Movie Review Bob's Burgers The Movie

Bob's Burgers The Movie 

Directed by Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman

Written by Loren Bouchard, Nora Smith 

Starring H. Jon Benjamin, Dan Mintz, Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, John Roberts, Kevin Kline

Released May 27th, 2022

Loren Bouchard’s animated series, Bob’s Burgers, has been a consistent delight for 11 seasons on Fox. Now, Bouchard has brought the fun to the big screen in Bob’s Burgers The Movie. And while, we must admit, a Bob’s Burgers movie is deeply inessential, that doesn’t stop it from being funny and endearing. Those familiar voices and the quirky characters they bring to life would be hilarious in any context even as a big screen effort isn't necessary. 

The Bob’s Burgers Movie tells a harrowing story for our beloved Belcher Family. Bob (H Jon Benjamin), is frantically preparing a burger to take to a meeting with a bank manager. The family is behind on an important loan and he hopes a burger will grease the wheels a little for an extension. Linda (John Roberts) is her usual optimistic self, she’s convinced that everything will work out just fine with the bank. 

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

Movie Review Top Gun Maverick

Top Gun Maverick

Directed by Joseph Kosinski 

Written by Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher McQuarrie

Starring Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell

Released May 27th, 2022

I walked into Top Gun Maverick highly skeptical. My experience of the original Top Gun was as an overly polished, jingoistic, cold war era male fantasy. Despite Tom Cruise’s magnetic performance and Anthony Edwards’ terrifically funny performance, I was not a fan of Top Gun. So imagine my surprise when the sequel Top Gun Maverick began getting terrific reviews from critics that I greatly admired. It didn’t completely cure my skepticism but it created a modest optimism. 

That modest optimism was then met and exceeded when I finally saw Top Gun Maverick. This is one terrific action movie. High flying suspense, incredible camera and stunt work, flawless special effects, everything you’d hope for on a more than 150 million dollar budget. But what really surprised me was the strong characters. The original was a shallow examination of cocky flyboys and the women trying to save them from themselves. This film smartly spends time with Peter ‘Maverick’ Mitchell and reveals his vulnerability, his empathy, and humanity.

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

Movie Review Prometheus

Prometheus

Directed by Ridley Scott

Written by Joe Spaihts, Damon Lindelof

Starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Charlize Theron

Released June 1st, 2012

I really liked Prometheus when I watched it in theaters for the first time. I was bowled over by the technical virtuosity of Prometheus and the wonderful performances of stars Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender. Unfortunately, upon revisiting Prometheus I discovered the emptiness of Prometheus. The hedging of bets over the existence of God versus the proof of science is the realm of the coward.

On first blush, Prometheus seems like a bold exercise in questioning where we came from and who we are as a people. The film offers a pair of scientists as the lead performers in Noomi Rapace as Shaw and Logan Marshall Green as Holloway. Rapace's scientist is also a woman of faith whose ever-present cross is also a reminder of her father and a longing to see him and her mother again someday. Green's Holloway is more pragmatic. Following the discovery of alien drawings in different caves around the globe has led him to believe that human beings were engineered by aliens and he aims to find them and ask them why, thus solving the great question of why we're here.

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

Movie Review Bloody Oranges

Bloody Oranges

Directed by Jean-Christophe Meurisse

Written by Jean-Christophe Meurisse 

Starring Olivier Saladin, Lorella Cravotta, Alexandre Steiger 

Released July 8th, 2021

Bloody Oranges promises a subversive good time and mostly delivers. This French black comedy is at times bleak, other times surreal, and always strangely intriguing. Directed by Jean Christophe Meurisse, Bloody Oranges has shock value that is matched by an oddball group of characters whose stories you can't help but get caught up in. Some of these people are despicable villains and some are naïve innocents caught up in a system that doesn’t care about basic human decency. 

