Movie Review Catch the Fair One

Catch the Fair One

Directed by Jeff Kubota Wladyka 

Written by Jeff Kubota Wladyka, Kali Reis

Starring Kali Reis, Shelly Vincent, Kendall Morris

Release Date February 11th, 2022 

Catch the Fair One is a bold and uncompromising thriller about the desperate plague of human trafficking. The film stars real life boxing champion Kali Reis as Kaylee, the older sister of Jaya (Kimberly Guerrero). Jaya has been taken and to get her back Kali will offer herself to a human trafficking ring while making plans to get her and her sister out. Written and directed by Josef Kubota Wladyka, Catch the Fair One is not an easy sit but it is one that will haunt you if you give it a chance. 

Kaylee has fallen from grace. Once a world champion boxer, Kaylee ended up in jail and then working a minimum wage job as a waitress following the disappearance of her little sister. Kaylee is on the outs with her mother, and instead of training for her next fight, she’s begun training for a very different kind of fight. With her only friend, Brick (Shelly Vincent), she’s discovered a way into the word of human trafficking and she’s now training to fight her way in and out of this incredibly dangerous world.

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

Movie Review The Other Me

The Other Me 

Directed by Giga Agladze

Written by Giga Agladze

Starring Jim Sturgess, Andreja Pejic

Release Date February 4th, 2022 

The Other Me operates on dream logic. The film starring Jim Sturgess and Andreja Pejic as two halves of the same person may seem obtuse or bizarre but that is intentional. The Other Me is telling a story about discovering trans identity using a divided psyche and the fractured emotional plane of dreams to lay the groundwork for a story about a bartender going blind from an unnamed disorder who finds his sight again when he discovers his mirror self as a trans woman. 

Irakli (Sturgess) may work as a bartender but he has a vision to change the future as an architect. Unfortunately his dreams are upended when he is told that he has a rare eye disorder that will render him blind sooner rather than later. This is not merely a setback for Irakli’s dreams, it’s a death blow for his already struggling marriage to Nutsa (Antonia Campbell Hughes). She’s already secretly sleeping with Irakli’s best friend and boss, Giorgi (Michael Socha). Irakli’s despondency over his blindness is only going to drive them further apart.

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

Movie Review Jackass Forever

Jackass Forever 

Directed by Jeff Tremaine

Written by Jackass 

Starring Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O

Release Date February 4th, 2022 

I understand that the appeal of Jackass is lost on a lot of people. Most people I know, close friends especially, are apoplectic over my appreciation for the silliness of Jackass. Indeed, that is why I am writing a review of Jackass Forever, a movie that really doesn’t need a critical analysis. Either you like Jackass stunts or you don’t and no critic is going to change your mind either way. So, instead, I am going to explore what I enjoy about Jackass and specifically, Jackass Forever and try to help explain the appeal. 

Jackass Forever opens with a sketch in which a man’s penis painted and dressed up as Godzilla attacking a city where our Jackass crew is posed for various forms of stunt carnage. This is par for the course for Jackass Forever as penis related humor is a major part of Jackass Forever. Whether they are squished between plastic and turned into paddle ball toys or being covered in bees for the world’s worst merkin. If you can’t stand the sight of the penis, Jackass Forever is not for you.

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

Movie Review Drop

Drop 

Directed by Christopher Landon 

Written by Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach

Starring Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Reed Diamond

Release Date April 11th, 2025 

Published April 11th, 2025 

Drop stars Meghann Fahy as Violet, a domestic abuse survivor and single mom, dipping her toe back into the dating pool. As you can imagine, this is not an easy decision but her date, Henry (Brandon Sklenar) has proven to be such a nice and caring guy via their dating app messages, she’s willing to give it a try. They’re first date is set for a fancy restaurant at the top of a skyscraper with an awesome view of the Chicago skyline. Romantic right? 

Unfortunately, Violet is a character in a thriller so the romance is short lived. After arriving at the restaurant a little before her date, someone clones Violet’s cellphone. Whoever did this begins bombarding Violet with ‘Digi-Drops,’ meme messages that contain text asking her to play a game. After Henry arrives and the two are seated for their dinner, the messages become more insistent and frightening. Eventually a message tells Violet to check her home security cameras.

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

Movie Review Marry Me

Marry Me 

Directed by Kat Coiro 

Written by John Rogers, Harper Dill, Tommy Sagher

Starring Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson

Release Date February 11th, 2022 

I went into the new romantic comedy Marry Me, starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson, with the expectation of hating the movie. It was a feeling that was not unfair given the track record that Jennifer Lopez has in terrible romantic comedies. Lopez has been party to the decline of the rom-com genre over the last two decades by churning out one horrific example of the genre after another. Movies like 2001’s dreary The Wedding Planner, the abysmal, unwatchable failure that was Gigli, the gag inducing comedy The Back Up Plan, and 2018's regrettable Second Act, in my mind, perfectly justify my expectation to hate Marry Me. 

