Premise: A rebellious stoner named Moondog lives life by his own rules.
The Beach Bum is my second outing with a Harmony Korine film after watching Spring Breakers on a whim back in January. Even though I didn’t like Spring Breakers, I enjoyed the abstract editing and overall strange and indistinct tone of that movie. It was as though Korine was making a statement about debauchery and youth in revolt flirting with crime. Continue reading
Posted in Matt Hurt's Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, columns, Matt Hurt, Movie Review
Premise: Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven leave Arendelle to travel to an ancient, autumn-bound forest of an enchanted land. They set out to find the origin of Elsa’s powers in order to save their kingdom.
Look. When you’ve got one of the most profitable films of all time like Frozen in your back pocket, there’s bound to be talks of a sequel. This is 2019 after all, and the studio that made Frozen is Disney, who’s never met an original property it couldn’t shoehorn into a prequel, sequel, or spin-off. Not to mention the untold millions Disney has raked in from merchandising ever since – if you’ve gone a single Halloween since 2014 without seeing an Anna or Elsa or Olaf costume, you’re either lying, or weren’t paying attention. None of this is surprising. Continue reading
Posted in Ben Sears' Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, Ben Sears, columns, Movie Review
RIGHT CLICK IMAGE, SAVE LINK AS TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE…
Happy Thanksgiving (to those of you in the US)! In this special double parking lot special episode, Kyrsten and I have a laid-back non-spoiler review of Knives Out and then Tiny and I go into a spoiler review of the film! Then, to close out the episode, we have the remaining Red Carpet recordings from last month’s Heartland International Film Festival!
This week’s stinger comes from our Patreon-exclusive recording: 054 – OV B-Roll – “What is Pepperoni?!” – Family Guy, Movies We’re Excited About, Tiny’s Work Trip to Louisville – November 13, 2019
Runtime: 1:44:10 Continue reading
Premise: A late night talk show host suspects that she may soon lose her long-running show.
Writer/star Mindy Kaling and director Nisha Ganatra’s “boss from hell” movie about an underdog in late night TV is plagued by underutilized supporting characters, underdeveloped subplots, and a borderline unlikable co-lead character. Late Night‘s saving grace is a strong performance by Emma Thompson who, despite her character being nearly irredeemably obnoxious, is served well enough by a script that misuses most of the other characters and subplots. Continue reading
Posted in Matt Hurt's Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, columns, Matt Hurt, Movie Review
RIGHT CLICK IMAGE, SAVE LINK AS TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE…
This week, Tiny and I catch up on what we’ve watched lately with an Extended Potpourri episode. In it, we discuss Disney+, The Boys, Brittany Runs a Marathon, Joker, El Camino, and much more.
This week’s stinger comes from our Patreon-exclusive recording: 054 – OV B-Roll – “What is Pepperoni?!” – Family Guy, Movies We’re Excited About, Tiny’s Work Trip to Louisville – November 13, 2019
Runtime: 1:29:32 Continue reading
Premise: All unemployed, Ki-taek and his family take peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks, as they ingratiate themselves into their lives and get entangled in an unexpected incident. Continue reading
Posted in Ben Sears' Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, Ben Sears, columns, Movie Review
RIGHT CLICK IMAGE, SAVE LINK AS TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE…
OV300 – Lady and the Tramp (2019) – Disney Plus Preview: Encore!, Forky Asks a Question, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Marvel’s Hero Project, The Imagineering Story, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, Spark Shorts
This week, I fly solo for the 300th (holy crap!) episode of the podcast! In this special episode, I share my spoiler-free thoughts on the Disney Plus exclusive Lady and the Tramp remake. I also share my thoughts on several Disney Plus exclusive shows launching with the service on Nov 12th. Series reviewed include: Encore!, Forky Asks a Question, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Marvel’s Hero Project, The Imagineering Story, The World According to Jeff Goldblum, and Spark Shorts.