The story begins at a Dance Contest. A group of judges are debating who should win the grand prize. Eventually, the group settles on a lovely elderly couple named Laurence (Lorella Cravotta) and Olivier (Olivier Saladin). The couple is delighted to win and excited to have a chance at real prize money at the next regional contest. The couple desperately wants the prize money as their bank is about to foreclose on their home.

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

Movie Review Men

Men 

Directed by Alex Garland 

Written by Alex Garland 

Starring Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear 

Released June 1st, 2022

Alex Garland is a remarkable director. From the flawlessly composed shots to the immaculate production design, to the unsettling storytelling, Garland has a most unique sensibility. For his latest effort, Men, starring Jessie Buckley, Garland’s craftsmanship is as exceptional as his story is layered and disturbing. Examining misogyny, both external and internalized, as only he sees it, Garland has delivered a film that is more than the equal of his first two extraordinary films. 

Harper (Jessie Buckley) just wants a little peace and quiet. She’s rented a large cottage in the English countryside for a quiet place to recover from the end of her marriage. Bluntly speaking, Harper’s husband, James, played by Paapa Essiedu, took his own life after Harper told him she was divorcing him. James pulled no punches in telling Harper that he was going to kill himself if she divorced him, and then he did it.

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

Classic Movie Review La Stada

La Strada

Directed by Federico Fellini

Written by Federico Fellini, Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano

Starring Giulietta Masina, Anthony Quinn, Richard Baseheart

Release Date September 6th, 1954

On June 13th, 2022, Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation Restoration Screening Room hosted a free online screening of Federico Fellini’s remarkable 1954 romantic tragedy, La Strada. It’s the second free online restoration screening for Scorsese and The Film Foundation and they are going to be doing this once a month for anyone who loves classic films fully restored to their glory by The Film Foundation. And thanks to The Film Foundation, La Strada is another Fellini movie off of my bucket list of classics. 

La Strada begins on a tragedy and ends on a tragedy. In the beginning of the story we find our protagonist, Gelsomina (Giulieta Masina), idly gathering sticks on the beach. Gelsomina is called home for some terrible news. Gelsomina’s sister has died in some far off town. The man who had left with her sister so many years ago, Zampano (Anthony Quinn), a sideshow performer, is now back at her family home requesting the company of Gelsomina to take her sister’s place. He’s given Gelsomina’s mother 10,000 lire for her.

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

Movie Review Cha Cha Real Smooth

Cha Cha Real Smooth 

Directed by Cooper Raiff

Written by Cooper Raiff

Starring Cooper Raiff, Dakota Johnson, Leslie Mann

Release Date June 17th, 2022 

Cha Cha Real Smooth is a sweet, smart and insightful comedy about what makes us, us. It’s a film about learning about yourself, knowing yourself, and understanding yourself and others. That’s a rather broad idea but under the clever and caring direction of Cooper Raiff it never feels broad, it feels specific to the terrific characters that he and his remarkable cast have created. It’s a lived in and warm and curious story with a wealth of empathy and a dollop of heartache. 

Cooper Raiff wrote, directs and stars in Cha Cha Real Smooth as Andrew, an underachieving recent college graduate. Andrew has hopes and dreams and a romantic soul. He also has no idea who he is or what he really wants to do with his life. What he knows innately however, is how to make other people feel special. As seen throughout a scene set at a bat mitzvah, when Andrew sets his mind to it, he has an instinct for making other people feel included and special.

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

Classic Movie Review Tokyo Story

Tokyo Story

Directed by Yasujirō Ozu

Written by Kogo Nada, Yasujirō Ozu 

Starring Setsuko Hara, Chishu Ryu, Kyoko Kagawa

Released November 3rd, 1953

It’s a very simple, basic notion of transition in film. And yet, it’s still quite brilliant when you think about it. I’m talking about one edit in the 1953 movie, Tokyo Story by director Yasujiro Ozu. The edit comes at approximately 6 minutes and 40 seconds into the film. In the scene prior to the edit, an elderly Japanese couple is packing bags that they will take with them when they travel to see their grown children in the big city. The scene is gentle and pleasant, beautifully underscored by Takanobu Saito’s elegant score. 

