review
Reviews of the top geek movies, tv, and books in the industry.
Movie Review: 'Molly's Game'
Can one scene demonstrate why Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, Molly’s Game starring Jessica Chastain falls flat? Probably not, but in this article I am going to demonstrate how one scene can shed light on the Aaron Sorkin style, why Idris Elba is not really an Aaron Sorkin kind of actor and just who is the Aaron Sorkin style of actor; here’s a hint, they were on The West Wing.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in Geeks
'Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom'
Here's an old film which had high expectations. The Indiana Jones films are iconic for their lighthearted situations and give an overall feeling of adventure to the audience. Especially after the 1981 film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, did so well among viewers, Temple of Doom was expected to be just as good. It concerns me that Temple of Doom is considered the sequal of the Raiders. However, it takes place two years before the events in Raiders of the Lost Ark take place.
By Desmo Critic8 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle'
I was not a fan of the noisy, roiling cacophony of special effects and sound that was Jumanji. Director Joe Johnson seemed to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the screen while Robin Williams whooped and hollered and obvious metaphors about family and fathers and sons occasionally forced their way through the chaos. Jumanji 1995 isn’t a terrible movie, but it just wasn’t my taste.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in Geeks
Oscar Watch: 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri'
The essay contains many plot spoilers and should be read after watching Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. A single action sparks the events in the small town of Ebbing, Missouri. The actors in the film all emote an underlying pain despite the film taking some comedic liberties. As is common with most films based in the south, racism has its place and is rooted in the character of the town. The main characters are all very conflicted. Every character has elements that are admirable and other elements that are clearly meant to be abhorred. No one is the good guy in Ebbing Missouri.
By Christopher Sarda8 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Father Figures'
Was there a gun to someone’s head forcing them to make the movie Father Figures? I am struggling to understand how this movie exists. Father Figures stars Ed Helms and Owen Wilson as twins, we’ll get to that, who go on a road trip to visit men who may or may not be their biological father. The film seems to have been slapped together without much thought or care or with any semblance of humor.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'The Greatest Showman'
The Greatest Showman is a musical with some inventive visuals and mostly brainless story. Were it not purporting to conflate P.T Barnum of all people to sainthood, I could probably watch it and dispose of it in due course. However, because this is P.T Barnum, one of the world’s foremost charlatans and con men, well, let’s just say that the idea of venerating him, sticks in my craw. Already this year, Hollywood has pretended that Winston Churchill was an inspiring, cuddly granddad and frankly, P.T Barnum is, for me, a bridge too far when it comes to revisionism.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in Geeks
East, as Part of a Season of Bangla Drama
Where: Rich Mix When: November 10th of 2017 at 7:30 PM. About the Makers: East is a group of storytellers in East London. Their purpose is to create a space for telling stories in different ways and including people that do not have experience with storytelling in public. All their stories can be found here which is the place where they store all the information and stories of the collaboration between Daedalus Theatre Company and Bishwo Shahitto Kendro (BSK). People are invited to get involved into this project, becoming a part of this community.
By Laura Jaramillo Duque8 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Last Flag Flying'
Last Flag Flying is a rare movie. It’s a daring depiction of the aftermath of death in a modern war. It’s an exploration of the hearts and minds of the people left behind. It’s also a movie that feels at times as if it isn’t going particularly anywhere and manages past fits and starts to reach a deeply affecting end. It’s the kind of mainstream drama that you expect Richard Linklater’s idiosyncratic style might render inert in the same neutered manner of his mainstream take on The Bad News Bears.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Good Time'
Why don’t I love Good Time? So many of my critical colleagues adore the film and yet I can’t see the full appeal. I love the look of the film, a grimy, color saturated chase through the underbelly of small-time Brooklyn crime, but the story just leaves me cold. Scene after scene I keep waiting for the film to find another gear and kick into the movie that so many of my colleagues have raved about and it just never comes. What I am left with is a fine looking movie with a terrific score that relies far too heavily on a contrivance-filled plot to get from one scene to the next.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in Geeks
Book Review: 'Eliza and Her Monsters' by Francesca Zappia
Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappa is the story of 18 year old, loner high school student Eliza Mirk. By day Eliza is known to her school as the weird kid that keeps to herself and has no friends but by night Eliza is LadyConstellation, creator of the extremely popular web series, Monstrous Sea. Eliza keeps her two worlds separate, the only people that know of her secret identity are her family and her two online best friends that help her run her website. When Eliza is given the task of showing around the new kid her world becomes increasingly more complicated as she discovers that he is a Monstrous Sea fan.
By Liana Hewitt8 years ago in Geeks
The Tale of an Unsung Confidant of Queen Victoria
Abdul Karim was more than happy to travel to England to hand over a special valued coin brought out in commemoration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations, as instructed by his boss in British India. The film, Victoria and Abdul, starts telling its story from there and how a stay of one year had been extended to more than a decade. If someone is destined to become a servile, beat the best out of it. Perhaps, Abdul Karim, the character well played by Ali Fazal, might have no bad intentions at the outset to grab a special position in Queen Victoria's mind or life. Maybe he was not aware of the gravity of the protocol breach caused by him and that led to the intimidations at the realm of executive affairs. The relationship between the monarch and the servant hit so badly on an empire preserved by the biggest martinets the world has ever seen. Despite the warnings given by the sticklers of propriety at the royal household, the queen utilized her monarchic immunity to promote Ali to the position of Munshi and a close confidant. Abdul, a Hafiz who knows the 114 Suras of Quran by heart, as he claims, teaches the queen a few Hindi/Urdu words and that ignites the intense feelings on Indian things in her. Inspired by the explained taste of mango, the 'queen of all fruits' and chutney made out of it, she even asks the royal household to have someone sent to India to bring it over. Imagine the plight change of an introvert queen that frequently dozes off at the dining table to an active persona and a vibrant party lover. The temperamental peculiarity of a monarch 'disagreeably attached to power,' as she claims, has been portrayed brilliantly by Judi Dench, who is no stranger to acting in this role. She had her trials in this role earlier in 1997 for the film, Mrs. Brown and in 1998 for Shakespeare in Love.
By Suresh Nellikode8 years ago in Geeks
Movie Review: 'Dawson City: Frozen Time'
The awards season is an extraordinarily busy time for film critics. With hundreds of films big and small jockeying for our attention, it can be nearly impossible to get to everything. When you’re a critic who also has a day job, that task becomes even more daunting. That’s why I love year-end Top 10 lists. I follow as many as I can find from every place around the world so I can try to get to anything that deeply touched a fellow critic.
By Sean Patrick8 years ago in Geeks
