The Movies

As an addendum to last episode, I interviewed Andy Brown and Brian Lindstrom, the directors of LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL, about the decade-long process of bringing their music documentary to life.

They chat about the x-factor moment that brought the movie's structure to light, the responsibilities felt from telling the underrated & undervalued Judee's story and what it's like to make a movie about a musician with a less-than-musical background.

I'm grateful to Andy and Brian for a wonderful conversation, one which I hope you'll learn from and enjoy!

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Intro Music: "Cold Open" - Marlowe

Outro Music: "The Lamb Ran Away With the Crown" - Judee Sill

LOST ANGEL: THE GENIUS OF JUDEE SILL is a documentary detailing the life and music of '70s singer-songwriter Judee Sill using as much of her own voice as possible.

This could devolve into another talking-heads affair but having Judee's voice narrate and her art take animated flight on screen gives the movie an authenticity and more intimate connection to its subject.

Judee was never the type of person to cruise behind her producers, anyway. She always had to have a hand in every affair. Makes sense she'd end up doing so almost 50 years after her death.

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Intro Music: "Cold Open" - Marlowe

Outro Music: "Jesus Was a Crossmaker" - Judee Sill

MONKEY MAN is the directorial debut of Dev Patel.
My best friend asked 'Wasn't that the guy who played Zuko in that bad Avatar movie?"
Yes. Yes, he was.
He's also built a strong genre-spanning body of work since then, starring in THE GREEN KNIGHT, HOTEL MUMBAI, THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY, THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD and LION, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 2017.
And yet, I find myself completely willing to throw all that away for MONKEY MAN. This is the kind of debut that lasts: a kinetic, achingly sincere action epic that genuinely feels like the effort posed by someone who knows they'll never get the chance to direct again.
I know Patel's supported by producer Jordan Peele (director of GET OUT, US & NOPE) but $10 million isn't supposed to look THIS good. Seductive neon-splashed hotel rooms, martial arts photographed by camera operators with the stamina of Navy Seals, surreal deep dives into Hindu mythologies: it's a wholly original, excellent time at the movies.

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Intro Music: "Cold Open" - Marlowe

Outro Music "M.A.A.D. City" - Kendrick Lamar

IMMACULATE was rescued by producer and star Sydney Sweeney from development hell, 10 years after she originally auditioned for the project.

A horror movie about a nun who immaculately conceives a child the rest of the church believes to be the second coming of Christ? I can say why Sweeney would wanna hang onto that idea.

However, as cool as that idea is and as much as I admire Sweeney's producing prowess, I still left this movie underwhelmed. Maybe what hit hard in 2014 just doesn't in a post-Eggers, Aster and Peele world...? Maybe the Catholic critique is undercooked (more like raw). Maybe the jump scares just don't carry enough weight. Maybe it's all of the above.

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Let me know there what you think of IMMACULATE!

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Intro Music: "Cold Open" - Marlowe

Outro Music: "Saint Cecilia" - Foo Fighters

Rose Glass' romantic body-horror noir LOVE LIES BLEEDING smacked me in the mouth and I'm all the better for it. What a taut, lean story about the way the beliefs about ourselves & our capabilities can fundamentally inform the directions our lives will take, for better and worse. Sometimes, all you need to change your life is someone to stroll into town and flex their beautiful bulging muscles at you. And when those muscles belong to Katy O'Brien? Sheesh, game fucking over. I'm in love.

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Intro Music: "Cold Open" - Marlowe

Outro Music: "Oblivion" - Mastodon

The Rachel McAdams Picture Show keeps on truckin' with Kelly Fremon Craig's ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET.

Following MEAN GIRLS up with this is my way of showing you the range of one Rachel McAdams: cutting someone down to size with a glance in one movie, masking insecurity as perfectionism for the benefit of her family in another.

McAdams has such a power of restraint with her body language that she can tell you everything she's feeling without it feeling performative, like she's trying to bait a reaction out of her costars, but rather that she's absolutely living in the moment. Playing someone whose personality is one geared for support at the detriment of her own fulfillment, this skill is best utilized in the role of Margaret's mom, Barbara.

McAdams got so much critical love and dark horse Supporting Actress attention for this role and honestly? Should've gotten the nomination.

