Movie Review The Invitation

The Invitation (2022) 

Directed by Jessica M. Thompson

Written by Blair Butler

Starring Nathalie Emmanuel, Thomas Doherty, Alana Boden

Release Date August 26th, 2022 

The Invitation is an extraordinarily boring and predictable bit of horror nonsense. Though it is competently crafted and not terribly acted, the film holds no life, no energy, and no form of invention. The Invitation is the kind of movie that simply... exists. Competent filmgoers will guess the twist very quickly and what remains of the movie is tedious, aside from one terrific and sadly underutilized supporting performance. 

The Invitation stars Nathalie Emmanuel as Evie, a struggling would be artist living in New York City. Evie has recently lost her mother and believes that she has no other living family. This changes when she is gifted a DNA testing kit and free chance to find new relatives. Through this, Evie finds that she has roots, indeed a full family line, living in England. In fact, Evie's Cousin Oliver (Hugh Skinner) happens to be coming to New York on business and wants to have lunch.

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

Movie Review Low Life

Low Life (2022) 

Directed by Tyler Michael James

Written by Hunter Milano, Noah Rotter

Starring Wes Dunlap, Lucas Neff, Lucy Urbano

Release Date August 26th, 2022

I'm a huge fan of true crime channels on YouTube. Creators and channels like Lazy Masquerade, Savox, The Internet Investigator, and Hanna the Horrible have given me endless hours of fascinating content on the macabre and terrifying side of true crime. Amidst that genre of channel is a sub-genre of videos where the creators detail the often horrifying yet totally real downfalls of other YouTubers. Whether they were child predators using their fame to lure victims or crazed narcissistic murderers, these stories carry an even greater fascination because so much is known and available about these people. The video evidence of their emotional and professional declines are available for the world to say on their very own channel. 

The new to streaming thriller Low Life is like witnessing one of these YouTuber crime stories firsthand and as a fan of this content, the film captivated me. Low Life stars Wes Dunlap as Benny Jansen, a loud mouthed, motor mouthed YouTuber who specializes in catfishing and exposing child predators. Benny's efforts are noble, in theory, we should all surely want to see predators get taken down. However, as Benny uses these stories to make himself famous and to make money, the ethical and legal lines surrounding what he does become very blurry.

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

Movie Review The Beach

The Beach (2000) 

Directed by Danny Boyle 

Written by John Hodge 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Virginie Ledoye, Robert Carlyle 

Release Date February 11th, 2000

The Beach is a deeply odd movie. Directed by Danny Boyle, The Beach stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Richard, an American traveling in Thailand. While staying at a cheap motel, Richard meets a crazed weirdo named Daffy (Robert Carlyle) who gives him a map to a hidden island paradise. Later, after finding Daffy dead, Richard goes to a pair of strangers he’d been vaguely stalking and asks them if they’d like to try and find this hidden paradise with him. 

The two French strangers are a couple, Etienne (Guillaume Canet) and Francoise (Virginie Ledoyen). If you haven’t guessed that Richard chose this couple because he’s developed a crush on Francoise, you’re the only one. You can guess it just from what I wrote but in the movie you couldn’t miss it as Danny Boyle is not subtle about showing Richard staring holes through Francoise on a regular basis.

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

Movie Review Samaritan

Samaritan (2022)

Directed by Julius Avery 

Written by Bragi F. Schut 

Starring Sylvester Stallone, Javon Walton

Release Date August 26th, 2022

30 minutes into the new Sylvester Stallone action movie, Samaritan the titular superhero has yet to appear. Instead, we’ve spent 30 minutes watching a child character named Sam, played by Javon ‘Wanna’ Walton, attempt to determine what we already know: Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Joe Smith’ is secretly the Superhero known as Samaritan. To this point the movie has established plenty about Joe while showing a city in the depth of economic despair and Sam and his mother as struggling so badly that mom has to borrow her son’s lunch money to get to work. Never mind that the kid is wearing a pair of classic red and white Air Jordan shoes. 

At the 30 minute mark we know that the bad guy in the movie, Cyrus (Pilou Asbaeck) has acquired the only weapon in the world that could kill Samaritan, a hammer forged by Samaritan’s late twin brother, Nemesis. And we can assume, since Sam’s investigation is still going at the 30 minute mark that we are still not very close to Samaritan actually arriving in the movie. Convention dictates that Sam gets caught snooping around by ‘Joe.’ Sam explains that he knows who Joe really is and that Joe first denies his identity, followed by a scene where he’s forced to reveal himself, and then he must reluctantly enter the fray against Edwin and his gang, likely to rescue Sam.