There is not a lot of exposition dialogue, just enough to tell us that the couple is traveling via train to see their kids. Visually however, Ozu tells us more than you might realize. The elderly couple is dressed traditionally, their home is spare and rustic. There is a serene atmosphere surrounding the home. The doddering couple are sweet together, you can sense their bond and, through how they interact with each other, you get a sense of people who have spent long lives together.

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

Movie Review Jurassic World Dominion

Jurassic World Dominion

Directed by Colin Trevorrow

Written by Colin Trevorrow, Emily Carmichael 

Starring Chris Pratt, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Bryce Dallas Howard

Release Date June 10th, 2022

Jurassic World Dominion boils down to a series of chase scenes that happen to have CG dinosaurs in them. As a film critic I face a challenge in attempting to give you anymore information that you need about this movie. There is simply nothing else here aside from chase scenes and that awful kind of modern nostalgia. You know the kind I am talking about? That kind of nostalgia where it feels like the movie is constantly nudging you in the ribs and asking you if you remember that thing you liked from that other movie? There it is, there is that thing you liked. 

As I have to meet a particular number of words in order to publish this review, let’s talk plot. There isn’t one. Okay, fine there is kind of a plot. But I am being very generous. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are living in the woods with Maisey, the genetically engineered child of that rich guy from that other Jurassic movie or whatever. They are trying to keep her from being kidnapped and they fail miserably because she gets kidnapped. They go to save her and blah blah blah. (Editor, does Blah Blah Blah add to my word count?)

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

Movie Review Spirited Away

Spirited Away 

Directed by Hiyao Miyazaki 

Written by Hiyao Miyazaki

Starring Rumi Hiragi, Miyu Irino, Mari Natsuki

Released July 20th, 2001

My first exposure to the amazing art form that is Japanese animation came in early 2002 with my personal discovery of Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis; a glorious combination of wildly imaginative visuals and adventurous storytelling. I am certain that Metropolis went to make my Top 10 of the year that year, it absolutely blew my mind. And yet, Metropolis wasn’t even the best Japanese animated film of that year. In Hiyao Miyazaki's moving and evocative masterpiece Spirited Away, I found not just the best animated movie of 2002, but arguably the best work of film art of that long ago year. 

The story of Spirited Away begins with a family moving into their brand new home. However, on the way there, a detour takes them in the wrong direction, leading the family to what they believe is an abandoned amusement park. The young daughter, Chihiro, is terribly frightened by the place but, on her parents' urging, she explores the grounds and discovers its strange secrets. Chihiro's explorations lead her to what looks like a normal Japanese bathhouse. There she meets Haku, a young boy who urges her to leave the park before she and her family become trapped forever.

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

Movie Review The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Written by Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan

Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman

Release Date July 8th, 2008 

The death of Heath Ledger casts a pall over the proceedings of The Dark Knight. Watching his performance as the maniacal Joker we are riveted and frightened and, in the end, left exhilarated. And once it is over the sadness sets in. Knowing we will never get to see that talent displayed in full ever again is an incalculable loss. Nevertheless, The Dark Knight is an extraordinary thrill ride. A down and dirty gangster movie, not far off of the real life depths of say American Gangster, only with a guy dressed as a bat.

Establishing himself as the most indelible of all caped crusaders, Christian Bale returns in The Dark Knight as Batman and his playboy alter-ego Bruce Wayne. For the past three years, with the aid of detective Jim Gordon, Batman has swept the streets of Gotham clean. Now, with the arrival of golden boy district attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) there seems to be light at the end of the bat tunnel.

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

Classic Movie Review Lost in America

Lost in America 

Directed by Albert Brooks 

Written by Albert Brooks

Starring Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty 

Released March 15th, 1985 

Who hasn't thought of the freedom that would come from dropping out of everyday society. The notion of giving up all the oppressive things in your life and giving yourself over to the open road and the freedom to do literally anything. Fear keeps us from realizing this dream. Fear whispers in your ear and says ``you can't quit your job, what will you do for money?" Fear is quite practical that way. 