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Intro Music: "Mr. McAdams" - Lil' Dicky

Outro Music: "Evelyn" - Gregory Alan Isakov

Break out the synths, hairspray & Fangorias - IN FOUR FILMS is going '80s horror, baby!

To celebrate the release of "In Search of Darkness," a companion book to David Weiner's popular documentary of the same name, which tells the history of '80s horror movies, I invited the book's co-authors, Heather Wixson & Patrick Bromley to each describe their nerdy, terror-loving selves in four horror movies from, arguably, the genre's greatest decade.

4 x 2 is 8, so I've got a supersized episode in store; strap in with a cold brew and enjoy!

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Follow Heather on Twitter: @thehorrorchick

Follow Patrick on Twitter: @patrickbromley

Follow Derek Anderson (real ones know) on Twitter: @Derek_TMM

Follow F This Movie! on Twitter: @fthismovie

Pre-order "In Search of Darkness": https://aminkpublishing.com/store/ols/products/in-search-of-darkness-book-pre-order-package - If the link doesn't work, go to "aminkpublishing.com" and click on the "Dark Ink" tab; you'll quickly find it.

Live in Los Angeles? Attend the "In Search of Darkness" book release at Dark Delicacies on April 27th! Not only are Heather & Patrick gonna be there signing books, but also in attendance will be Joe Dante, Tom Holland (not Spidey, not Hollander) and more!

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Intro music: "Cold Open" - Marlowe

Outro music: "Everlong" - Foo Fighters

Like I did last month, here's a list of the movies I watched in February that I haven't yet talked about on the podcast (I might've cheated on one of 'em, but fuck it, I'm gonna consider it a new perspective for a new version of life.)

From least to greatest:

THE STUFF (1985) dir. Larry Cohen

BARBIE (2023) dir. Greta Gerwig

DUNE (2021) dir. Denis Villeneuve

LISA FRANKENSTEIN (2024) dir. Zelda Williams

POOR THINGS (2023) dir. Yorgos Lanthimos

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Music:

"Seven" - Taylor Swift

"Who's Got a Match?" - Biffy Clyro

In DUNE: PART 2, Paul (Timothee Chalamet) is advised to climb the tallest dune before every hunt to obtain the best possible vantage point.
It reflects director Denis Villenueve's approach to the sequel: Expand the story's gaze; Throw Greig Fraser (director of photography) at some BREATHTAKING vistas; Fill said massive frame with an army-sized cast of Hollywood's best perfomers; Print money.
Villeneuve, like Babe Ruth, called his shot (high fastball over the plate, meet the rafters behind left-center field) against whichever studio executive(s) have yet to greenlight DUNE: MESSIAH. Normally, I'm not so quick to demand sequels before their first parts have premiered, but...have you SEEN this thing? What, are you people allergic to success?
DUNE: PART 2 has received comparisons to the like of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and THE TWO TOWERS, the latter being my push. At 10 years old, that film sucked me into the intricacies of a world with such enticement, such detail that I almost couldn't handle it. DUNE: PART 2 pushes beyond its prequel's "hero's journey" to deliver a thrilling parable on the dangers of fanaticism and the evils permitted through the seduction of different forms of power, including hopeful, inspirational narratives themselves.
I joke to never underestimate the rizz of a fluffy-haired white boy, but given how my thoughts have progressed after the screening, I can't help but think Villeneuve's casting of Chalamet as Paul Atreides is eerily prescient. He'll charm the hell out of one's daughters and leaders, but to what end? At that end, will those daughters and leaders be better for following?
Warner Bros., quit fucking around and greenlight this trilogy already. ---

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Music: "Living Is a Problem Because Everything Dies" - Biffy Clyro

No, not Taylor Swift's boyfriend. Taylor Swift's boyfriend's brother. Ha, it sounds like I'm explaining a soap opera.

Don Argott's football documentary about veteran Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce dropped last September on Amazon Prime. The movie recounts Kelce's whirlwind 2022-23 season, in which his team won 14 of 17 games, landing them a spot in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs...where Taylor Swift's boyfriend (then-admirer) Travis plays. It was the first time two brothers went head-to-head in football's championship game.

"Daniel, who fucking cares about football?"

