Documentary Review Box of Rain

Box of Rain

Directed by Lonnie Frazier

Written by Lonnie Frazier

Starring The Grateful Dead, Elizabeth Abel-Talbott, Kerry L. Condon

Released May 10th, 2022

Box of Rain is an emotional journey through the connection of The Grateful Dead and their incredibly unique and dedicated fandom. Shot through the prism of director Lonnie Frazier’s own emotional connection to the band, forged in the wake of a devastating sexual assault, Box of Rainreflects on a loving and supportive fandom that is like few others in modern popular culture, music or otherwise. 

Lonnie Frazier was a teenager who accepted a ride home from a group of boys she’d known for years from School. She had no reason to suspect that these boys she’d known so well would change her life with their horrific actions. Lonnie Frazier was raped on the way home from a party and it created scars that have lasted a lifetime. Desperately seeking some form of comfort and stability, Lonnie Frazier found something in the music and community surrounding the band The Grateful Dead.

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

Documentary Review Facing Nolan

Facing Nolan 

Directed by Bradley Jackson

Written by Bradley Jackson

Starring Nolan Ryan 

Released March 12th, 2022

After captivating audiences at the South by Southwest Film Festival earlier this year, the documentary Facing Nolan is headed to theater screens nationwide. Directed by Bradley Jackson, director of The Man Who Never Cried, Facing Nolan chronicles the iconic career of Baseball Hall of Famer, Nolan Ryan from his rise to fame in the late 1960's to his fireballing final years with the Texas Rangers.

Nolan Ryan was born in Refugio, Texas in 1947, one of six kids. He began playing amateur baseball at Alvin High School in the early 1960's. He was an immediate standout. In 1962, when Nolan was merely a sophomore in High School, a scout for the New York Mets saw him pitch and declared that Nolan had the best arm he'd ever seen. Nolan would go on to be drafted by the Mets in 1965.

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

Classic Movie Review Harold and Maude

Harold and Maude 

Directed by Hal Ashby

Written by Colin Higgins

Starring Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Charles Tyner

Released December 20th, 1971

Well, I did it, I watched Harold & Maude for the first time and the magic is lost on me. I think I get it, the message, no one can tell you who to love or how to love or how to live. It makes sense, and it’s a fine message. And Hal Ashby is a very good director. Harold & Maude is a great looking movie, it’s filled with quirky characters and a strong anti-establishment attitude that I do admire. However, other, quirkier, aspects of the movie simply left me cold. 

Harold & Maude stars Bud Cort as Harold, a depressed young man in his early 20’s who fills his days by attending funerals and faking his death by suicide. Harold is a deeply morbid young man. His strained relationship with his mother, Mrs Chasen (Vivian Pickles), has reached a bizarre breaking point. Basically, Harold is repeatedly faking his suicide death specifically to provoke his mother. Mrs Chasen, meanwhile, appears entirely unfazed by Harold’s performances, aside from when he bloodied her bathroom.

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

Classic Movie Review Shivers

Shivers 

Directed by David Cronenberg

Written by Written by David Cronenberg

Starring Paul Hampton, Lynn Lowry, Barbara Steele 

Released October 10th, 1975 

Director David Cronenberg’s debut feature, Shivers, is about the loss of bodily autonomy. It’s about what happens when an outside force enacts itself upon someone and robs them of their agency. Sure, in this case, it’s a slug like parasite but the meaning, at least in a modern context, could not be more symbolic of governmental interference. Given that bodily autonomy is a top headline in the battle over abortion in America today, it’s an interesting time to look at Cronenberg’s 45 plus year old take on the idea behind Shivers. 

The symbols of conformity are what we first recognize in the opening scenes of Shivers. A disembodied, soothing, oily voiceover tells us about the self-contained amenities of an island apartment complex called Starliner Towers. It’s the picture of perfection. There is no need to ever leave as the building has doctors, dentists, grocery stores and pharmacies. All of that plus the serenity of living more than an hour away from the teeming masses in urban centers. Naturally, Cronenberg is here to splash blood all over this multi-dwelling Eden.

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

Movie Review Benediction

Benediction

Directed by Terence Davies

Written by Terence Davies 

Starring Jack Lowden, Peter Capaldi, Simon Russell Beale

Release Date June 3rd, 2022 

Benediction is a movie that is indirectly about empathy. Creating empathy is what director Terence Davies intends but the film has a main character who defies our desire to empathize with him. Siegfried Sassoon, the famed ‘War Poet,’ whose work aimed to expose the human cost of war, isn’t interested in our empathy. Sassoon's arc in Benediction is from nearly dying a martyr, to bitterness, and finally to a man seeking the illusion of comfort in religious salvation.

Benediction is directly about the life of Siegfried Sassoon. And Benedictionis indirectly about how Terence Davies builds the case for Sassoon’s late in life search for salvation. Having spent his life as a disillusioned hedonist and then a self-closeted homosexual, you might think that the Catholic Church is the last place Siegfried Sassoon might turn. That is unless you see Benediction which makes the case for how a lifetime of bitterness pushed Siegfried toward spiritual salvation as a last resort.

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

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.