But what if you had money? I'm not talking about the dilettantish millions of dollars that would set you up for life but merely just enough money where you know that you can get by for a while. Would you be ready to chuck it all and run off in a Winnebago to paint and write books? That's what Albert Brooks and Julie Hagerty's characters in Lost in America had when they decided to chuck it all. What happened next is the end of a rather unusual movie.

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

Movie Review Hustle

Hustle 

Directed by Jeremiah Zagar

Written by Taylor Materne, Will Fetters

Starring Adam Sandler, Queen Latifah, Ben Foster, Anthony Edwards, Robert Duvall

Released June 3rd, 2022

Hustle stars Adam Sandler as Stanley Sugarman, a scout for the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. It’s Stanley’s job to travel around the world and find the next great European player. On a trip to Spain, he finds that player. Bo Cruz, played by NBA star Juancho Hernangomez, is tall and fast and has a terrific jump shot. Spotting Bo playing streetball late one one night, Stanley recognizes his talent even as he was playing basketball in work boots. 

Believing that Bo is the next great player, the one to take the 76ers to the next level, Stanley has to convince the higher ups. This means convincing his long time rival, Vince Merrick (Ben Foster), the talentless son of the late owner (Robert Duvall), to take a chance. When Vince says no and tells Stanley to forget about Bo, Stanley risks his job and financial security to bring Bo to America on his own dime. Putting him up in a hotel, Stanley has to try and get the kid into the NBA draft while keeping Vince in the dark.

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

Classic Movie Review The Tales of Hoffman

The Tales of Hoffman 

Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger 

Written by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Dennis Arundell, Jules Barbier, E.T.A Hoffman

Starring Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann

Released April 4th, 1951 

The Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger film, The Tales of Hoffmann, is receiving a brand new Criterion Collection release on Tuesday, June 7th, 2022. Though it is not as well known as Powell and Pressburger’s unparalleled classic, The Red Shoes (1948), The Tales of Hoffmann is quite similar to that 1948 film in terms of style and ambition. Powell and Pressburger’s unprecedented challenge was to bring Opera and Ballet to the big screen in a cinematic package. Their accomplishment of that ambition makes The Tales of Hoffmann historic. 

The Tales of Hoffmann tells three tales, not counting the story being told within the framing device employed by Powell and Pressburger. The framing device has our protagonist, Hoffmann (Robert Rounseville), attending a ballet performance by his beloved Stella (Moira Shearer). During intermission, Hoffman joins his friends and fellow poets in a pub where he is called upon to tell tales. Hoffmann agrees and sets about telling three tales of his failed romances.

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

Classic Movie Review The Philadelphia Story

The Philadelphia Story 

Directed by George Cukor

Written by David Ogden Stewart

Starring Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, Ruth Hussey

Released January 27th, 1941

Class warfare comedies, and especially romantic comedies, have a particular tenor and familiar pattern and much of that pattern was navigated first by the legendary director George Cukor whose films such as Born Yesterday and My Fair Lady were all about the clash of cultures as the background to comic romance. Arguably, Cukor’s finest example of the culture clash romance is the 1940 Academy Award nominee The Philadelphia Story starring Katharine Hepburn, Ruth Hussey, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart.

The Philadelphia Story stars Hepburn as Tracy, ha ha, get it, Tracy, a famous member of a rich Philadelphia clan. Two years earlier she’d called off a big, upper crust marriage to fellow rich family man, C.K Dexter Haven (Cary Grant), in a fashion that was somewhat scandalous. Now, Tracy is set to marry again, this time to a self-made man named George Kitteridge (John Howard) who isn’t all that exciting or glamorous but is stable and well-heeled.