I do. But more than that, I care about what isn't on the field. I'm here to see Jason Kelce sing on the Eagles' Christmas album. I'm here for the eerieness that is to see the New Heights podcast (Jason and Travis shooting the shit while occasionally discussing the NFL season) from Jason's point of view - staring at a computer while sitting in his house.

[Sounds dumb, but can you imagine how weird/cool it'd be to see something like the Jurassic Park chase scene from the T-Rex's POV? Idk, some images just feel charmingly cursed seen in any other fashion.]

But more than anything, I'm here for Jason himself. Here's a guy at the top of his game (hehe) for more than a decade, contemplating retirement as his family looks to expand with the addition of a third daughter. He's 35, popping Toradol (mega-Aspirin) like Tic Tacs and worried about what the repeated acts of slamming his body into 300 lb motherfuckers will do to his body and brain over the next 35+ years of life.

Every logical assessment says "Stop." And yet...

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Music: "The Cape" - Guy Clark

I'm currently bearing a stupid fucking grin as I type. Alex Winkler's soundtrack for MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE, a bouncy, jazzy number, kicks about, a woman singing about how she may not love you in the present, but maybe in the future, y'all can be more than friends.
Michael Lukk Litwak's sci-fi rom-com, following the titular couple Molli (Zosia Mamet) and Max (Aristotle Athari) through 12 years of friendship, romantic tension, uncomfortable conversations about one's insecurities, and tennis (wearing Tron-style suits). Oh, did I mention the MODOK/Krang-looking magical demigod leading his own superpowered cult against a horde of evil actors?
Huh, must've slipped my mind.
The quickest way to describe this movie is WHEN HARRY MET SALLY in space. A better way, sourced from my press notes, would be an amalgam of '70s-'80s sci-fi and romance movies & the anxieties emerging from a Trump-led COVID pandemic, set in the service of finding the simple joy in connecting, intimately, with another person. Because you might not be able to get over your shit on your own, but with an honest, loving friend to care for you, call you out when necessary? Shit, you both might stand a chance.
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Music: "The Molli and Max in the Future Song" - Alex Winkler

These are the movies I watched in January 2024 I haven't yet discussed on the podcast, RANKED (cause fuck it, why not?).

5) THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951) dir. Christian Nyby - Tubi

4) NEKROTRONIC (2018) dir. Kiah Roache-Turner - YouTube

3) THE THIRD MAN (1949) dir. Carol Reed - Tubi

2) THE LAST REPAIR SHOP (2023) dir. Ben Proudfoot & Kris Bowers - YouTube, Disney Plus

1) INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1978) dir. Philip Kaufman - Tubi

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Music:

"Figure 8" - Paramore

I didn't watch a movie in theaters from May 31 to November 25.
This list reflects that reality.
You might think that's a negative, but I don't see it that way. Be honest: did you really wanna hear yet another person talk about OPPENHEIMER, POOR THINGS or THE ZONE OF INTEREST for the umpteenth time? Nah, buds. I'm a different breed. Strap in.
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65 dir. Scott Beck and Bryan Woods (Netflix)
A THOUSAND AND ONE dir. A.V. Rockwell (Amazon Prime)
ARE YOU THERE, GOD? IT'S ME, MARGARET. dir. Kelly Fremon Craig (Starz/Rental/Honestly, just go buy it. What's $15 these days, a lunch and a coffee?)
INFINITY POOL dir. Brandon Cronenberg (Hulu)
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 dir. Chad Stahelski (Starz/Rental/Honestly, just go buy it. Do it because you love dogs.)
LIVING WITH CHUCKY dir. Kyra Elise Gardner (Amazon Prime/YouTube/MOTHERFUCKING TUBI, HELL YEAH)
M3GAN dir. Gerard Johnstone (Amazon Prime)
RYE LANE dir. Raine Allen-Miller (Hulu)
SALTBURN dir. Emerald Fennell (Amazon Prime)
SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson and Kemp Powers (Netflix)

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Theme Song: "smoke" - prod.cargo

