Classic Movie Review As Good as It Gets

As Good As it Gets (1997) 

Directed by James L. Brooks

Written by James L. Brooks, Mark Andrus 

Starring Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear 

Release Date December 25th, 1997

Published April 22nd, 2023 

As Good As It Gets stars Jack Nicholson as Melvin Udall a famed writer struggling and suffering from a severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Melvin is a hateful person, stunted by his various fears and mental health problems. At the diner he goes to everyday as part of his O.C.D routine, he meets and falls for Carol, a waitess and single mother to a sick child. When she's not able to be at work because her son is sick, a misguided Melvin sends a doctor to her house out of the selfish desire to have his chosen waitress at his chosen diner. 

Meanwhile, at home, at Melvin's apartment, he has a new neighbor. And, he's not happy about. The neighbor, Simon, is an artist and gay man who is recovering from having been assaulted and left terrified of the outside world. Melvin, naturally, is insensitive to the point of cruelty. That said, via Simon and a burgeoning friendship, based on Melvin helping to care for Simon's dog, Melvin starts to become a better person, He grows less cruel when confronted with Simon's decency and humanity. Through Simon, Melvin will discover more of the shortcomings in himself that work to keep him miserable and alone.

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

Movie Review I Saw the TV Glow

I Saw the TV Glow (2024) 

Directed by Jane Schoenbrun

Written by Jane Schoenbrun 

Starring Justice Smith, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Ian Foreman, Helena Howard, Fred Durst, Danielle Deadwyler

Release Date May 17th, 2024 

Published May 17th, 2024 

I Saw the TV Glow is my favorite movie of 2024 so far. Written and directed by rising star Jane Schoenbrun, the auteur behind the brilliant We're All Going to the World's Fair, I Saw the TV Glow centers on the story of Owen, played by Ian Foreman as a child and Justice Smith as he gets to High School and beyond. Owen was a lonely kid with no friends. A traumatic childhood pushed Owen deep inside himself. As if possessed by a will outside of himself, Owen brings himself to talk to a girl, a slightly older kid at his High School, Maddy (Brigette Lundy Paine). 

Knowing what it is like to be an outsider, Maddy takes pity on Owen and shares with him her book. It's a book about her favorite TV show, a supernatural mystery called The Pink Opaque. The show is about two teenage girls who meet at a summer camp and then never see each other again, in person. Instead, the show protagonists can speak to each other across a different plain of existence. This incredible talent allows them to fight monsters that attack their respective hometowns. It's an odd show that airs on weekends, Saturday nights at 10:30 PM. Too bad for Owen that it airs after his bedtime.

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 You Can't Run Forever

You Can't Run Forever (2024) 

Directed by Michelle Schumacher

Written by Caroline Carpenter, Michelle Schumacher 

Starring J.K Simmons, Alan Leech, Fernanda Urrejola, Olivia Simmons 

Release Date May 17th, 2024 

Published May 20th, 2024 

The thriller You Can't Run Forever opens with J.K Simmons on a motorcycle rolling up to a remote gas station. There, he pulls out a gun and shoots three people. He seems to have no motivation for this action. Seeing a woman hiding behind her vehicle, he looks at her, laughs to himself and chooses not to kill her. Another man exits the gas station and sees the bodies and Simmons just looks at him, points a finger of acknowledgment, and rides off. It's stunning, breathtaking, and fast way to start a movie. You Can't Run Forever grabs you by the throat from the first minute. 

It's such an incredible and brutal start to a movie that there really isn't anywhere to go but down and sadly, yeah, that's where we're headed. You Can't Run Forever stars Isabelle Anaya as Miranda, a troubled teenager. A year ago, Miranda's father took his own life and since then, Anaya has struggled to get by. Her struggle has been unfortunately and unintentionally compounded by the fact that her mother has remarried and is about to have a baby. Stepdad, Eddie (Alan Leech), is a nice guy who has been nothing but supportive and sympathetic toward Miranda but he's not her dad and that weighs on their relationship.

Find my full length review at Geeks.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 Cops and Robbersons

Cops and Robbersons (1994) 

Directed by Michael Ritchie 

Written by Bernie Somers 

Starring Chevy Chase, Jack Palance

Release Date April 15th, 1994

Published May 28th, 2024 

Cops and Robbersons is a terrible movie. That's probably why no one reading this review has any memory of it. So why are we talking about it today? Well, it's the subject of the latest edition of the I Hate Critics 1994 Podcast. And that's the only reason why I am bringing it up here today. I was forced to watch it by circumstance and I need to find some kind of value in the experience, aside from having mocked the movie on the podcast. 

Thus, I want to illustrate the bankruptcy of comic ideas in Cops and Robbersons. Think of it as a warning for future filmmakers, don't make the mistakes that director Michael Ritchie made as he brought this comic abomination to life while dealing with the massive ego and drug problems of one of Hollywood's least liked figures, star Chevy Chase. If you don't know, a large portion of Hollywood hates Chevy Chase and he hates them right back. Bitter about not being treated like the star he believes he is, Chase has made a habit of ruining projects on a whim and that appears to be the energy he brought to this movie.

