Movie Review The Death of a Unicorn

The Death of a Unicorn 

Directed by Alex Scharfman

Written by Alex Scharfman 

Starring Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd, Tea Leoni, Will Poulter, Richard E. Grant 

Release Date March 28th, 2025 

Published March 28th, 2025 

Did you know that there is a website that will tell you whether or not a dog in a movie dies? DoesTheDogDie.com is a real thing. People love dogs so much that they cannot stand the idea of seeing a dog die in a movie. Thus, this website is a wonderful guide for dog lovers. Myself? I’m thinking of starting a similar website called DoesPaulRuddDie.com. Because, when you think about it, what actor is nearly as beloved as man’s best friend? Paul Rudd, of course. Who would want to see a movie where Paul Rudd dies? Not many people, I’m sure. And, since Paul Rudd is now starring in a horror comedy called The Death of a Unicorn, the value of my idea takes on an air of necessity. 

The Death of a Unicorn stars Paul Rudd as Elliott, a widower trying desperately to connect with his college aged daughter, Ridley (Jenna Ortega), and failing miserably. The biggest issue is that he’s invited her on a trip as a prop to show off to potential new legal clients, the uber-rich Leopold family, including patriarch Odell (Richard E. Grant), Belinda (Tea Leoni) and their dopey son Shep (Will Poulter). Elliott believes that the family won’t hire him unless he can show them that he is also a thriving family man. Ridley goes along with this because it’s what her late mother would have wanted her to do.

Find my full length review at Geeks.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 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. 

Classic Movie Review I'll Do Anything

I'll Do Anything (1994)

Directed by James L. Brooks

Written by James L. Brooks

Starring Nick Nolte, Albert Brooks, Julie Kavner, Whittni Wright, Joely Richardson 

Release Date February 4th, 1994

Published February 7th, 1994 

On the surface, I'll Do Anything looks like a norm-core, slightly meta, Hollywood pastiche. It's about a struggling actor named Matt Hobbs (Nick Nolte) who unexpectedly gets custody of his 8 year old daughter, Jeannie (Whittni Wright). While she will start a Hollywood career of her own, Matt struggles to find work and remain relevant in a careless, thoughtless, Hollywood where even having a long ago Emmy nomination is not enough to help you find gainful employment in movies or TV. 

In its subplots, that normie, been there, done that quality remains as we follow Albert Brooks as a hack movie producer in the Joel Silver-Jerry Bruckheimer vein. Brooks' Burke Adler is obsessed with audience scores and the kind of math that somehow only makes sense to Hollywood executives. Burke's function is to provide a minor villain character but Brooks is far too appealing, even as a bit of a scumbag, for his villain qualities to take hold.

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

Movie Review Ricky Stanicky

Ricky Stanicky (2024) 

Directed by Peter Farrelly 

Written by Jeff Bushell, Peter Farrelly, Pete Jones, Mike Cerrone, Brian Jarvis, James Lee Freeman 

Starring John Cena, Zac Efron, Jermaine Fowler, Andrew Santino, William H. Macy

Release Date March 7th, 2024 

Published March 8th, 2024 

I am ashamed at how many times I laughed during Ricky Stanicky. I feel, because I am a high-minded professional film critic, that my palette should be more... sophisticated. Comedy should have the air of sophistication, the notion of being intelligent. It should have deeper meaning and larger goals beyond just getting a laugh. And yet, there are movies like Ricky Stanicky that wear their stupid on their sleeve and remain mildly irresistible. 

Don't get me wrong, I don't love Ricky Stanicky. It's not always a winner. The film is deeply low brow and the plot mechanics are iffy at best. What works however are the performances of the main cast which work very hard, sweatily trying to make you laugh. That's certainly the case for star John Cena, the former pro wrestling champion who kicks his dignity to the wind and throws himself into a deeply meme-able performance, for better and for worse.

Find my full length review at Geeks.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. 

Classic Movie Review The Paper

The Paper (1994) 

Directed by Ron Howard 

Written by David Koepp, Steven Koepp

Starring Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Randy Quaid, Glen Close, Robert Duvall

Release Date March 18th, 1994 

Published April 3rd, 2024

The Paper stars Michael Keaton as Henry Hackett, Metro Editor for a New York City tabloid perpetually on the brink of closing. With a baby on the way, with his reporter wife, Martha (Marisa Tomei), Henry is plotting an exit from the paper. On this day, as we join the story, Henry has an interview with a Wall Street Journal style, internationally respected newspaper. Henry doesn't want the job. He wants the money but he'd much rather stay at his current employer where he can get his hands dirty. Instead of being behind a desk with a fat paycheck, Henry needs the excitement of the metro page. 