Jesus, I'm going into Year 3 of this show? That's wild. Even wilder when you look at 2023 and realize I could visualize my podcast output as a donut: nothing between April and December. I'm not proud nor happy about that, but that's what New Year's Resolutions are for, right?
So here's my annual state of the union. This episode goes into a little more detail about my goals for the show in 2024, along with the inevitable rants I'll fumble through to give this shitshow of an old year some goddamned closure (I type this on Dec. 31, 2023, before the recording, my saltiness influenced by motherfuckers shooting off fireworks in their backyards, surrounded by flammable trees and children).
Here's my first goal: lower my blood pressure. Number 2: Be slower to anger. Or faster to angry action. I don't know; listen to the episode and you'll hear how I wake up tomorrow. ------------------------------------------------------------------

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Theme Song: "Hands" - Moving Mountains

Merry belated Christmas, friends! How better to celebrate the season than to talk about a swarm of scaly ne'erdowells fucking up a sleepy American town?

Joe Dante's GREMLINS has only gotten stronger with age, celebrating the hard work necessary to work with a metric fuckton of puppets, the resilience and kindness of the American working class, and our gleefully nasty collective desire to watch a living representation of our id burn our world to the ground.

Just look at this powerhouse trio: Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante & Chris Columbus. How in the world would this NOT have been a banger?

Making of GREMLINS Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqBFgtzIJSs

Making of GREMLINS Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXc5T0aJc-c

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Theme Song: "Hands" - Moving Mountains

"Evil Dead Rise" meets me as a tempered 30-year-old, married with two kids.

Fede Alvarez's "Evil Dead" met me at 20, boundlessly obsessed with what could be achieved with a fire tanker's worth of blood.

Sam Raimi's "The Evil Dead" stunned me at age 11, the gnarliest movie I'd seen up to that point.

I've grown up loving this franchise, so when I say Lee Cronin's installment left me wanting so much more than I got, take those words with a mine of salt. Even a 6/10 Evil Dead installment has the power to grab your sensibilities, stuff them in a burlap sack, alongside a scorpion and starving monkey, and shake the shit out of it until - something - spills out. Dead by dawn, indeed.

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Opening Song: "Hands" - Moving Mountains

Steven Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors. That's not to say he's made my favorite movies, but rather, I admire the way he goes about selecting projects, his efficiency in getting projects done (He sometimes completes multiple movies in the same year!) , his penchant for big indulgent swings.

And God, what a swing THE GOOD GERMAN is. The guy famous for the OCEAN'S ELEVEN remake and expanded trilogy decides to make his own film noir, researching '40s noir so heavily that he employs the same lenses, lighting techniques, methods of performance. The movie's detractors call this a pastiche. They're not wrong, but when I hear "pastiche," I think "lazy ripoff." Ain't nothing about this fucker lazy.

Jake Geismer (George Clooney) arrives in post-WWII Berlin to find a city in ruins, split among the Allies for the spoils on the eves of the Potsdam Conference, where Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin will meet to discuss how to handle the aftermath of the war. Geismer's there to report on the conference, but becomes embroiled in a murder mystery involving his ex-flame Lena (Cate Blanchett), her new beau, an Army man-turned-smuggler named Tully (Tobey Maguire) and multiple government conspirators. All in a film's work for a noir protagonist.

Look, even if a black-and-white '40s style noir isn't your thing, that cast? The director? It's a bounty of riches to play with. I'm not gonna say the movie's a masterpiece or anything, but if you think I wouldn't prefer this kind of project over the next Aquaman or Trolls movie, you're out your fuckin' mind.

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Opening Song: "Hands" - Moving Mountains

Closing Song: "Countdown to Shutdown" - The Hives

Welcome back to The Movies! God, it feels good to type this. It's been more than seven months since the last episode, so THIS episode serves to explain a few things: where I've been, where I find myself now and where I hope to bring the podcast along in the future. It's a good ol' fashioned rambling ranty episode, so if you're into that, hang on tight and enjoy the ride!