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

Movie Review Bullet Train

Bullet Train (2022) 

Directed by David Leitch

Written by Zac Olkewicz 

Starring Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Bryan Tyree Henry, Joey King, Sandra Bullock, Bad Bunny, Zazie Beetz. 

Release Date August 5th, 2022 

Bullet Train gives us a whole new side of Brad Pitt, a mature, comic, borderline neurotic, voice that somehow fits with his uncommon movie star good looks. Where Pitt has spent years trading on cool, Bullet Trainfinds the actor giving himself to a fully comic performance in a way that is completely un-self-conscious. Brad Pitt is still a movie star but his performance in Bullet Train is not a movie star performance in the traditional sense. And it's certainly not a typically Brad Pitt performance. 

Bullet Train stars Brad Pitt as a criminal given the code-name Ladybug by his unseen handler, voiced by Sandra Bullock. Ladybug is headed back into the criminal world for the first time since a nervous breakdown took him to a therapist's couch and time away from death that has haunted so much of his life, especially recently. As related in a terrific sequence that opens Bullet Train, we learn that Ladybug is paranoid about his luck. He stopped killing people a while ago and yet, his bad luck finds him repeatedly in proximity of death.

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

Documentary Review Hallelujah Leonard Cohen A Journey A Song

Hallelujah Leonard Cohen A Journey, A Song (2022) 

Directed by Dayna Goldfine, Dan Geller

Produced by Sony Pictures Classics

Starring Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, Brandi Carlisle, Eric Church

Release Date July 1st, 2022 

My first exposure to the work of Leonard Cohen came from the 1990 movie Pump Up the Volume. That film starred Christian Slater as a teenage pirate radio host. Slater’s character used Cohen’s song, Everybody Knows, as an emblem of the character's own cynical worldview. It was a potent and memorable inclusion. Cohen’s voice and his reputation provided a gravitas to the movie with Cohen having a reputation as a thinking man’s pop star. 

I heard, and became infatuated with, Everybody Knows even before I had heard and loved the song that became Cohen’s most beloved and memorable work, Hallelujah. For me, it was not until Jeff Buckley had died tragically and his version of Hallelujah had become the most well known and talked about version of the song that I had heard the song. Eventually, I heard Cohen’s version and found it inferior to both Buckley and John Cale’s more mainstream takes on the song.

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

Documentary Review This Land

This Land (2022)

Directed by Matthew Palmer 

Produced by Jim Cummings 

Starring America 

Release Date September 6th, 2022

This Land is an interesting and ultimately failing documentary that follows several different stories all set on election day of November 2020, the day that Joe Biden won election as the President of the United States. Biden’s victory over now former President Donald Trump was chaotic and divisive and remains a flashpoint in American history with warring factions still making claims and accusations to this day. 

In many ways, America was never more divided than on that election day in 2020 when Americans went to the polls with a fiery passion, creating one of the biggest election day turnouts in history. This Land is an attempt by director Matthew Palmer and executive producer Jim Cummings to bridge the gap between right and left, Republican and Democrat, and get to the heart of why America has become seemingly so deeply divided.

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

Movie Review Eye of the Beholder

Eye of the Beholder (2000) 

Directed by Stephen Elliott

Written by Stephen Elliott 

Starring Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, K.D Lang 

Release Date January 28th, 2000 

Eye of the Beholder is so much crazier than I ever imagined. This seemingly straightforward turn of the 21st century thriller starring Ewan McGregor and Ashley Judd is utterly bats***. That’s really the only way to describe it. A vaguely defined secret agent turned creepy stalker falls in love with an insane woman after witnessing her murder two people. As an expression of his love he begins murdering people to protect her and that’s only half of the creeptastic narrative of Eye of the Beholder. 

Ewan McGregor stars in Eye of the Beholder as Steven Wilson aka The Eye, aka The Angel. He’s also known as the single worst secret agent in history. Wilson works for some unnamed spy agency where he uses a gun he modified into a camera, and still a gun, to take pictures of creeps screwing their secretaries. I imagine there is more to his job than this but this is what we first see. The first mission of Wilson’s we see we think he’s going to assassinate some guy in the midst of having sex.

