Movie Review Rebroken

Rebroken (2023) 

Directed by Kenny Yates 

Written by Scott Hamm Duenas 

Starring Scott Hamm Duenas, Kipp Tribble, Alison Haislip

Release Date March 7th, 2023 

Published March 3rd, 2023 

Rebroken is a bizarre amalgamation of religious drama, horror, suspense, and The Twilight Zone, maybe? It all makes sense but it's so drawn out and melodramatic it becomes impossible to continue to care or pay attention. The film promises to deliver actor Tobin Bell, Jigsaw from the Saw franchise, but he's barely here in a mysterious role where he plays a homeless Jesus figure or possibly a villain leading our hero astray or maybe neither of those things. Mostly, Bell is here to draw in horror movie loyalists who might assume that Rebroken is some kind of Saw offshoot. It most certainly is not. 

Scott Hamm Duenas stars in Rebroken as Will, a struggling alcoholic sentenced to take part in a grief support group. Will's daughter died while in his care while he was crawling inside a bottle of whiskey. Will's life, day to day, never seems to change. He has the same dream about his daughter dying, attends his support group, walks home, grabs a bottle of whiskey and a microwave dinner and drinks himself to sleep. This happens every night and we watch it happen over and over again with little variation until we are begging the movie to do anything different. 

Rebroken finally shifts the story when one of Will's fellow support group members, Lydia (Nija Okoro), points him in the direction of a mysterious homeless man. Von (Tobin Bell) speaks cryptically about Will being on a path and appears to promise Will that his daughter will come back if Will stays on the path and listens to what Von has to tell him. Von gifts Will a series of records labeled with bible verses that feature Von narrating vaguely spiritual, vaguely motivational aphorisms that seem to awaken something in Will. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Classic Movie Review Casablanca

Casablanca (1943) 

Directed by Michael Curtiz 

Written by Julias J. Epstein, Phillip G. Epstein, Howard Koch 

Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claud Rains, Peter Lorre 

Release Date January 23rd, 1943 

Published March 4th, 2023 

Casablanca sets the stakes of its story almost immediately. After a brief voiceover setting us within the time of the story of Casablanca, we're thrust into the maelstrom of commerce and treachery of Casablanca. Authorities are in the midst of confronting a man regarding his 'papers.' Contextually, we come to understand that not having up to date papers, presumably related to immigration status and travel, you can be subject to arrest. And we will learn that being arrested, under most circumstances in Casablanca, is a death sentence, a likely trip to a concentration camp. 

Thus, we are in the market. Authorities in full uniform confront a well-dressed man and ask to see his papers. Fearful, the man tries to say that he simply does not have them with him. They threaten to arrest him and in desperate ploy, he suddenly finds his papers in his suit jacket. The papers are out of date and the man is once again set to be arrested. He makes one last desperate attempt to escape, shoving past the authorities and making a run for it. The man is shot in the back. Thus, what is at stake if you don't have proper documentation in Casablanca? It's not just your freedom, it's your life. 

This is the set up for introducing our MacGuffin, to borrow Hitchcock's term. The MacGuffin, for the uninitiated, is the name Hitchcock gave to the nebulous thing that everyone in a given movie wants. A MacGuffin can be just about anything as long as it drives the characters in the film to desire it and willingly risk everything to get it. In Casablanca, the MacGuffin are the "Letters of Transit." These are papers that would allow someone to leave Casablanca. It's a means of escaping legally from authorities, specifically, in the case of Casablanca, escaping from the Nazis. 

Full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review 10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) 

Directed by Gil Junger

Written by Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith 

Starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Larisa Oleynik

Release Date March 31st, 1999 

Published March 5th, 2023 

It is a genuine effort that I have to make to like 10 Things I Hate About You. It's, honestly, a chore. I want to love this movie. I know that I did love it when it was released in 1999. But, I was also a relatively young film critic with a serious crush on Julia Stiles and a desire to be Heath Ledger. To say my objectivity was compromised would be very fair. Watching it again as the classic for the March 6th, 2023, episode of the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast, the chore of trying to be someone who likes 10 Things I Hate About You really presented itself. 

10 Things I Hate About You stars Julia Stiles as Kat Stratford. Kat is the 'Shrew' who must be 'Tamed' in the Shakespearean sense, the film is a loose adaptation of the Bard's Taming of the Shrew and the filmmakers really, really, want you to remember that. Awkward dialogue exchanges and obvious name conventions make the forced effort to underline Shakespeare thuddingly obvious if you aren't willing yourself to ignore the awkwardness. 

Kat has developed a reputation for beating up the boys at her High School. She refuses to date anyone as she sees the High School boys as beneath her. The story of 10 Things I Hate About You kicks in when a pair of boys begin to vie for the affection of Kat's sister, Bianca (Larisa Oleynik). When Bianca approaches her father for permission to date he decides that Bianca can date only when her sister decides to date. Knowing Kat, that may not happen until she leaves for college. 

Armed with this information from Bianca, nice guy Cameron (Joseph Gordon Levitt) and High School bad boy Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan), launch a plan. They will pay someone to seduce Kat into dating. After After being turned down by a series of guys who put over Kat's reputation as a ballbuster of a most literal sort, the schemers settle on Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), a student with a reputation of his own. It's rumored that Patrick has been to jail, he's spent time in a mental institution and, he ate an entire duck. 

If anyone is crazy enough to try and date Kat Stratford, it's Patrick Verona. The plan works but, of course, Patrick falls for Kat and when Joey figures out that Cameron is more likely to get a date with Bianca than he is, the plan goes awry in the most obviously expected fashion. There truly is no mystery or even a shred of suspense to this plot. Kat is going to find out that Patrick was paid to date her and she's going to be hurt by that. How the movie resolves that plot is deeply unsatisfying despite a strong, tearful effort by a very game Julia Stiles. 