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Opening Song: "Bogus Operandi" - The Hives

There's a moment in the opening sequence of JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 where Lawrence Fishburne facilitates a ripoff of a shot in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. Yes, THAT shot. The most iconic in the movie and one of the most iconic in film history. No spoilers, obviously. Of course, director Chad Stahelski knows he's aping one of the all-time grand epics. But that's the point. That shot points his metaphorical bat to right-center field, and such as Babe Ruth did, it signals the home run to come. I speak not in hyperbole, because this is one of the rare occasions where grandiosity is earned. Taking the legendary hitman John Wick (Keanu Reeves) through a ballet of death on an odyssey of freedom leads to a movie that simply overwhelms with how many pieces whiz and crash and break around its hero, and do so to a masterfully maximalist degree. The beauty is undeniable. The action dropped my jaw and held it there. At the end of it all, it's very simple: JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 is one of the greatest movies ever made. --------------------------- Closing Song: "Lights Out Little Hustler" - Samiam --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

It's an exciting time here at The Movies!

I reviewed LIVING WITH CHUCKY a few episodes back, but today, I get to talk with the director, Kyra Elise Gardner! We chat about the process of turning her 2017 short THE DOLLHOUSE into a full feature, the nature of collaborating with others on such a personal project, the way making the movie has affected her outlook on her childhood w/a father in the film industry and so much more!

Infinite thanks to Emma Griffith for facilitating the interview and, of course, Kyra for taking the time out of her busy music-video-and-indie-horror-directing schedule to chat! --------------------------- Closing Song: "March of the Insane" - Dream Widow --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

My Make Believe Seattle Film Festival coverage comes to an end with Kirsten Carthew's POLARIS, a sci-fi survival thriller set in a future where the world's blanketed in ice. Sumi (Viva Lee) is a young girl raised by a mother polar bear. It's a happy life, where Sumi gets to be one with nature. However, a group of marauders, hellbent on gathering every resource for themselves, chops down trees and hunts Sumi's mother for her coat.

You mess with a little girl's mom, you get a neverending fountain of vengeance. And what a glorious vengeance it is. --------------------------- Closing Song: "Andromeda" - Gorillaz --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

LIVING WITH CHUCKY is Kyra Elise Gardner's documentary detailing not only the history of the CHILD'S PLAY horror franchise (about a serial killer who possesses a doll via voodoo to keep from dying, and if you think that's weird, that's the tip of the iceberg) but also celebrating the families, both biological and found, who've bonded through the fulfilling yet arduous experiences of making these goofy counterculture masterpieces. Yeah, I said it: masterpieces. @ me if you must.

25-year-old Kyra Gardner is the daughter of animatronics, special effects, producer and makeup guru Tony Gardner, who entered the franchise with 2004's SEED OF CHUCKY and has remained ever since. She's grown up with Chucky dolls littered about her house and her dad gone for weeks, sometimes months, at a time to work on these films. So in a way, this documentary is a way for her to stitch together parts of her childhood and formally introduce herself to the people who've impacted her life so greatly for so many years.

It's part horror franchise history, part family therapy, and all a joyful example of how art inspires and bonds us weirdos together. --------------------------- Closing Song: "Generator" - Foo Fighters --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

The Make Believe Seattle Film Festival coverage trucks along with David Farrier's documentary "Mister Organ"! Farrier, a New Zealand-based documentarian and journalist (known for 2016's TICKLED), focuses this story on Michael Organ, an enigmatic con man known for forging documents, stealing yachts and serving $760 tickets to folks who park at Bashford Antiques' lot after close. Regarding that last point, he's not a traffic cop or anything. The owner actually hired him to just enforce these exorbitant rules. Add in multiple reports of threatening and violent behavior and Farrier now feels the need to get to the bottom of what makes this douchebag tick.

After Farrier becomes the target of Organ's most recent lawsuit, he falls into the whirlpool of Organ's bullshit. To make matters worse, Organ realizes Farrier is making a documentary about him and decides to involve himself in the story. We're not talking "involved" by way of a simple sit-down interview; Organ ENTRENCHES himself in Farrier's life to creepy and mentally draining effect.

The documentary's definitely a wild piece of pulp, but I'd be lying if I said it was an unflappable piece of journalism. It kinda reminds me of a Netflix true-crime-of-the-week piece. But hey, those things are fun enough! And Organ, as a subject, is definitely weird enough...

--------------------------- Closing Song: "Picasso Baby" - Jay-Z --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

MALUM sees director Anthony DiBlasi reimagining his 2014 film LAST SHIFT, where a rookie cop undergoes some supernatural hazing on her first night in a decommissioned police station. Almost a decade later, DiBlasi, with the backing of Welcome Villain Films, expands on the story, introducing more lore and gore to wonderfully deranged effect, sending this claustrophobic thriller into a surreal excursion through demonic realms.

