hauser 

Release Date June 14th, 2024 

Published June 14th, 2024 

I used to anticipate a new Pixar release like other people anticipate a new Marvel release. The beauty of animation and the ambitious stories being told were inspiring. Pixar shaped generations of kids, helped them to think critically, and helped them learn to appreciate art while remaining magical and a joy to look at. The pandemic and Disney's internal rot as they let hedge fund managers and stock analysts take hold of their creative products has now infected the once pristine land of Pixar. 

The company that once prided itself on pioneering the world of animation has now begun laying off employees. They have slashed budgets, cut back on the creative teams, you can see the diminishing returns in both box office and in the quality of the animation they are putting out. It's still an industry standard but we've gone over the peak of Pixar, it's all downhill from here, it would seem. My thesis statement for this Pixar hot take is Inside Out 2. Sequels, reboots, and prequels are the last refuge of scoundrels in Hollywood and while Pixar has been in the sequel business for a few years, the growing reliance on memorable intellectual product or I.P is beginning to dim the once bright star of the animation genre.

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

Movie review Treasure

Treasure (2024)

Directed by Julia Von Heinz 

Written by Julia Von Heinz, John Quester 

Starring Lena Dunham, Stephen Fry 

Release Date June 14th, 2024 

Published June 17th, 2024 

Treasure stars Lena Dunham as a New York Times reporter on vacation in Poland. It's 1991 and Ruth (Dunham) has come to Poland to see where her parents were born. Joining Ruth is her doting, loving, and a bit goofy dad, Edek (Stephen Fry). Though he told her that this trip was not worth the time and effort, Ruth has insisted and he's come along to make sure she gets around safely. His memories of Poland are the driving force of the story as he survived being at Auschwitz during the War. 

Ruth wants to know what her father's experience was like but she's a bit obtuse about how her desire for knowledge affects her father. This comes to light for us, if not for her, when she purchases train tickets to his home city and he refuses. He claims he'd rather ride in a Mercedes owned by a new friend of his, Stefan (Zbigniew Zamachowsk), a cab driver who Edek managed to charm into being their driver in the time it took Ruth to use the bathroom at the airport.

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

Classic Movie Review Happy Together

Happy Together (1997)

Directed by Wong Kar Wai

Written by Wong Kar Wai

Starring Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Chang Chen 

Release Date May 30th, 1997 

Published June 17th, 2024 

Happy Together is a vibrant and wildly experimental movie that views a toxic relationship through various different lenses, literally and figuratively. The film stars Tony Leung as Lai. He will be who we spend most of our time with in the movie. Lai has come to Argentina with his lover, Ho (Leslie Cheung), with little money and less of a plan. Due to their own collective negligence, they've stranded themselves in South America until they can raise enough money to go home to Hong Kong. 

That is surely what Lai wants. As for Ho, he's unpredictable and selfish. He abandons Lai after a falling out during an attempted trip to a legendary South American waterfall. The two seem to part ways but they can't stay apart for long. As Lai works an odd job as a doorman at a nightclub, he's forced to watch as Ho arrives regularly with a different man. Yes, it's quite sad and upsetting as he's left to watch Ho go home with men. It's not stated plainly that Ho is a sex worker but the implication is there.

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

Movie Review Waiting for Dali

Waiting for Dali (2024) 

Directed by David Pujol

Written by David Pujol, Miguel Garcia Navarette

Starring Jose Garcia, Ivan Massague, Clara Ponsot

Release Date June 18th, 2024

Published June 18th, 2024

The story of Waiting for Dali begins in Barcelona, Spain, in 1974 with a revolution in progress. Workers at a local restaurant have joined a revolution against the Spanish government and are now facing persecution. Albert0 (Pol Lopez) and his brother, the second top chef at their restaurant, Fernando (Ivan Massague), have no choice but to turn to a mutual friend and fellow revolutionary, Francois (Nicholas Cazale) for help. 