Making Henry's choice to stay or go at his current gig difficult is his rival, Alicia (Glenn Close). Alicia is a former reporter and editor who is now a bean counter. She makes big decisions based on budgets instead of journalism and Henry resents her for switching sides. Henry doesn't want to end up working under Alicia and her penny pinching, thus another reason he's considering leaving. Holding him in place is his current boss, Bernie (Robert Duvall), a legendary editor and the final word at the paper. As long as Bernie is there, Alicia is mostly neutralized. But how much longer does Bernie have?

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

Classic Movie Review Demons

Demons

Directed by Lamberto Bava

Written by Franco Ferrini, Lamberto Bava, Dario Argento, Dardano Sacchetti

Starring Urbano Barberini, Natasha Hovey

Release Date October 4th, 1985

Published March 26th, 1985 

Demons is a shockingly good and utterly silly horror movie from the great Italian tradition of badly dubbed horror movies. Directed by Lamberto Bava, with inspiration and script doctoring from Dario Argento, the film is a meta take on the passive consumption of horror movies and the insidious nature of our constant search for palliatives to keep us distracted from real life problems. It’s that and it’s a very silly movie where a guy on a motorcycle kills Zombie/Demons with a samurai sword. 

The premise in Demons centers on Cheryl (Natasha Hovey) , a college student who decides to blow off class so that she can go to a free movie screening. This comes after a bizarre scene where Cheryl is menaced in the subway by a man in a metal Phantom of the Opera mask. This man stalks and terrifies Cheryl for several minutes only to finally track her down and invite her to a free movie screening at a formerly closed theater called The Metrograph. Recovering quickly from this strange encounter, Cheryl takes two invitations and invites her best friend and classmate Hannah (Fiore Argento) to skip class and join her.

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

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. 

Classic Movie Review Wild at Heart

Wild at Heart 

Directed by David Lynch

Written by David Lynch

Starring Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd 

Release Date August 17th, 1990 

Published March, 24th, 2025 

What is Wild at Heart? What is it supposed to be? Few films defy explanation quite the way Wild at Heart does. The myriad references to The Wizard of Oz, Nicolas Cage’s Elvis voice juxtaposed against a repeated heavy metal motif, and the sex and violence to an extreme, all feel like disparate elements from different movies. How they have been combined in Wild at Heart feels a bit like someone cutting puzzle pieces to make them fit into a completely incorrect puzzle. And yet, it does feel strangely cohesive, married via David Lynch’s singular aesthetic that presses against the bounds of reality. 

Wild at Heart stars Nicolas Cage as Sailor, a criminal trying to go straight after falling for Lula (Laura Dern). Sailor’s attempt to straighten up and fly right is undermined by Lula’s scheming witch of a mother, Marietta (Diane Ladd), who tries to have Sailor killed only for Sailor to murder his assailant. Because he was defending himself and Lula, Sailor is only charged with manslaughter and, less than two years later, Sailor is leaving prison and he and Lula are picking up right where they left off. The two are running away together, breaking Sailor's parole and dreaming of life on the West Coast.

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. 

Classic Movie Review Candyman Farewell to the Flesh

Candyman Farewell to the Flesh

Directed by Bill Condon

Written by Rand Ravich, Mark Krueger, Clive Barker 

Starring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart, Veronica Cartwright 

Release Date March 17th, 1995 

Published March 20th, 2025 

The journey to bring Candyman Farewell to the Flesh, the sequel to the hit horror movie, Candyman (1992), to the big screen is far more entertaining than the movie that was the result of that journey. Following the surprising success of Candyman, producers went to Candyman director Bernard Rose to start work on a sequel. Rose was not ready for this request. He had no idea what to do with a sequel as he believed he’d killed the title character at the end of the first film. Indeed, (Spoiler Alert) Tony Todd’s Candyman burns to death alongside Virginia Madsen’s Helen Lyle. So, not only is Candyman destroyed but his legend is passed to Helen who now appears if you say her name five times in front of a mirror. 

So, what to do with a sequel? Candyman is dead and Helen is the new Candyman. Rose had to scramble for an idea. He had a green-lighted movie, he needed to get a story fast to take advantage of this rare Hollywood sure thing. Thinking that since the first story had been based on a Clive Barker short story, Rose began searching through Barker’s catalogue of shorts for a new story to tell. Again, in Rose’s mind, the Candyman is dead. So now, for a sequel, he’s viewing it as an anthology under the umbrella title of Candyman.

Find my full length review at Horror.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.