When Jessica Loren (Jessica Sula) volunteers to work her first shift at a decommissioned police station, infamously the place where her hero cop father Will (Eric Olson) gunned down his fellow officers, she reveals secrets regarding his last case: a rescue of teenage girls from a murderous cult. Let's just say the cult isn't too happy. Let's also just say that they know where Jessica works.

This movie's a stellar one-location chiller. It's a haunted house featuring gnarly special effects, anchored by a lead who tries to remain poised despite the barrage of murderers and demonic shit flying her way. DiBlasi confidently moves his camera through the narrowest corridors, lighting our journey with, often, nothing but a flashlight and a prayer. The tension builds and the secrets unfurl at just the right pace to a fantastically fucked conclusion. This is 93/7% grade horror, lean and mean, but not without its cheeky winks to camera. I dig this. --------------------------- Closing Song: "Son the Father" - Fucked Up --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

Make Believe Seattle is a genre film festival celebrating their inaugural year this weekend (March 23-26)! Thanks to Ted Geoghegan, I have the opportunity to cover six titles for this year's run, releasing the reviews as a miniseries on THE MOVIES.

First up is the festival's Opening Night selection, Jake Van Wagoner's ALIENS ABDUCTED MY PARENTS AND NOW I FEEL KINDA LEFT OUT.

Don't worry. It also took me a couple tries to say that title right out loud.

The movie follows Itsy (Emma Tremblay), an aspiring teenage journalist frustrated by her family's move from the city to remote Utah town Pebble Falls, where the only kind of action comes in the form of snapping photos of dilapidated signs and cars.

That is, until she meets Calvin Kipler (Jacob Buster), a classmate convinced his parents were abducted by aliens 10 years prior. I don't say "convinced" with the mental image of Charlie Kelly gesticulating wildly at a string-covered board. Calvin's made a full-blown spacesuit and wears it to school. He refers to people he trust as "friendlies." Star Trek's Vulcan "V" hand sign is not a pop culture gesture to him; it is intergalactic custom. This kid makes Randy Quaid from INDEPENDENCE DAY seem like Scully and Mulder.

Seeing an opportunity to write a story about Calvin that'll win her a summer semester abroad at NYU, Itsy befriends the spaceman. At first, she focuses only on the story, but starts to warm up to Calvin, maybe moreso than expected.

It's pretty easy for me to fall for Calvin too. Buster's performance is magnetic, drawing me and Itsy in with wit and goofball charm. As the story progresses, so does his emotional range, and I can attribute most of his moments that don't work to the strength of the screenplay/direction, which sometimes neuters the heavier portions of his story.

However, this isn't a heavy movie. Calvin and Itsy's problems seem relatable enough even to young kids, and watching them fidget with and tweak gizmos inside Calvin's glorified shed of a research lab reminds me of the best times I spent dicking about trying to invent shit that would change the world (mainly a working web-shooter, but I digress). There's fun to be had and majesties to gawk at. After all, there's something about a night lit up with stars that seems not just ripe, but also infinite with possibility, with dreams.

Does this thing suffer the effects of a limited budget? Yeah; any driving scene's got a rough green screen effect. Props often feel cobbled together from thrift shops and junkyards. Sometimes, the space VFX looks like something copied and pasted from After Effects, but when this stuff works, it's got an Amblin-inspired, DIY charm. What can I say? I like my sci-fi scrappy. Give it a watch! --------------------------- Closing Song: "Gimme Sympathy (Acoustic)" - Metric --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

I'm a fan of metaphorical comparisons, so let's launch this one: I think Radio Silence (directing duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett) wants SCREAM VI to be the franchise's THE LAST JEDI, when it's really THE RISE OF SKYWALKER.

Characters are brought back for little reason other than their actor is free. The franchise's legacy is discussed to such an arduous extent that the characters literally talk about themselves as part of a franchise. These aren't characters; they're mouthpieces for Redditer theories and YouTube thinkpieces. What small arcs are originally crafted are mostly abandoned in service of repeating plot beats from previous movies or jabbering on about the "rules" of not only horror movies, but every movie?

