Classic Movie Review The Crying Game

The Crying Game (1992) 

Directed by Neil Jordan 

Written by Neil Jordan 

Starring Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forrest Whitaker, Miranda Richardson

Release Date November 27th, 1992, February 1993 (Oscar Release) 

Published February 20th, 2023 

What stands out about Neil Jordan's The Crying Game 30 years later is how remarkably sensitive the film is. While the film's lasting legacy in popular culture centers on actor Jaye Davidson's penis, the actual film, The Crying Game centers on sensitivity, intimacy and tenderness while also providing elements of a thriller and a spy movie. Neil Jordan brings forward a gay love story in The Crying Game in a way that had arguably never been explored before in this way. Using a traditional thriller narrative about warring spies, guns, and murder, Jordan tells a love story about people who are struggling to find who they really are. 

Stephen Rea stars in The Crying Game as Fergus, a member of the Irish Republican Army. History, as told by the British, would call the IRA terrorists. I truly have no idea what the actual legacy of the IRA is and I don't see a necessity to unpack the IRA here. The IRA is basically the vehicle that brings Fergus into contact with Jody (Forrest Whitaker), a young British soldier who is captured in Ireland and held for ransom. If the British will release a member of the IRA they are holding prisoner, then Fergus and is his fellow IRA members will release Jody. 

Of course, Jody, and possibly Fergus, knows that Jody is going to die. The British do not negotiate with the IRA, they work to eliminate the IRA. Jody's only glimmer of hope comes in trying to convince Fergus to let him go. Thus begins a lengthy and intimate series of conversation over a three day period from Jody's kidnapping to the day the IRA plans to execute him. In this time, Jody and Fergus bond and writer-director Neil Jordan willfully layers in visual indicators that perhaps there is more than just friendly banter going on between these two seemingly very different men. 

Knowing that his dire fate is approaching, Jody gives Fergus his wallet and with it, a photo of the woman Jody loves. Her name is Dil (Jaye Davidson) and she's a hairdresser back in Jody's home town. Jody begs Fergus to go and look in on Dil if, indeed Jody dies. What happens next will lead Fergus to Dil and the start of another complicated, deeply fraught, but genuine love story. Of course, history tells us what complicates this romance but the movie itself, is far more than that one pop culture footnote. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Classic Movie Review The Big Sleep

The Big Sleep (1946) 

Directed by Howard Hawks 

Written by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, Jules Furthman

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone 

Release Date August 31st, 1946 

Published February 21st, 2023 

Who is Phillip Marlowe? He's a detective, of course, but beyond that. Who is he? He's a cynic, a loner, a veteran. He's seen just about everything. He's seen enough to know when he's being lied to. He's tired. As conceived by Howard Hawks and Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sick, he's weary, bone tired, and yet noble. He may no longer have time for joy in his life but he has purpose... and cigarettes... and booze. But Marlowe's true hallmark is weariness. He just seems as if the weight of the planet is pulling him into the ground and he's not all that interested in preventing this from happening. 

Marlowe doesn't have a lot to lose and hasn't had a lot to lose in a long while. This bone deep weariness has settled in after years of providing witness to the ugly side of everyday. Cheating spouses, murder, missing people, and the betrayal of friends, Marlowe's livelihood revolves around misery. It's natural that such a vocation would weigh on a man. In Humphrey Bogart, that weariness, that sense of being so incredibly worn down by life, has a physical form. The lines on Bogart's face seem to have been formed by the sheer force of emotional, physical, and intellectual experience. 

It's odd to think, but in many ways, a man like Phillip Marlowe exists as a proxy for the pain of others. He's a trauma shield, a way to experience trauma through the filter of someone else. As a private detective, he's the one who will see the husband or the wife cheating or find that friend that has been stealing from you. He can then slightly soften the blow by providing the tools you need for the confrontation that must ensue and be resolved so life can go on. Strangely, I'm reminded of John Coffey from The Green Mile who sucks out the illness of others, into himself, and releases it to the world in a strange form of healing. 

The main difference is that Marlowe does what he does for a significant price, and daily expense payments. For his latest effort, Marlowe finds himself in admiration of an elderly former General living out the last days of his life. General Sternwood (Charles Waldron) has called upon Marlowe because he is being blackmailed by some unknown person. A proxy for this unknown blackmailer has given the General gambling receipts indicating an unpaid debt that they claim belongs.  to Sternwood's youngest daughter, the coquettish Carmen Sternwood. Payment is demanded of General Sternwood or something will happen to Carmen. 