Read the full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Unwelcome

Unwelcome (2023)

Directed by Jon Wright

Written by Mark Stay 

Starring Hannah John-Kamen, Douglas Booth, Colm Meaney 

Release Date March 8th, 2023, Digital Release March 14th, 2023 

Published March 6th, 2023 

Unwelcome is the bizarre combination of Straw Dogs meets Goblins that you did not know you needed in your life. This bizarre 'folk horror' film from Ireland is terrifically fun and effective horror storytelling. There are creatures in Unwelcome but the real horror at play is other people. The outside world seems to have it out for a pair of young lovers with a new baby on the way. The anxiety of starting a new family, beginning a new life, and finding a safe place to raise a child become externalized in the form of bitter weirdos with a penchant for destroying the sanctity of family in Unwelcome. 

Unwelcome kicks off on a frightening note. In an epilogue, we meet our lovely protagonists. Maya (Hannah John-Kamen) and Jamie (Douglas Booth), have been struggling for some time to get pregnant. There is a distinct anxiety over Maya's latest pregnancy test with Jamie trying to be ambivalent but his sadness but his disappointment and nerves coming through in his manner, especially when he's out of sight of Maya. Each wants to let the other know that they will be okay if they can't have a child but it's clearly an attempt at comforting each other. When the pregnancy test comes back positive, the relief and catharsis is quite evident. 

Sadly, this is when the plot intervenes to move things along. While Maya calls her mother, Jamie leaves to go to a convenience store for some champagne. On his way, he's accosted by some bullies who seem to have nothing better to do than harass him. He manages to get away from them and avoid an encounter but when he insults their leader, he finds them following him back to his apartment. A home invasion commences and both Jamie and Maya are assaulted with pleas about Maya's newfound pregnancy ignored. Maya gets kicked in the gut and the terror of this scene takes hold just as we fade to credits. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media 

What Makes a Movie Good or Bad?

I saw the above meme-tweet posted on Tumblr and it kind of blew my mind. It honestly did not occur to me that someone could watch a movie and not know whether the movie was good or bad. How do you not know if you've enjoyed something or not? It really is as simple as, if you enjoyed the movie, the movie is good, to you. If you didn't enjoy the movie, the movie isn't good, to you. It's a completely subjective distinction. I can't tell you if you are going to like a movie or not, I can only recommend or not recommend a movie based on my subjective opinion. 

The only difference between you and a film critic is a willingness to confidently state an opinion and support that opinion with rhetoric. That's it. There are complexities, shades of gray, and other things that separate a professional film critic from an average moviegoer, but it really does just boil down to a willingness that people like me have to state our opinion with confidence, plant a flag on a particular opinion, and withstand the scrutiny of our position. 

I think one of the reasons people don't want to take a stand on whether a movie is good or bad is the idea of having to defend their opinion. Most people have a strong desire to not be considered wrong. There is a deep seated anxiety over the idea that confidently stating an opinion could render someone an outsider. People have a strong desire to belong, a strong desire to relate to others and a good way to go along and get along is to keep your strong opinions to yourself. 

Going along to get along is a default position for many, many people. Being different can bring unwanted attention and having an opinion about something is a quick way of making yourself different from the crowd. Think of it like this, if you have a group of friends that loves Marvel movies, are you willing to say you don't like Marvel movies? Or are you more likely to just nod your head and listen to them talk? Most people, I would argue, prefer that second position. 

Read the full length article at Geeks.media 

Movie Review Operation Fortune Ruse de Guerre

Operation Fortune Ruse de Guerre (2023) 

Directed by Guy Ritchie 

Written by Ivan Atkinson, Marn Davies, Guy Ritchie 

Starring Jason Statham, Cary Elwes, Aubrey Plaza, Hugh Grant 

Release Date March 3rd, 2023 

Published March 5th, 2023 

Operation Fortune Ruse de Guerre is not unlike every other super-team of spies movie you've seen before. The mission is the same as any Mission Impossible and the silly traps and pitfalls are very similar to a Fast and Furious flick. So, that being said, why am I still recommending it? Because it's so much fun, of course. Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre takes the familiar tropes of Spy movies and gives them a kick in the pants courtesy of an unbelievably fantastic cast, clever incident, and fast paced direction from a master of the genre action flick. 

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre begins by creating a MacGuffin, the Hitchcock term for that thing that everyone in the movie wants. It doesn't matter what it is, it only matters that EVERYONE wants it and everyone has a reason to want it. In this case, the people who want it are an independent paramilitary outfit, the world's most charismatic arms dealer, and a British Government who knows what is at stake if either of the baddies vying for the prize manage to get their hands on the MacGuffin. 

The British Government has a specific plan in place for when things like this happen: They call Oscar Fortune (Jason Statham). Oscar Fortune is the world's greatest spy, and its most expensive and demanding. Via his handler, Jasmine (Cary Elwes), Fortune has a team and a series of demands that must be met before he will go into action mode. Fortune requires a large private plane, he's claustrophobic, he needs wine from very specifically expensive years and brands, and he needs his team. Once this price is met, he will take on a mission. 

This time around, not all of Oscar's demands are being met. It seems that his usual tech sidekick has sold out to the highest bidder and thus is not available for this job. Oscar is forced to settle for American newcomer, Sarah Fidel (Aubrey Plaza). She's a good fit, despite constantly taking the piss out of Oscar's cool guy spy persona. On the bright side for Oscar, he does have his usual muscle, J.J (Bugsy Malone). J.J is a smooth, soulful, rather brilliant man who happens to be a hulking mass of a man who is incredible with weapons of any kind. 

Read the full length review at Geeks.Media 

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