There's so much navel-gazing that it may as well devolve into the black hole bagel in EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, a grand vision ultimately leading to nothing. The reason SCREAM works is because its whodunnit is crafted with the rules of mysteries, giallo thrillers and slasher movies in mind. SCREAM works, arguably better, without characters explaining the rules to you. It's just a damn good horror flick.

And much like THE RISE OF SKYWALKER, SCREAM VI seems to think the reason people like these movies is because they've watched the same movie before. Friends, I disliked this year's THE OUTWATERS, but at least I can say I've NEVER seen anything like that before. When we're getting movies like INFINITY POOL & BARBARIAN, WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR & TERRIFIER 2, how can the '90s slasher formula still be considered the horror rule book? Unfortunately, I think the SCREAM franchise is simply just content with recycled ideas and approaches.

But please, stop having your characters pretend these movies are anything different than throwbacks. It'd at least be honest. --------------------------- Closing Song: "You Have Stolen My Heart" - Brian Fallon --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

THE WORST ONES is an eye-catching title. It conjures, in my mind, that scene from Guy Ritchie's THE GENTLEMEN when Colin Farrell gives four shithead teens a verbal and physical lashing in a restaurant. These kids are boisterous and braggadocious as fuck until challenged by someone who clearly knows what they're doing. That's when the insecurity all spills out. That's the tragedy and comedy of it all.

Lise Akoka & Romane Gueret's movie balances on a similar tightrope. There are both meta and autobiographical notes to it all, as the duo actually worked with hundreds of children in casting sessions. They wear working-class backgrounds on their sleeves, choosing to take street-level approaches to their French cities instead of harping on Parisian glamour or artistic majesty. Not to say they do so in defiance of art or majesty. I think the movie, looking at how working on a film set molds these four kids from a rough neighborhood, defies any, if even well-meaning, stereotypical approach to folks from "the hood." There's art and beauty and majesty lying in wait within each one of us.

Sometimes, all you need is the right opportunity to start letting that stuff out.

--------------------------- Closing Song: "Howl" - The Gaslight Anthem --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

This episode exists because last December, my best friend Dakota messaged me a picture of a platinum blond, bearded, trench-coat donning BADASS Mark Hamill. He followed the pic with "do this review!"

Challenge accepted.

So here, we have SLIPSTREAM, a 1989 venture from Steven Lisberger (best known for directing 1982's TRON), about a post-apocalyptic future where nature's revenge on humanity's pollution has led to earthquakes, floods and an uncontrollable river of wind called the Slipstream. In this world, a man accused of murder (Bob Peck) is chased by two bounty hunters (Mark Hamill & Kitty Aldridge). When a ne'erdowell scrapper (Bill Paxton) hijacks the bounty from the couple, he finds himself bonding with the accused, learning secrets and embarking on a grand adventure through the wastelands, skysurfing the Slipstream.

Did I mention we also get Ben Kingsley, F. Murray Abraham & Robbie Coltrane (motherfucking HAGRID) in this?!

This reads a lot cooler than the movie, which feels like a DUNE-sized saga crammed into 90 minutes. I should have David Rosen (of the awesome Piecing It Together podcast) dissect every influence imaginable in this thing: STAR WARS, BLADE RUNNER...hell, I know WATERWORLD came out in '95, but this feels like a cousin. The world never feels fully realized; The piece about explaining humanity through its most basic essence comes almost as an afterthought to the chase; The characters are paper-thin, while spouting dialogue that should be left in Chapter 3, not damn near the end of the movie. It exemplifies the kind of film that seems to throw its budget to the wind and hopes it'll all find its way.

Maybe in that sense, it's like David Cronenberg's SCANNERS to me. Great ideas, average to bizarre execution.

But that Elmer Bernstein (Airplane!, An American Werewolf in London, Ghostbusters) score is FIRE.

And also, Mark Hamill really does rock that platinum blond. He should do that again. --------------------------- Closing Song: "I Could Give You All That You Don't Want" - The Twilight Sad --------------------------- Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! --------------------------- Follow Daniel on: Twitter - @TheMovies_Pod Instagram - @themoviespod Letterboxd - https://letterboxd.com/Daniel_Berrios/

We're closing in on the last two Best Picture nominees before Sunday night's Academy Awards show! Today on the docket: Ruben Östlund's TRIANGLE OF SADNESS.