For her part, Carmen appears unfazed by whatever is happening, perhaps even unaware. Not innocent, not by a longshot, but nevertheless unbothered by potential dangers. After meeting Marlowe, and immediately flirting with him in clumsy, heavy handed fashion, the next time we see her, Carmen is extremely drunk and sharing space with a recently dead man. Marlowe, having followed Carmen, assuming she would lead to the blackmailer, finds Carmen and the dead man and sets about getting her home safely while avoiding the obvious frame job. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Spoiler Alert: Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania What is Kang's Future in the MCU?

Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania (2023) 

Directed by Peyton Reed 

Written by Jeff Loveless

Starring Jonathan Majors, Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathryn Newton

Release Date February 17th, 2023 

Published February 20th, 2023 

This article carries with it spoilers for Ant-Man and The Wasp Quantumania, a decidedly mixed but not bad entry in the Marvel Canon. If you'd like to avoid spoilers, I suggest seeing the movie before coming back and reading this article. We are going to dig into the ending, specifically the mid and post credits sequences which set the table for the the latest reboot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe known as Phase 5. Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania is the kickoff for this new era of Marvel movies and you will want to see it before you read this thorough spoiler post. 

For those sticking around, welcome, let's talk about what should have been called Kang the Conqueror Quantumania because this was a Jonathan Majors movie far more than it was starring anyone else. Kang the Conqueror looms large over every aspect of Ant-Man and the Wasp Quantumania. He's the new Thanos and the movie does well to put over the idea of just how volatile and dangerous Kang truly is. Jonathan Majors does much of the heavy dramatic lifting in the movie and, for the most part, he's successful in establishing the next big bad of the Marvel Universe. 

Context: Ant-Man and the Wasp comes to a close with Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) seemingly sacrificing themselves to a life trapped in the Quantum Realm just so they can prevent Kang the Conqueror from escaping his Quantum Realm exile. Having shrank Kang even smaller than even they've gone, hurtling him into a seeming oblivion, Scott and Hope are then immediately rescued by Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton), in an all too rushed and pat conclusion to what could have been a slightly more dramatic ending. 

Back home, Scott resumes his mundane, day to day existence as a pseudo-celebrity, walking down the streets of San Francisco smiling and waving like he was about to run for Mayor. This happy-go-lucky stroll is interrupted by a thought that nags at the back of Scott's mind. It's something that Kang said before he was sent into oblivion, that only he, Kang, could stop what is coming. Kang being a man who could control time would definitely know if something big, perhaps world-altering were coming down the pike. Did Scott just create this world-altering event by eliminating the one man who might be able to prevent it? 

And cut to credits. It's not a bad ending, but there are some things that could have improved it. That said, the intriguing question of what's next in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is established with this victory but at what cost ending. Kang the Conqueror may have been vanquished but Kang is not done trying to conquer the multiverse. For you see, dear reader, because of the Multiverse, there are millions of Kangs. Three of them seem to have risen to the top of the Kang Army but there are an unending number of variations and they've all just been given the greenlight to unleash multiversal chaos. 

Find my full length Spoiler Alert at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review My Bloody Valentine

My Bloody Valentine (1981) 

Directed by George Mihalka 

Written by John Beaird

Starring Neil Affleck, Paul Kelman, Laurie Hallier, Don Francis, Cynthia Dale 

Release Date February 11th, 1981

Published February 14th, 2023 

My Bloody Valentine 1981 is a low budget horror success story. The film was made for about 5 bucks and a 6 pack of beer, and it went on to become a beloved cult classic. Does that make it a good movie? Not really, but, from a business standpoint, it's undeniably successful. Year after year, on Valentine's Day, My Bloody Valentine grabs a sizable chunk of the streaming market and makes this little horror movie that could into one of the greatest low budget success stories of the 1980s. Again, that doesn't make it an actual good movie, but it is impressive.

In the town of Valentine Bluff, somewhere in Cananda, a mine accident killed left four men dead and one man, Harry Warden, alive after he resorted to murdering his fellow miners and eating their flesh to survive. Harry winds up in a coma until a year later when he wakes up and murders the men responsible for the accident. As we join the story, we are 20 years removed from Harry Warden's rampage. It's established that this is the first Valentine's Day celebration since the murders 20 years ago. 

Valentine's Day was outlawed in the town because the men who were responsible for the mining accident, the men subsequently murdered by Harry Warden, caused the accident by leaving the mine to attend the town Valentine's Day Dance. Now, the next generation of miners in Valentine Bluff have petitioned to bring back the celebration. This sets off Harry Warden who returns having been triggered by the celebration of Valentine's Day. Warden is supposed to have been locked away in a mental institution but now, the sheriff can't confirm if he's alive or dead. 