This week’s stinger comes from our Patreon-exclusive recording: 052 – OV B-Roll – “Ben’s HIFF2019 Thoughts” – AppleTV+, Movies To Catch Up On, and Pizza is Pretty – November 4, 2019
Runtime: 1:11:44 Continue reading
Posted in Movie Episode, The Obsessive Viewer Podcast
Tagged Movie Episode, Podcast, Solo Episode, The Obsessive Viewer
Premise: Hal, wayward prince and heir to the English throne, is crowned King Henry V after his tyrannical father dies. Now the young king must navigate palace politics, the war his father left behind, and the emotional strings of his past life.
The King may not be the longest, the most plot-heavy, or even the most complicated movie of 2019, but it may be the most tedious to get through. Here’s a fun parlor game you can play with your friends: gather everyone together and turn on The King. The first person to either nod off or check his or her phone loses. Best of luck to you, because I would have failed this challenge within the first 30 minutes. Continue reading
Posted in Ben Sears' Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, Ben Sears, columns, Movie Review
Premise: A mob hitman recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa.
The Irishman is Martin Scorsese’s examination of time, regret, and aging through the lens of the gangster epic. It’s a perfectly fine film whose biggest strength is in the powerful performances of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. Unfortunately, aside from those performances, the movie didn’t really hook me and ended up feeling like too dry and aimless a rumination on its themes. Continue reading
Posted in Matt Hurt's Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, columns, Matt Hurt, Movie Review
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This week, I welcome back our contributor Ben Sears to the podcast to review Robert Eggers’ incredible film, The Lighthouse. We also discuss some news regarding David Benioff and DB Weiss, the Game of Thrones prequel announcement, and more. For Potpourri, Ben shares his thoughts on AppleTV+ original series See, Dickinson, For All Mankind, The Morning Show, and the service itself. Then I share my thoughts on the Special Presentation screenings I attended at HIFF2019.
This week’s stinger comes from our Patreon-exclusive recording: 052 – OV B-Roll – “Ben’s HIFF2019 Thoughts” – AppleTV+, Movies To Catch Up On, and Pizza is Pretty – November 4, 2019
Runtime: 2:01:22 Continue reading
Premise: The hypnotic and hallucinatory tale of two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s.
“Why did ye chase me up and down this rock with that axe?” Willem Dafoe’s Thomas Wake asks of Robert Pattinson’s Ephraim Winslow (or is it Thomas Howard?) late in The Lighthouse, the newest from director Robert Eggers, after his breakout success of The Witch. The question, on its face, isn’t all that significant. What makes it stand out – and emblematic of the entire film – is that, just minutes earlier, we see the exact opposite happening with Dafoe madly chasing Pattinson. Is Dafoe messing with Pattinson? Was it a drunken hallucination? Is Dafoe the crazy one, or is Pattinson (or both)? Throughout The Lighthouse, Eggers has the audience constantly question what he just showed us, as his characters descend deeper and deeper into madness. Continue reading
Posted in Ben Sears' Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, Ben Sears, columns, Movie Review
Premise: Eddie Murphy portrays real-life legend Rudy Ray Moore, a comedy and rap pioneer who proved naysayers wrong when his hilarious, obscene, kung-fu fighting alter ego, Dolemite, became a 1970s Blaxploitation phenomenon. Continue reading
Posted in Ben Sears' Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, Ben Sears, columns, Movie Review
Premise: “In A New York Minute” follows three strangers connected by a single pregnancy test. Amy is haunted by a past breakup that has manifested into an eating disorder. Angel is caught between a loveless marriage to an American businessman and a passionate affair with a Chinese writer. Nina moonlights as an escort in order to support herself.
Premise: A lonely 14-year-old, Eun-hee moves through life like a hummingbird searching for a taste of sweetness. Deprived of attention from her family, she spends her time finding meaning in the love and friendships of her peers. When Young-ji, a new teacher, arrives, she becomes the first adult Eun-hee feels really understands her.
Premise: In this dramedy based on the Mossack Fonseca scandal, a cast of characters investigate an insurance fraud, chasing leads to a pair of a flamboyant Panama City law partners exploiting the world’s financial system. Continue reading
Posted in Ben Sears' Columns, Movie Reviews
Tagged 2019, Ben Sears, columns, Movie Review
Letterboxd – ObsessiveViewer