Lopez’s taste in romantic comedies is a bland, borderline unwatchable example of everything wrong with the genre. Owen Wilson is only slightly more reliable in the genre because he’s made so few genuine romantic comedies in his lengthy career. What a lovely surprise it is to have my expectations proven wrong. Granted, Marry Me benefits from extremely low standards on my part but given the attitude I went in with, it’s impressive to me that I can sit here and recommend Marry Me to you, dear reader.

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

Documentary Review Dunk or Die

Dunk or Die 

Directed by Nicolas De Virieu

Written by Documentary 

Starring Kadour Ziani 

Release Date February 21st, 2022 

Documentaries are a window into a world you may not have known existed. The best documentaries are ones that take you to new places in the world, in existence, in consciousness. Documentaries expand reality, they teach, they inform and they entertain. The new French, black & white, basketball documentary Dunk or Die may seem like a documentary about a basketball player in France, emulating the heroes of the NBA, but that’s just the surface. 

Director Nicolas De Verieu has the specific task of chronicling the life of Kadour Ziane, a superstar around the world for his spectacular mastery of the slam dunk. In the process of capturing Ziane, De Verieu throws a light on the nature of obsession. What drives the obsessive personality? Trauma? Riches? Fame? For Kadour Ziane, obsession means breaking physical, mental and emotional barriers built in a youth filled with the struggles of race and class.

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

Movie Review Strawberry Mansion

Strawberry Mansion

Directed by Kentucker Audley, Albert Birney

Written by Kentucker Audley, Albert Birney

Starring Penny Fuller, Kentucker Audley 

Release Date July 22nd, 2021 

Strawberry Mansion is an almost impenetrable film. The comic drama from the directing duo of Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney follows Audley as James Preble, a man whose job is to audit people’s dreams. In this bizarre reality people pay taxes for things they use in their dreams. Meanwhile, a corrupt corporation is sneaking advertisements into those same dreams without anyone being aware of it, save for Bella played by Penny Fuller. 

The story of Strawberry Mansion picks up inside the dream of James Preble where a friend has brought him fried chicken and soda. We get the sense immediately that this is a rather typical event in James’s dreams, his friend, Buddy (Linas Phillips), brings food and soda and the two enjoy a meal together in James’ oddly purple kitchen, likely something he’s invented in order to save on his dream taxes.

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

Movie Review Pursuit

Pursuit 

Directed by Brian Skiba

Written by Brian Skiba, Andrew Stevens, Dawn Bursteen

Starring John Cusack, Emile Hirsch, Jake Manley

Release Date February 18th, 2022

While Bruce Willis gets most of the attention for his late career paycheck cheapies, John Cusack has been toiling away on the same easy paycheck circuit. Cusack’s recent resume may not be as stunningly inept and lazy as Willis’s output, but it is nearly as disreputable. As evidence I present to you the scuzzy new action thriller, Pursuit. The film stars the ever less reputable Emile Hirsch and someone named Jake Manley with Cusack seemingly allowing a film crew to capture scenes of him puttering around his house to include in the movie. 

Pursuit stars Emile Hirsch as gangster-hacker Rick Calloway. Rick’s wife has gone missing and using the dark web, Rick is unraveling the criminal enterprise that is hiding and torturing her for the sadistic purpose of antagonizing Rick. In his pursuit of the truth, Rick tracks down a drug dealer who happens to be the subject of a sting by undercover NYPD Detectives. Unknowingly interrupting the bust, Rick kills several people and injures a pair of cops including Detective Mike Breslin played by Jake Manley.

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

Movie Review Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) 

Directed by David Blue Garcia, 

Written by Chris Thomas Devlin, Fede Alvarez, Rodo Sayagues

Starring Sarah Yarkin, Elsie Fisher, Mark Burnham

Release Date February 18th, 2022

“Do something and you are totally canceled bro!” Random Leatherface victim in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2022. 

Allow me to set the scene: A bus filled with Zoomers partying late into a rainy Texas night. Leatherface, the famed chainsaw killer boards the bus wearing his adopted mother’s face and carrying his chainsaw. Slack-jawed soon to be dead, Zoomers point cellphone cameras at Leatherface and victim number 1 threatens the lunatic killer with cancel culture. A generation that has lived through multiple school shootings is here portrayed as so dimwitted and P.C that they believe cancel culture would stop a chainsaw wielding maniac. 

This is what passes as social satire in the new Netflix take on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise. This bankrupt, intellectually deficient hot take is supposed to continue the legacy of one of the most subversive and politically charged horror movies of all time? This boneheaded meme is what passes for modern satirical discourse? It’s a wonder that no one asked if Leatherface identified as an attack helicopter. To say that satire is not the strong suit of the makers of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a grave understatement of the stupidity and bankruptcy of this cash grab sequel.