Meanwhile, in a romantic subplot, a rivalry has arisen between T.J (Paul Kelman) and Axel (Neil Affleck). T.J is the son of the mine owner and has recently returned to town to work at the mine. T.J's ex, Sarah (Lori Hallier), has moved on with Axel and T.J is quite jealous. This rivalry will come to a head when the miners are told that their Valentine's celebration has been canceled by the mayor (Larry Reynolds), and the Sheriff (Don Francks). They've discovered a pair of bodies, possibly the work of Harry Warden and they are moving to cancel Valentine's Day as quickly as possible. 

Thus, the miners have invited themselves to a trap when they move their Valentine's Day celebration to the mine shaft. There they will line up to be Harry's next victims by enacting classic slasher movie tropes such as trying to have sex or going places they aren't supposed to go and running the wrong direction to escape the killer. The question then becomes, is this really Harry Warden or is this a copycat with a completely different motive? 

That should be the question. The reality, however, is that My Bloody Valentine is far too lazy to concern itself with details that make sense. Instead, director George Mihalka settles for revealing the killer's origins in the final minutes of the movie, as a twist. It renders much of the rest of the movie rather dubious and superfluous. None of the characters introduced really matter to the plot, they suddenly exist as cannon fodder as we find out who the killer is. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media 

Movie Review: Your Place or Mine

Your Place or Mine (2023) 

Directed by Aline Brosh McKenna 

Written by Aline Brosh McKenna 

Starring Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Jesse Williams, Zoe Chao, Tig Notaro

Release Date February 10th, 2023 

Published February 13th, 2023 

The slapdash, clumsy and derivative new romantic comedy, Your Place or Mine still manages to have moments of grace and genuine romance. It's a shame the movie is so dedicated to playing the rom-com greatest hits that it cannot fully take advantage of the few good moments. No, sadly, the latest effort from the generally quite good writer-director Aline Brosh McKenna is by far her most mundane, by the numbers effort. Despite a pair leads with decent chemistry, Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher, Your Place or Mine falls well short of rom-com greatness. 

In Your Place or Mine Reese Witherspoon is Debbie and Ashton Kutcher is Peter. We meet them on the first night they hooked up, 20 years ago, following a game of poker. Shortly after that, Peter told Debbie that they should not be together as he's bad at being in relationships. Somehow, they remained not just friends but best friends and went on with their lives. Each gave up their dreams, her to be a book editor and him to be an author, and found vague levels of success in other endeavors. She's an accountant for her son's school and he's a movie conception of a consultant, the nebulously defined but wealthy kind of fallback character job that hack screenwriters assign so as not to have to spend time on backstory. 

A clumsy opening series of scenes sets in stone the very obvious arc of this already quite obvious romance. Debbie needs to loosen up and have some fun, Peter needs to learn how to be responsible to others and become selfless. Commence the deus ex machina. The brilliant Rachel Bloom drops in from a completely different movie and sets the plot in motion by not being able to watch Debbie's son, Jack (Wesley Kimmel), while Debbie was set to go to New York to see Peter and take a course to advance her accounting career. 

Knowing that his friend is counting on this class in New York, Peter decides to get on a plane and go to L.A and watch Jack while Debbie stays at his place in New York. While in New York, Debbie befriends the best character in Your Place or Mine, Peter's ex-hook up, Minka, played by Zoe Chao. To say that Chao steal the movie is an understatement. She's the character with the most personality, the most organic growth, and all of the best jokes in the movie. She befriends Debbie as a sort of mini-deus ex machina as it is her job within her subplot to get Debbie to find Peter's book and give it to a sexy book editor, played by Jesse Williams. 

Williams is obvious roadblock between Debbie and Peter's happily ever after. He offers her an alternative romance with someone she is more obviously compatible with. But, we already know where this is headed and the movie doesn't give Williams much to play to turn his role into anything more than a speed bump on the way to the obvious conclusion. It's incredibly disappointing to watch these terrifically talented people acting out a script that is the bare minimum of effort and confounding why someone as talented as Aline Brosh McKenna fell back on so much lazy screenwriting. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Project Wolf Hunting

Project Wolf Hunting (2023) 

Directed by Hongsun Kim 

Written by Hongsun Kim 

Starring Seo In-Guk, Dong Yoon Jang, Jung So Min 

Release Date February 14th, 2023 

Published February 9th, 2023 

Deep within the bowels of a freighter steaming from the Philippines, traveling to Busan, lies a secret that most of the men on board are not aware of. The freight ship is carrying a group of criminals that had escaped to the Philippines back to face justice in South Korea. The secret cargo in the basement appears to be a living corpse. He's being seen to by a doctor and there are indications that he is somehow, miraculously alive, though how that's possible is a deep, dark secret. 