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

Documentary Review Three Minutes a Lengthening

Three Minutes A Lengthening (2022)

Directed by Bianca Stinter

Featuring Gary Kurtz, Maurice Chapman

Release Date August 26th, 2022 

Open your imagination for a moment. Picture in your mind a small boy, close cropped buzz cut, ratty clothing. The boy sticks out his tongue and nods his head up and down excitedly. It’s a very silly, childish bit of acting out. It’s not particularly notable in any way out of context. So, let’s give it context. The boy we are talking about is Jewish and he lived in Nasielsk, Poland in 1938. That year, nearly the entire Jewish population of Nasielsk were violently torn from their homes in Nasielsk and within the next 2 years, most would be dead in concentration camps.

An image that would be innocuous, charming, or innocent in any other context takes on an immensely poignant and deeply sad quality when you give it a context. This thought occurred to me while I watched the extraordinary documentary Three Minutes: A Lengthening. The documentary directed by Bianca Stigter takes three minutes of film footage of Polish Jews from Nasielsk that was found in a closet in Florida several years ago and spins out the lives of people who could be recognized and remembered from this 84 year old piece of film.

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

Movie Review Corpse Bride

Corpse Bride (2005) 

Directed by Mike Johnson, Tim Burton

Written by John August, Caroline Thompson, Pamela Pettler

Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Albert Finney, Joanna Lumley, Christopher Lee

Release Date September 23rd, 2005

Corpse Bride is, for my my money, Tim Burton's best movie. I know I should say Batman and I do love his Batman, but that should only communicate the esteem in which I hold Corpse Bride. I enjoy this dark yet playful animated feature even more than I enjoyed Michael Keaton as Batman. That speaks volumes of the quality of the work that is Corpse Bride, part of Tim Burton's rather exceptional forays into stop motion animation. 

The story of Corpse Bride is a highly unconventional love story. Johnny Depp provides the nervous, shy voice of Victor Van Dort who is set to marry Victoria Everglot (Emily Watson), the daughter of an old money family that has fallen on hard times. Victoria's parents, Finis and Maudeline Everglot (Albert Finney and Joanna Lumley), only reluctantly agreed to the marriage of Victor and Victoria because they are broke and Victor's parents are new immigrants with new money. They are voiced brilliantly by the wonderful Tracy Ullman and Paul Whitehouse.

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

Movie Review Clerks 3

Clerks 3 

Directed by Kevin Smith 

Written by Kevin Smith

Starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith 

Release Date September 13th to the 18th, 2022 in theaters

Kevin Smith Clerks 3 Convenience Tour 2022 September 4th through November 14th, 2022

I cannot be objective regarding the work of Kevin Smith. I am an unabashed Smith fan. I’ve loved everything Kevin has done. Clerks was a moment in my life, the first time I really identified with characters who reminded me of slightly more witty versions of myself and my friends. The film’s foul sensibilities, outrageous dialogue, and those wonderful characters spoke to me like no movie characters’ had before. 

Subsequently, Mallrats came out and I loved it to pieces. Then came Chasing Amy and it spoke to me about romance and sex in a way I didn’t think movies were capable of. I was 19 years old and only beginning to experience the possibilities of how movies can communicate with the audience. Dogma hits differently when you are first exploring the idea of faith and the absence of God in your life. It seemed as if Kevin Smith was speaking directly to me, like he was speaking with a friend.

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

Movie Review Jane

Jane (2022) 

Directed by Sabrina Jaglom 

Written by Sabrina Jaglom, Rishi Rajani 

Starring Madelaine Petsch, Chloe Yu, Chloe Bailey

Release Date August 26th, in AMC Theaters only, and on the new streaming platform CreatorPlus on September16th, 2022. 

The opening moments of Jane begin with a woman standing on the end of a wooden outcrop. Below her is a roiling ocean. The woman takes a step forward and disappears into the abyss. We soon find out that the young woman who has taken her own life is Jane. Jane’s death will drive the plot of the movie named for her as she haunts her former friends, especially our main character, Olivia played by Riverdale star Madelaine Petsch. 

Olivia, played by Madelaine Petsch, lives by a very specific, very strict clock. Her day is planned out by her time of awakening, her shower, her breakfast and the time for leaving for school. Naturally, at school, her day operates on another schedule, one set by the school, but also one that is unchanging as her home schedule. Whether this is a trait Olivia has always had or one developed as a trauma coping mechanism is unknown, though I imagine this regimented life is something she chooses rather than having it thrust upon her.