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS fires off every satirical shot at the uber-wealthy you can imagine. This might be a detriment to those who want a more focused approach. To bring back a CREED III reference, other folks might want a right hook instead of a flurry of jabs.

However, this is my show, and I'm a jabber. Give me a barrage of commentary about how the fashion industry sells class divide, not clothes. Let me observe how nuts it is for a few folks to hold the keys to our most essential, mundane resources - the stuff we take for granted. Jab at gender politics. Jab at fragile masculinity. Jab at the patriarchy. Jab at the lunacy, the idiocy of those who are never expected, never even ENCOURAGED to mold an original thought out of their smooth-as-a-baby's-butt brains.

As long as the jokes land, I'm here. And it doesn't hurt to have Oscar-snubbed Dolly De Leon as the movie's MVP.

Lord of the Flies with billionaires. That's just fuckin' funny.

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Closing Song: "New Noise" - Refused

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CREED III represents a pivot in the ROCKY franchise. This ninth entry is the first not to feature Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa. As such, this officially entrusts Michael B. Jordan, from both in front of and behind the camera, with the reins to the story.

In a way, Adonis Creed (Jordan) now holds the reins to his story. The now-retired champion enjoys his family life with wife Bianca (Tessa Thompson) and daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). Instead of fighting, Creed manages his own fighters at Delphi Boxing Academy, his father's old stomping grounds.

When childhood friend Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors) returns home from an 18-year stint in prison, all he wants is a shot at the title, the glory he feels is owed to him as payment for his robbed youth. The gentlemen have different plans for their futures and that clash leads to Adonis' toughest challenge yet.

Doesn't that sound like some serious drama? The kind of stuff that'll wrench your heart, not just tug at its strings?

Well, I wish I could say Jordan pulls it off, but CREED III, much to the probable disagreement from many of my friends, rarely works: a valiant but underdeveloped effort.

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Closing Song: "A+ (feat. Denzel Curry) " by Kenny Mason

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The universe has a sense of humor. I know this because right now, in theaters, I have the opportunity to find a marquee where the phrases COCAINE BEAR and JESUS REVOLUTION can sit side by side.

What a time to be alive.

And for a title so brashly blatant (here I go with the alliteration again, Lord) as COCAINE BEAR, I'd expect for the movie to be as simple as humanly possible. It's a bear. It does coke. It goes on a woodland rampage.

Simple.

I don't need a story about a single mom (Keri Russell) clashing with her preteen (Brooklynn Prince in a role that never ceases to make me feel old, because wasn't she just playing a precocious first-grader in THE FLORIDA PROJECT like...yesterday?) only for said girl to be kidnapped by the Cocaine Bear. I don't really need a story about a sad sack drunkard son of a mob boss (Alden Ehrenreich) whining about his ex to his best friend (O'Shea Jackson Jr.) while they track down the missing coke. I really don't need to know the escapades of a trigger-happy park ranger (Margo Martindale). Hell, if we can just let mob boss Ray Liotta spend 90 min as aviator-wielding Captain Ahab facing off against a drugged-up psycho black bear, I'd be set.

But sometimes, we just don't get what we want. We get far, far less.

And sometimes, people bring infants to the 10:45pm screening.

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Closing Song:  "Sleep When Dead" - A Giant Dog

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Zach Cregger's BARBARIAN is one of those rare movies you simply just have to see. Describing it really doesn't do it justice. I mean the logline is simple - a lady goes to the Airbnb from Hell - but like a good Stephen King story, the magic lies in the how. (As I type, this would make a really good double-feature with last year's THE BLACK PHONE. The King connection rings loud and strong.)

If you've heard anything about this, you know folks tell you to go in knowing as little as possible. As such, I'm not gonna spoil the flick right away. If you simply just HAVE to hear what Daniel thinks of a movie before you check it out, I got you. But seriously, go see this bonkers fuckin' movie. It's on HBO Max!

The spoiler section stops at this timecode:

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Closing Song: "Ache With Me (Live from Hamburg)" - Against Me!  

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Review THE MOVIES on Apple Podcasts & I'll read it on the next episode! 

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