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

Classic Movie Review Jaws

Jaws 

Directed by Steven Spielberg 

Written by Peter Benchley, Carl Gottlieb

Starring Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw

Release Date June 20th, 1975 

I’ve seen Jaws at least 15 times in my life and it remains consistently entertaining and exciting. Steven Speilberg’s assured direction, Roy Scheider’s steady lead performance, and Robert Shaw’s incredible performance as Quint never fail to sweep me up in the action at Amity Beach. That action is underlined by the remarkable behind the scenes stories that have become legends in their own right and have served to make Jaws so unforgettable.

Jaws stars Roy Scheider as Police Chief Brody. Chief Brody gave up life as a New York City beat cop for the peace and tranquility of a small town beach community. In my own head-canon, Scheider’s tough as nails French Connection detective simply dropped out of society and assumed the identity of Brody to escape Popeye Doyle and his cloud of corruption. That aside, Brody is at peace with the slow pace of life in Amity.

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

Movie Review The Black Phone

The Black Phone

Directed by Scott Derrickson 

Written by Scott Derrickson, C.Robert Cargill

Starring Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames, Madeleine McGraw, Jeremy Davies

Release Date June 24th, 2022

The Black Phone is a terrifically terrifying tale. Directed by arguably the best horror movie director working today, Scott Derrickson, The Black Phone delivers both an incredibly rich story and a legitimately scary horror movie. Featuring one of the best performances of Ethan Hawke’s extraordinary career, The Black Phone is far more than a one man show. Scott Derrickson has thought of everything in The Black Phone and takes care to cast the movie perfectly while pacing it to near perfection as well. 

The Black Phone stars Mason Thames as Finney and Madeleine McGraw as Finney’s little sister, Gwen. Together they have navigated losing their mother to mental illness and suicide and their father to his ongoing alcoholism and self loathing. The once loving dad, exceptionally played by Jeremy Davies, has become belligerent and abusive. Brother and sister navigate around his moods amid the outside chaos caused by a recent spate of abductions in their Colorado neighborhood.

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

Movie Review Elvis

Elvis 

Directed by Baz Luhrmann

Written by Baz Luhrmann, Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, Jeremy Doner

Starring Austin Butler, Tom Hanks

Release Date June 24th, 2022

I am a huge fan of director Baz Luhrmann. I find his brand of colorful, whirling, swirling romance to be a heady and exciting mix. Luhrmann is an undeniable artist. That fact makes reviewing his new movie, Elvis, such a chore. I don’t like having to write negatively about a director I admire as much as I admire Baz Luhrmann. But, sadly, Elvis is far too undercooked, far too chaotic, and far too much for me to recommend. 

Elvis is a pseudo-biopic of the legendary King of Rock N’Roll, Elvis Presley, played by newcomer Austin Butler. The actual star of Elvis however, is a fat suit wearing, comically accented Tom Hanks as Elvis’s snaky guru and manager, Col. Tom Parker. The film loosely tells Elvis’s story through the unreliable prism of Parker’s self-aggrandizing narration. This becomes confusing as Parker appears to narrate scenes he wasn’t present for or scenes that are deeply critical of his actions, which muddy his apparent motivation.

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

Classic Movie The Blob

The Blob 

Directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. 

Written by Theodore Simonson, Kate Phillips

Starring Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Olin Howland 

Released September 12th, 1958 

It’s been more than 60 years since audiences mobbed the theaters to see The Blob starring Steve McQueen and 60 years on, The Blob remains one incredibly fun flick. This naked propaganda piece about the slow spread of the Red Menace remains a glorious piece of nostalgia and a genuinely clever piece of filmmaking that combines the best kind of camp with the best kind of star power.

The Blob stars the legendary Steve McQueen as Steve Andrews, a big man on campus who we meet while he is on a date with his girl, Jane (Aneta Corsaut). The two are at a private spot in the woods under the stars, innocently yet romantically, enjoying a night together when they see something fall from the sky. Steve immediately wants to go find it and the two drive off in search. Meanwhile, a nearby hermit named Barney (Olin Howlin) gets to the thing from the sky first.

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