The living corpse is clearly very dangerous. He's being held down flat in a metal cage structure. He's heavily sedated and constantly under guard. This being a movie however, we know that this monster will not remain locked up for long. Then there are the inmates, a dangerous lot of murderers, rapists, and assorted scoundrels. They know their fate back in South Korea and at least one of them, with a lengthy rap sheet, is determined not to see Busan any time soon. 

Aiding the malevolent inmates are a group of gang members posing as boat staff. They've managed to smuggle guns, drugs, and money on to the boat with the intent of hijacking the boat and directing it wherever their captured leader wants to go. Standing in their way is a strangely calm, fearless, and stalwart fellow inmate. This man carries a secret that is loosely related to the caged zombie monster in the lower decks and the shady pharmaceutical company that has had a hand in arranging this boat trip. 

That's a lot of plot and there are several notable characters but that is not what Project Wolf Hunting is all about. Instead, the monster man in the lower decks is at the heart of the movie. His escape and ensuing, bloody, gory, violent rampage takes up most of the action of the movie. This is a terrifying monster, part Frankenstein's Monster, part zombie and seemingly unstoppable, one of his first acts is to punch an inmates jaw right off of his face in explicit fashion. 

Once this unstoppable monster is loose, Project Wolf Hunting is a very different movie. The conspiracy plot, involving the pharmaceutical company is still playing out, but that's very much not the point. Rather, the movie changes to become a series of ever escalating violence and gore. The monster unceasingly pursues anyone he can get his hands on, brutally crushes their bones as their blood sprays uncannily in all directions. 

Director Hongsun Kim doesn't make much time for characters or stories to be told. Rather, he's more interested in his special effects, especially blood spatter. If watching the ways Kim can spray blood on walls, on other people, on various boat components, is of interest to you, you will love Project Wolf Hunting. I must say, it worked for me. The shift from a rather mundane narrative to the absolute nuttiness of a gorefest was kind of a fun twist. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media 

Movie Review Condor's Nest

Condor's Nest (2023) 

Directed by Phil Blattenberger 

Written by Phil Blattenberger 

Starring Arnold Vosloo, Michael Ironside, Jackson Rathbone, Jacob Keohane 

Release Date January 27th, 2023 

Published February 8th, 2023 

Condor's Nest opens on a tense war scene. A British bomber is flying over Germany at low altitude, preparing to drop bombs on a strategic target. Six men are aboard and remain when the plane is shot down in the German countryside. As one looks for a way to help his fellow soldiers, German soldiers arrive on the scene. Led by an imperious S.S Officer, Col. Martin Bach (Arnold Vosloo), this is a particularly brutal group of soldiers. Bach's interrogation of the British crew involves shooting anyone that doesn't provide valuable information, whether they have valuable information or not. 

Watching this unfold from a distance, as he had fled to seek help and find shelter, is Pilot Will Spalding (Jacob Keohane). Trained with his gun on Col. Bach he knows that if he shoots and misses he will give up his position and any chance to save his crew. This leaves Spalding in agony as he watches two members of his crew be executed. One of the crew passes away from injuries in the crash before he can be asked to give up information. The last two members of the crew are then, seemingly about to be released. They are allowed to turn and begin running into the forest with a vague promise of safety from Bach, until he orders them shot dead as well. 

From here, Condor's Nest jumps a decade into the future. It's 1954 and a haunted Jacob Spalding is now living in Argentina. If you're not aware, Argentina became a hotspot of former Nazis who managed to escape as Germany fell at the end of World War 2. Spalding believes he has tracked Colonel Bach to Argentina and he's using any means necessary to locate Bach so that he can gain his revenge. This quest for vengeance leads Spalding to a shaky, distrustful alliance with Albert Vogel (Al Pagano), a former Nazi scientist on the run from both Nazi Hunters and Israeli Intelligence. 

Vogel strikes a deal with Spalding, he will take him to Bach and in exchange, Spalding will help him reach a safe house where Vogel hopes to be whisked away to safety by Russian intelligence, eager to have a German scientist that the Americans don't have. Their tentative alliance is upended by the arrival of Leyna Rahn (Corinne Britti), a Jewish mercenary working for Israeli Intelligence in Argentina. Vogel is the scalp she's been looking for and she aims to take him. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media