Francois's plan has the trio travel to the small Spanish village of Cadaques where Alberto and Fernando will have to swallow their pride and take work in a kitchen that is not under their leadership. It's an especially big step down for Fernando who was making a name for himself as a French cuisine expert in Barcelona. Now, he's a prep cook at a seaside restaurant called El Surreal. The owner, Jules (Jose Garcia), built the restaurant solely on the hope that one day he might get the famed artist, Salvador Dali to eat there.

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

Movie Review The Exorcism

The Exorcism (2024) 

Directed by Joshua John Miller 

Written by M.A Fortin, Joshua John Miller 

Starring Russell Crowe, Ryan Simpkins, Chloe Bailey, David Hyde Pierce, Adam Goldberg 

Release Date June 21st, 2024 

Published June 20th, 2024 

Russell Crowe is in a strange period of his career. The former leading man, heartthrob, and box office star, is now a sideshow act in the world of horror. I'm not saying it's a downgrade, but going from being an Academy Award nominee to starring in multiple movies centered around exorcists or or exorcism is certainly not what anyone would have predicted regarding a man who was once one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood. Crowe's career was derailed by alcohol and bad behavior and now he finds himself in a genre famous for actors slumming it hoping for a hit and a comeback. 

Just last year, Crowe starred in the odd, so bad it's good, exorcism horror flick, The Pope's Exorcist. That film was so successful that Crowe is making a sequel in 2025, marking the third exorcism-centric film in a period of three years. That's weird right? I'm not crazy, that's just a bizarre turn of events. For his second exorcism movie in two year, Crowe stars in The Exorcism in which he plays a down on his luck former leading man actor who takes a role in a horror movie where he plays a priest who is leading an exorcism of a possessed teenager. The meta is apparently coincidental but nonetheless inescapable.

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

Classic Movie Review Wolf

Wolf (1994) 

Directed by Mike Nichols 

Written by Jim Harrison, Wesley Strick 

Starring Jack Nicholson, Michele Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan, Christopher Plummer 

Release Date June 17th, 1994 

Published June 23rd, 2024

Why would a director like Mike Nichols, known for classy dramas about classy characters, deconstructed by Nichols talented wit, want to make a horror movie? It's just not his genre. Horror is not in Mike Nichols' wheelhouse. As evidenced by Nichols' only horror movie, 1994's Wolf, he doesn't have the stomach for it. Bloodless, dull, and mildly embarrassing for all involved, Wolf is one of the most curiously bad movies of 1994. 

Will Randal (Jack Nicholson) is a book editor with a great reputation and a loyal core of popular authors. However, he's also a bit of a pushover. Thus, when his job is on the line, he doesn't have the instincts needed to see that his youthful protege, Stewart (James Spader), has been angling for his job as Editor in Chieff of a prestigious book company. The company has just been taken over by a billionaire magnate, played by Christopher Plummer, who appreciates Stewart's cutthroat approach.

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

Movie Review The Bikeriders

The Bikeriders (2024)

Directed by Jeff Nichols 

Written by Jeff Nichols

Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer 

Release Date June 21st, 2024 

Published June 23rd, 2024 

Austin Butler stars in The Bikeriders as Benny. We are told in an early scene that women avoid Benny because he's a tragedy waiting to happen. He is known for repeatedly crashing his bike and for being a hothead regarding his motorcycle club, The Vandals. We never actually see him crash his motorcycle. Not one time. So I am not sure why that was introduced as a defining trait but, whatever. Naturally, being told to stay away from Benny is every woman's weakness and thus Kathy (Jodi Comer), a very non-biker chick, goes for him in a big way. Kathy has a home and a good job and she wants nothing more than to take the wild and free Benny and domesticate him. 

The Vandals didn't set out to be a motorcycle gang. Initially, they were about motorcycle racing but Johnny (Tom Hardy), wanted something more and The Vandals were born as a group of friends who like riding, drinking and fighting together while wearing variations on the same jacket. Johnny was literally inspired by seeing a Marlon Brando movie, The Wild One, on TV one night. From there, he built the gang, bought a bar for them to hang out in, and rode motorcycles all over the Midwest, often using intimidation to keep people from messing with his friends.