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

Movie Review Dog

Dog 

Directed by Reid Carolin, Channing Tatum

Written by Reid Carolin, Brett Rodriguez, Channing Tatum

Starring Channing Tatum 

Release Date February 8th, 2022 

Dog stars Channing Tatum Biggs, a former Army Ranger dealing with the aftermath of a brain injury. The injury suffered in the field has left Biggs struggling, drinking too much, and working at a sandwich shop. Biggs has a chance to get back into the field as a security contractor but not until his commanding officer signs off. To get his commanding officer to give him a recommendation, Biggs agrees to do a favor. 

Recently, a friend and fellow soldier named Rodriguez has died, leaving behind his dog, Lulu. Lulu is a military dog, one trained to work in the field seeking out the enemy. Lulu was injured in the field and struggles with anxiety in many ways that make her unlikely to ever be adopted, especially not that Rodriguez has passed. Biggs is tasked with taking Lulu from Oregon to Arizona for Rodriguez’s funeral. After the funeral, he is supposed to take Lulu to a nearby military race where she will be put to sleep.

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

Documentary Review A Peloton of One

A Peloton of One

Directed by John Bernardo, Steven E. Mallorca

Written by Documentary 

Starring Dave Ohlmuller 

Release Date May 1st, 2020 

A Peloton of One is an emotionally raw and inspiring story about one man healing himself and others from the seat of a bicycle. While you may see the word Peloton and think someone is trying to sell you an expensive at home bicycle set up, a Peloton is actually just a French term for a group of bicycle enthusiasts riding together. Dave Ohlmuller however, in 2017, became A Peloton of One when he decided to ride his bike from Chicago to New York City. 

Why did Dave launch this remarkable ride? He wanted to raise awareness for those who have struggled with having been sexually abused as children. A Peloton of One is a reflection of the still ongoing ripple effect of the Catholic Church scandal that found Catholic churches around the world frantically trying to cover for Priests who’d done monstrous things, committed horrific crimes, and how the church desperately tried to sweep the situation under the rug.

Find my full length review linked here. 

Movie Review Uncharted

Uncharted 

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Written by Rafe Jenkins, Art Marcum, Matt Holloway

Starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas

Release Date February 18th, 2022

Uncharted stars Tom Holland as Nathan Drake and more and more I am enjoying Holland as a screen presence. Having grown weary of the quip machine action heroes that have dominated the last two decades of Hollywood action, Holland’s more cerebral and achingly emotional action hero feels refreshing. Holland’s Nathan Drake can be funny but he’s first and foremost a pro with a good head on his shoulders. He’s not flippant and doesn’t just go for the joke when one is available. Holland has an unforced charisma that makes an otherwise dreary exercise in the action genre, more entertaining than I was expecting. 

Uncharted starts fast with our hero, young adventurer, Nathan Drake, falling out of an airplane. It’s the kind of wild and wooly stunt that has made Tom Cruise one of the most entertaining action heroes in the genre. We watch as the scene is set for one of the major action set pieces in Uncharted before we flashback to how our hero got to this dangerous spot. It’s a little clichéd but, as I said, Holland makes the familiar refreshing with his performance.

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

Movie Review No Exit

No Exit 

Directed by Damian Power 

Written by Adrian Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, Taylor Adams 

Starring Havana Rose Liu, Danny Ramirez

Release Date February 25th, 2022

No Exit is a nasty little thriller about an abducted girl, a former drug addict on the run, and a snowstorm that traps a disparate group of people at a roadside shelter. Directed by Damian Power, No Exit has tension and suspense but cannot sustain the excitement for the entire run time. Issues of logic and motivation come in late in the 3rd act, and a magical nail gun becomes an overpowered Deus Ex Machina in the unsatisfying conclusion. 

No Exit stars the very talented Havana Rose Liu as Darby, a reformed drug addict currently finishing out a stint at a rehab facility. The plot of No Exitkicks in when Darby manages an escape from the rehab facility. Darby has just learned that her mother is in the hospital on the brink of death and Darby is determined to reach her before she passes on. Darby’s escape is thwarted by a massive snow storm that closes the roads and forces her to take shelter and a roadside shelter.

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

Movie Review The Desperate Hour

The Desperate Hour 

Directed by Phillip Noyce 

Written by Chris Sparling

Starring Naomi Watts

Release Date February 25th, 2022 

Phillip Noyce’s reviled drama, Lakewood is finally getting a release under a new title, The Desperate Hour. The film which debuted as Lakewood at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2021 was met with a torrent of bad reviews before quietly creeping into the shadows and out of any possible awards contention. Now titled The Desperate Hour, the Naomi Watts led thriller is getting a limited and rather low-key theatrical release. 