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

Movie Review Backspot

Backspot (2024) 

Directed by D.W Waterson 

Written by Joanne Sarazen, D.W Waterson

Starring Devery Jacobs, Evan Rachel Wood, Kudakwashe Rutendo, Shannyn Sossamon 

Release Date May 31st, 2024 

Published May 29th, 2024 

If you are going to use a particular style of handheld camera work, make sure that it is being used for a good purpose. Handheld or shaky cam style is a visual tool that works when you are making a movie like The Blair Witch Project where the characters are also the camera operators, and their camera is also the eyes of the audience. The characters are active and running and the shaky cam reflects the fact they are running for their lives. Shaky cam is not recommended when you are trying to have a serious, dramatic conversation, say, between a mother and a daughter at a crossroads. 

Unfortunately, there is a scene in the new cheerleading melodrama, Backspot, in which star Devery Jacobs is having a dramatic, late in the movie, conversation with her mother, played by Shannyn Sossomon. The scene isn't poorly acted, from what I could see of it. Sadly, I had to look away because co-writer and director D.W Waterson chooses to shoot the scene with a camera that will not stop shaking. The style choice undermines the drama, it loses focus on the heavy emotions at play, and it's just visually impossible to look at.

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. 

Classic Movie Review Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins (1964) 

Directed by Robert Stevenson

Written by Bill Walsh, Don DaGradi 

Starring Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns 

Release Date September 24th, 1964 

Published June, 3rd, 2024 

Mary Poppins was my first love at the movies. I fell head over heels in love with Julie Andrews at just 7 years old. It wasn’t just Julie Andrews though, it was Dick Van Dyke, who, for a 7 year old, was the single funniest human being on the planet. His silly accent, mocked by many for years, was an absolute wonder to a child. His penguin dance in Mary Poppins was the first big laugh I can remember from my childhood, the first time I laughed so hard that I remember the moment. 

For years, when I was working on my snobby critic credentials, I pretended that Mary Poppins was beneath me, a trifle only for children. I pretended that I didn’t know the words to every song and that the movie didn’t make me happier than any movie ever, aside from maybe, Legally Blonde. This was a long time ago when I was still wet behind the ears and thought that the opinions of other men regarding my masculinity mattered. I was a moron.

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

Classic Movie Review Renaissance Man

Renaissance Man (1994) 

Directed by Penny Marshall 

Written by Jim Burnstein 

Starring Danny Devito, Mark Wahlberg, Gregory Hines, James Remar, Cliff Robertson

Release Date June 3rd, 1994

Published June 5th, 2024 

When I described what the movie Renaissance Man was about to my co-hosts on the I Hate Critics 1994 Podcast, they refused to believe that I was telling the truth. They refused to believe that Danny Devito plays an advertising executive who becomes a teacher on a military base and saves a group of at-risk soldiers by teaching them Shakespeare via hip hop. Reading back my description, I can understand the incredulous responses of my co-hosts. Reading back my own description, I can't really believe that the movie Renaissance Man exists. I also cannot believe that a movie this hackneyed and mawkish was directed by someone as talented as Penny Marshall. In fact, I choose to believe this was directed by her hack brother Garry as this is exactly the kind of tripe he always directed. 

Indeed, Renaissance Man stars Danny Devito as Bill Rago, a raging jerk of an ad-man who gets himself quite reasonably fired from his job for showing up late and generally bungling a big client meeting through his selfish, self-serving, arrogant, narcissism. Pro-Tip for screenwriters, how you introduce your main character is important, if you don't intend for us to hate your main character, come up with a way to introduce him that doesn't make us automatically loathe his presence. The fact this is Danny Devito and I cannot stand this character, says a lot. Devito is a beloved actor and seeing him in a lead role in a comedy should be welcoming. It's most assuredly not welcoming in Renaissance Man.

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

Movie Review Don't Go in the Woods

Don't Go in the Woods (1981) 

Directed by James Bryan 

Written by Garth Eliassen

Starring Jack McClelland, Mary Gail Artz, Tom Drury 

Release Date November 21st, 1981 

Published June 5th, 2024

Don't Go in the Woods... alone is the classic on the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast dropping on June 5th. It was chosen by my c0-host, Jeff Lassiter, a horror movie expert. I mention Jeff because I need you, dear reader, to know that I would never want to watch and write about a movie this bad, Jeff is making me do this because this is part of how we promote the podcast. Blame Jeff. 

Don't Go in the Woods... alone is a 1981 slasher movie about a crazed maniac in the wood who kills anyone in his path. He's crazy and he's super strong and can strike like a ninja despite being a clearly 300 pound man who probably smells like the underside of a dumpster. This is a movie that asks us to believe that a man wearing animal skins, beads on his head, and who is monstrous in size, has the stealth of a cat at night. This is one of many failures of basic comprehension of reality that Don't Go in the Woods... alone, gets wrong.

Find my full length review at Horror.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.