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

Movie Review Thelma

Thelma (2024) 

Directed by Josh Margolin 

Written by Josh Margolin 

Starring June Squibb, Richard Roundtree, Fred Hechinger, Parker Posey, Clark Gregg 

Release Date June 21st 

Published June 25th, 2024

Thelma stars June Squibb as our title character, a loving, supportive grandmother living alone in a Los Angeles suburb. Thelma lost her beloved husband of more than 60 years just two years prior to the start of this story. It's the first time in her life that she has lived alone and she's started to enjoy the independence, even at the age of 93. Her main lifeline is her grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger), who visits regularly and takes her places she needs to go. He's also teaching her to use the internet, though she has little use for that. 

The plot of Thelma kicks in when Thelma receives a call from Daniel. He's been in an accident and needs her help. The call is cut off and a man claiming to be a Police Officer tells Thelma that to get Daniel out of jail and cared for safely, she must mail $10,000 dollars to a P.O Box in Van Nuys. When she can't get in touch with Daniel, she assumes that the call was real, it did sound like Daniel on the phone, so Thelma gathers up the money hidden around her home and mails it off, all while talking to her daughter, Gail (Parker Posey), and her son-in-law, Alan (Clark Gregg) who are so overcome with worry that they don't even ask about the money.

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

Movie Review Family Portrait

Family Portrait (2024) 

Directed by Lucy Kerr 

Written by Lucy Kerr, Rob Rice, Karlis Bergs

Starring Rachel Alig, Deragh Campbell, Katie Folger, Chris Galust 

Release Date June 28th, 2024 

Published June 24th, 2024 

A woman sits outside on a beautiful summer day. She has a book, the sound is ambient, a light breeze, the insects of summer making their usual music. It's a peaceful, lush image. As captured by writer-director Lucy Kerr, using a deep focus that allows for us to see past what is in the foreground, it's a gorgeous image that is slightly off center. Typically, when we are watching a movie, we expect the main action of the scene to be centered in the frame. But, with so much visual enticement, and the main character of the scene slightly off to the side and not engaging in activity that would be considered story or plot important, our eyes wander the frame. 

And what we center on is a hollowed-out tree. There is a gap that doesn't appear large enough for someone to crawl inside. The dancing sunlight between the branches and leaves however, visually indicate that the tree is hollow, and our eyes search it for visual confirmation. Then, we start to see something or someone moving inside the tree. It's confusing and a little frightening at first. You wonder, is this what we've been looking for in the scene, is there something sinister, supernatural, or dangerous in that tree? Why is whatever this is hiding in the tree? This will be revealed but first, our way of seeing the world is exposed. Do you assume something strange or dangerous? Or is it just a tree?

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

Documentary Review The Conqueror Hollywood Fallout

The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout 

Directed by William Nunez 

Written by William Nunez 

Starring John Wayne 

Release Date October 17th, 2023 

Published July 1st, 2024 Are you familiar with an animated character by the name of Bert the Turtle? Bert was created in 1952 and would go on to become famous around the world for quite some time. Today, Bert is among the most infamous, shocking, and notable characters in the history of animation. Bert was not a foil for Bugs Bunny. Bert didn't share the screen with Mickey or Donald or Goofy. Nor was he voiced by the famed Mel Blanc. And, Bert is not famous for being funny or cute. 

If you know Bert the Turtle it's because today he's a landmark, an echo of a time when talk of potential nuclear annihilation was everywhere. On a weekly or daily basis, Americans would be reminded of the potential that a nuclear weapon could be dropped on America and that we needed to be ready for it. So as not to terrify children, the Federal Civil Defense Administration hired an animation company to create Bert the Turtle. And Bert would become inextricably linked to one of the most misguided, ludicrous and darkly comic pieces of American propaganda ever created. It's an animated short called Duck and Cover.

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

Movie Review The Babadook

The Babadook (2014)

Directed by Jennifer Kent

Written by Jennifer Kent 

Starring Essie Davis 

Release Date May 22nd, 2014 

Published June 28th, 2024 

Until a recent edition of my podcast, the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast, available wherever you listen to podcasts, I was not aware that The Babadook, the incredible low budget horror movie that became an underdog smash in 2014, had an connection to the LGBTQ community. Then, as we were deciding on a classic for the final week of Pride Month, my co-host, Jeff Lassiter, suggested The Babadook. And, I was puzzled. 