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

Movie Review Honk for Jesus Save Your Soul

Honk for Jesus Save Your Soul (2022) 

Directed by Adamma Ebo 

Written by Adamma Ebo 

Starring Regina Hall, Sterling K. Brown 

Release Date September 3rd, 2022 

In theaters now and streaming for Peacock subscribers

Honk for Jesus Save Your Soul is a deeply confused movie. The film, directed by newcomer Adamma Ebo, stars Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown as Trinitie and Lee Curtis Childs, the disgraced leaders of a massive mega-church somewhere in the American south. At first, Honk For Jesus Save Your Soul takes on the feel of a Christopher Guest movie about complete un-self aware characters revealing their absurd self-delusions to our gleeful schadenfreude. Then, from time to time, the movie grows deathly serious and as an audience member you are left scratching your head about how the movie intends for you to feel about what you’re watching. 

Context clues slowly reveal that Lee Curtis, behind his bluster and expensive suits, is a closeted gay man. The purported scandal that has seemingly decimated his church occurred when Lee Curtiis may or may not have been getting sexually involved with young male members of the church youth. Portions of Honk for Jesus Save Your Soul show the conniving married couple trying to use their vast wealth to make the scandal go away. Meanwhile, the couple is using the documentary being made about their downfall as a marketing tool to promote the big comeback of their church, much to the chagrin of the unseen documentary filmmaker who claims to only want to tell the truth.

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

Movie Review Class

Class (2022)

Directed by Nicholas Celozzi 

Written by Nicholas Celozzi 

Starring Anthony Michael Hall, Debbie Gibson, John Kapelos 

The Breakfast Club (1985)

Directed by John Hughes 

Written by John Hughes

Starring Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Ringwald, Paul Gleason

Class stars Debbie Gibson and Anthony Michael Hall in an update of the classic Breakfast Club formula that Hall is inextricably linked to. It’s the story of a detention class in a nondescript modern High School. Gibson plays Miranda, the school drama teacher in charge of the latest detention group. She’s seconded by the hardass School Guidance Counselor, Mr. Faulk (Hall). In Faulk, Hall is playing a role similar to that of Paul Gleason’s far more broad caricature of a guidance counselor in the John Hughes classic. 

I say that Gibson and Hall are the stars but they are really parts of an ensemble and since this is a movie about kids, high school, and detention, it’s the students who are center stage for the movie. Naturally, the kids fall into types, the stoner, the jock, the popular girl, the outcast and so on. There are a couple gender flips and the spectrum of sexual identities are in play, but much like The Breakfast Club, the point of having character types is to subvert those types and break through to the real person beneath.

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

Movie Review Orphan First Kill

Orphan First Kill

Directed by William Brent Bell 

Written by David Coggeshall 

Starring Isabelle Fuhrman, Rossif Sutherland, Julia Stiles, Hiro Kanagawa 

Release Date August 19th, 2022 

Considering that director William Brent Bell doesn’t have the greatest resume and the first Orphan movie from 2009 wasn’t very good, I wasn’t particularly interested in another Orphan movie. What a fun surprise it was then to find out that Orphan First Kill is a weird ballsy B-movie that embraces camp in the best possible way. Isabelle Fuhrman, on a roll after her exceptional performance in the rowing thriller The Novice, delivers a stunner of a performance against all odds in a prequel to a movie she made as a child. 

Orphan First Kill takes us back to Russia where a new psychiatrist has taken a job at a remote psychiatric facility for the criminally insane. As the woman is being given a tour of the facility we learn that the most dangerous patient in the prison has gone missing. That patient is Leena Klammer and the new young doctor is about to come face to face with her unexpected evil. Leena, for those who don’t know, is 30 years old but looks like an 11 year old innocent child. After nearly killing the newest doctor at the facility, Esther is subdued and taken back to her room.

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

Movie Review Beast

Beast (2022) 

Directed by Baltasar Kormakur 

Written by Ryan Engle 

Starring Idris Elba, Sharlto Copley, Iyana Halley, Leah Sava Jeffries 

Release Date August 19th, 2022 

Idris Elba punches a lion in the face. Do you need a better reason to see the new action drama Beast? One of the sexiest men in the world comes face to face with a lion in the wilds of South Africa and delivers a knuckle sandwich to one of the Kings of the jungle. The sheer audacity of this sequence, well crafted in CGI, made me a believer in this otherwise mediocre family drama. A father struggles to raise two daughters following the death of their mother and winds up punching a lion in the face in Beast. 

Dr. Nate Samuels (Idris Elba) is a respected doctor but a struggling father. Having watched his marriage dissolve before his eyes, Dr. Samuels appeared content to crawl inside a bottle and coast on the respect he’s earned in his lengthy medical career. This changes when his ex-wife passes away and Dr. Samuels becomes a single dad to his two daughters, Meredith (Iyana Halley) and Norah (Leah Sava Jeffries).

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