Film and TV Reviews and Podcasts
This week, our contributor and friend Ben joins me to review the retro sci-fi film, The Vast of Night and the new Judd Apatow film The King of Staten Island. We also talk about drive-in movies and AMC’s plans to reopen. For Potpourri, we discuss the Netflix films Da 5 Bloods and The Wrong Missy.
Da 5 Bloods is clearly a project that only Spike Lee could tell, and the way he tells it makes it one of the highlights of the year so far.
Fans of Joseph Gordon-Levitt won’t be disappointed by this intimate thriller. His commitment to the material, the character, and his craft itself, is on full display in 7500. Despite being methodical in its dialogue and a slower burn narratively than a more conventional fare, 7500 is a solid thriller centering around a strong lead performance.
This week, Mike joins me to review the new thriller on VOD, Becky and the Shudder exclusive documentary Scream, Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street.
There are no talking heads, no title cards (save for the occasional running clock to show the passing of the day), and no opening crawl giving the history of the bar or who these people are. Some stay throughout the entirety of the film, some try to stay and end up drinking too much, and some we only meet halfway through, but each one the Ross brothers feature makes a memorable impression.
The Invisible Man Returns may not be as engaging and thrilling as 1933’s The Invisible Man. But it does have the pedigree of having Vincent Price’s first horror movie performance and what a performance it is. Price enters the shoes of the Invisible Man well and embodies what it means to be this potentially tragic character even if the character beats are a bit muddled on the page.
In the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Kyrsten joins me to talk about Community Seasons 2-5 and for a feature review of The Lovebirds, both are currently available to stream on Netflix.
It’s a tale as old as time: man buys a secondhand deerskin jacket. Man falls in love with said jacket and begins talking to it as if it’s a real person. Man begins converting his entire wardrobe to 100% deerskin. Man’s jacket tells him that it’s so great that it wants to be the only jacket left in the entire world.
In the midst of a global pandemic and stay at home orders all over the country, I am coping by watching movies and podcasting about them as if they were part of a Film Festival. In this episode, Kyrsten joins me as we review 2019’s Richard Jewell and the brilliant Middleditch & Schwartz improv specials on Netflix. We then chat about a bunch of other comedy streaming selections.
Unfortunately, the lack of characterization and an ultimately surface-level bit of social commentary keeps Vivarium from being the strong science fiction thriller it could have been.
Each of Midnight Gospel’s eight episodes is so endlessly rewatchable; you may need a second viewing to wrap your head around the heady dialogue, or just to catch all the rich sight gags.
In the midst of a global pandemic and stay at home orders all over the country, I am coping by watching movies and podcasting about them as if they were part of a Film Festival. Here is my coverage of cOVid-19 Film Festival Days 20-38: Sci-fi Showcase (April 6-24, 2020). For the spotlight review, frequent guest ad contributor Ben calls in to talk about Alex Garland’s Devs with me in a non-spoiler and spoiler review.
Despite its flaws, Son of Frankenstein still manages to be a more than worthy entry in the Universal Monster canon and an acceptable continuation of the Frankenstein story.
Dracula’s Daughter is a strong follow up to Dracula. Although Bela Lugosi’s performance as the Count drove the original film to iconic status, his absence from this film isn’t felt as heavily as one would expect. Due to a strong story, sharp writing, and careful plotting, Dracula’s Daughter stands on its own while also providing a strong coda to the events of the first film.
Though it underperformed commercially compared to the success of The Wolf Man six years later, the legacy of 1935’s Werewolf of London is indelible even if the film itself is slightly uneven and muddled with too many protagonists.
The Obsessive Viewer 