I wondered if writer-director Jennifer Kent was connected to the LGBTQ community or perhaps star Essie Davis. But, I have seen no indication of either speaking about their personal lives over the past 10 years. That's when Jeff explained a funny anecdote that, for reasons unexplained, Netflix had included The Babadook in a collection of Pride Month Movies. This led to members of the LGBTQ community embracing The Babadook as a pride movie in an ironic or sarcastic manner that became a genuine embrace. It became a meme in the LGBTQ horror community that the monster itself, the Babadook, of the title was queer.

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

Movie Review A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place (2018)

Directed by John Krasinski 

Written by Brian Woods, Scott Beck, John Krasinski 

Starring John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe 

Release Date April 16th, 2018

Published June 28th, 2024 

Legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock once offered a brilliant dissection of suspense in movies. Imagine a man carrying a bomb. It's in a briefcase. No one other than the man carrying the briefcase knows that there is a bomb inside. We, the audience, know the bomb is there because we watched the man carrying the briefcase, carefully and meticulously assemble and place the bomb in the briefcase. The excitement is that a bomb is going to go off and cause death, destruction and chaos. But, suspense, is watching the man build the bomb, place it in the briefcase, walk gingerly, awkwardly and very carefully to the place where the bomb is to be placed. 

The tension continues to build as the man places the briefcase under a bench in a park filled with people. The suspense mounts when the man leaves, leaving behind the briefcase, precariously positioned beneath the bench. The tension grows to unbearable levels as the bomber tries to leave, only to be stopped by s0meone who mentions that he forgot his briefcase. The bomber is sweating and stammering, he needs to get away but he doesn't want anyone to know about the bomb. The ticking of the timer is evident to us and to the bomber, he has mere moments to get himself safely away from the explosion that is set to kill anyone close to it. What does he do?

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

Movie Review A Quiet Place Day One

A Quiet Place: Day One (2024) 

Directed by Michael Sarnoski 

Written by Michael Sarnoski 

Starring Lupita N'Yongo, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou 

Release Date June 28th, 2024 

Published July 5th, 2024 

Lupita N'Yongo stars in A Quiet Place: Day One as Sam, a woman dying from cancer. Sam is in a hospice facility where she expresses her frustration over dying in angry, expletive laden, poetry that serves as a way of pushing her nurse, Reuben (Alex Wolff), not to call on her during the support group. Reuben kicks the plot into gear by promising Sam that she can get pizza in New York City if she agrees to join the group trip to a show, somewhere in the City. 

Turns out, Reuben has arranged for the patients to attend a puppet show. To say that Sam is not amused is an understatement. She leaves mid-show, along with her emotional support cat, Frodo, and goes to get candy at a nearby store. It is while Sam is in the store that an alien invasion begins. Monsters are burning down from the sky and attacking people, seemingly at random. As this happens, it slowly becomes clear that these aliens are attacking the loudest things around them.

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

Movie Review Kinds of Kindness

Kinds of Kindness (2024) 

Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos 

Written by Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthimis Filippou 

Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau

Release Date June 21st, 2024 

Published July 5th, 2024 

Kinds of Kindness is a confounding bit of absurdity. An anthology starring a recurring group of actors, led by Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone, Kinds of Kindness invites you to decide what it all means while presenting a series of seemingly non-sequitur bits of dark comedy, irony, and mild horror. All of the stories, in some way, involve a silent, stoic man known only as R.M.F whose death, attempted murder, and ambiguous fate occur as important aspects of each oddball story. 

I am trying to help myself understand just what Kinds of Kindness is all about so this review is filled with spoilers. I need to map this out if I am going to try to understand exactly what it is I saw in Kinds of Kindness. Did I like this movie? Do I have a theory of what it is about? Is the movie simply so absurd that it defies any kind of explanation? I hope that by providing a beginning to end description of these three stories something will emerge as a theme, idea, or theory. Here goes nothing.

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