The Desperate Hour is one of those movies made during the COVID-19 pandemic and needed to find ways to film without risking cast and crew-wide infections. Thus, the story centers on one character for 84 minutes alone in a forest. But that’s not what the movie is about. Instead, The Desperate Hour is about a school shooting that unfolds via an all powerful IPhone that gets reception everywhere and never runs out of a charge until it’s needed for dramatic effect.

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

Classic Movie Review The First Nudie Movie

The First Nudie Musical 

Directed by Mark Haggard, Bruce Kimmel

Written by Bruce Kimmel

Starring Stephen Nathan, Cindy Williams, Bruce Kimmel

Release Date March 3rd, 1976

Specialty film imprint Quiver have once again dug into the annals of 70's cinema for another unique and mostly forgotten movie, 1976’s bizarre sex comedy, The First Nudie Musical. This remarkably 1970's movie stars a pre-Laverne & Shirley Cindy Williams as Rose and Steven Nathan as her boss, adult movie producer Harry Schechter. Harry, having lost money on his most recent picture, is desperately searching for a way to freshen up the porn genre. 

With investors breathing down his neck and threatening to take his studio away, Harry suddenly has a big idea, a porno musical called Come, Come With Me. He even has the opening tune ready to go titled, The First Nudie Musical which he performs off the cuff for his money guys alongside a kickline of beautiful naked women. This is quickly explained away as a dream sequence but one that Harry was vividly illustrating to the investors as he went on.

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

Movie Review Death on the Nile

Death on the Nile

Directed by Kenneth Branagh

Written by Michael Green, Agatha Christie 

Starring Kenneth Branagh, Annette Bening, Gal Gadot

Release Date February 11th, 2022 

Death on the Nile is a shockingly bloated and silly mystery movie. Directed by the otherwise brilliant Kenneth Branagh, this blockbuster feels tossed off on a whim with little care to make sure the central mystery was even worthy of a movie. As gorgeous and opulent as the production design for Death on the Nile is, the beauty of the movie only serves to magnify the emptiness of the main characters, plot and dialogue of Death on the Nile. 

Death on the Nile returns Kenneth Branagh to the role of famed Detective Hercule Poirot. In flashback we see Poirot’s heroism in the trenches of World War 1. We see how Poirot’s unique mind proves to be a remarkable asset, even in the chaos of a bloody and deadly war as he outsmarts his superiors with a plan to sneak attack German soldiers and retake a strategic bridge, one essential to the future of the war. It all goes to plan until one soldier fails to heed Poirot’s warning leading to a tripwire and a deadly explosion.

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

Movie Review Studio 666

Studio 666

Directed by B.J McDonnell

Written by Dave Grohl, Jeff Buhler, Rebecca Hughes

Starring Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel

Release Date February 25th, 2022 

Studio 666 walks a remarkably slim tight rope between comedy and bloody horror and manages brilliantly to stay upright. This wildly fun and playful horror movie starring the rock band, The Foo Fighters, is such a jovial delight that even when someone dies horrifically you can sense they did so with the glee of a child enjoying a theme park ride. Dave Grohl and company are having an absolute ball sending up horror tropes and playing them straight for scares at the same time and I loved every moment of it. 

Studio 666 posits our heroic rock icons, The Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Rami Jaffee, and Chris Shiflett, struggling with their 10th career album. In a meeting with their manager, played by the otherwise toxic Jeff Garlin, they nail down a place to record the record that can provide a little inspiration. The place that the manager has in mind has a history of death. What The Foo Fighters don’t know, but we do, via an opening flashback to the 90s, is that a legendary 90s band was slaughtered by one of their members in this house.

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

Movie Review Asking For It

Asking for It 

Directed by Eamon O'Rourke

Written by Eamon O'Rourke 

Starring Kiersey Clemons, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp

Release Date March 4th, 2022

Asking for It had so much potential. The trailer promised a hardcore feminist revenge movie featuring strong and assertive female characters. The sad reality of Asking for It is that this is yet another in a growing sub-genre of shallow, pseudo-empowerment movies that mistake enacting violence and holding weapons for genuine empowerment. The feature film debut of writer-director, Eamon O’Rourke is a glib revenge fantasy that uses diversity and inclusivity as a marketing campaign more than anything else. 

Kiersey Clemons stars in Asking for It as a naïve young woman named Joey. When we meet Joey she’s working as a waitress and planning for life as an adult. Joey’s plans are derailed after she reconnects with a male friend from High School and, following a drunken night of partying, finds that she’s been sexually assaulted while mostly unconscious. This throws Joey’s life into a tailspin. She becomes deeply withdrawn from family and barely gets by at work.

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