Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Barbie
The Holdovers
Scream 6
John Wick 4
Thanksgiving
Godzilla Minus One
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
Iron Claw
Asteroid City
Cocaine Bear
Flora & Son
Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning
The Flash
Creed 3
Renfield
Evil Dead Rise
The Creator
Super Mario Bros
Leave the World Behind
Poor Things
Knock At The Cabin
Haunting in Venice
The Killer
No One Will Save You
Ted Lasso
Beavis & Butthead
The Last of Us
Tulsa King
Heels
Strange New Worlds
Scott Pilgrim
Poker Face
The Mandalorian
The Simpsons
Piccard
Muppets Mayhem
It's Always Sunny
THat 90s Show
Bupkis
MCU just needs to end. I loved The Marvels, Ant Man 3, and Guardians, but going forward it is a mess, atleast for their conveyor belt style of filmmaking cause of Jonathan Majors, but that is film and this is TV. MCU TV is nearly unwatchable, She Hulk? Secret Invasion? Loki Season 2? What If? Yes What If had a spotty first season but with the exception of the Brightburn inspired Peter Quill tale, and the Iron Man/Grandmaster episode, every other was garbage. Contrives, convoluted, on the nose, being connected for no reason, episodes that felt like they were just throwing random shit together. Season 3? Pass.
Everyone hated on Bird Box citing it was a Quiet Place ripoff. It had nothing to do with Quiet Place and stood on its own as a tense film. The sequel, Bird Box: Barcelona, is not bad it is just underwhelming, feels unneeded and cheap in the bad ways(not no budget "grindhouse" cheap, just cash in sequels of the 00s cheap) . Acting, effects, tension are all lacking this time, it has some good moments for sure and the ending is interesting, just not enough to interest me for a round three. It is funny, all the crappy 80s sequels we got, we eat those up, perhaps cause they didn't take themselves seriously, that is a fault of this it feels it is higher art than it is.
Santos Sisters Halloween
One Bad Day: Catwoman
Batman/Spawn
Last Ronin: Lost
Batman/Joker Deadly Duo
Olivia Rodrigo
THe Damned
Poppy
Depeche Mode
K Flay
Roger Waters
Metallica
Boygenius
Iggy Pop
Code Orange
Andree 3000
New Pornographers
Sufjan Stevens
Chappell Roan
Yam Haus
Fireworks
Babymetal
Mountain Goats
Dropkick Murphys
Nita Strauss
Ringo Starr
Dogstar
Tech N9ne
Foo Fighters
Queens of the Stone Age
Blink 182
Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra
Bad Bunny
Plain White T's
Def Leppard
Roman vs Cody: WWE title: Mania
Roman Reigns vs Sami Zayn: WWE Title: Elimination Chamber
Roman Reigns vs Jey Uso: WWE Title: SummerSlam
Usos vs Bloodline: Money in the Bank
Gunther vs Drew McIntyre vs Sheamus: IC title: Mania
Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens vs Usos: Tag Titles: Mania
North American 5 Way: Stand & Deliver
Johnny Gargano vs Grayson Waller: Stand & Deliver
Rhea vs Charlotte: Mania
Ilja Dragunov vs Carmelo Hayes: NXT Title : No Mercy
Gunther vs Chad Gable: IC title: Raw
Gunther vs Tomasso Ciampa: IC title: Raw
Cody & Jey vs Judgment Day: WWE tag titles: Fastlane
Rey vs Dom: Mania
Edge vs Finn Balor: Hell in a Cell: Mania
Bianca vs Asuka: Mania
Seth Rollins vs Logan Paul: Mania
Gunther vs Bronson Reed: IC Title: Raw
Mens War Games
Womens War Games
Seth Rollins vs Jey Uso: Raw World Title: Raw
Gunther vs Miz: IC Title: Raw(December)
Gunther vs Miz: IC Title(November)
Becky Lynch vs Tiffany Stratton: NXT Womens Title: No Mercy
Men's Elimination Chamber
Bad Bunny vs Damien Priest: Backlash
Chris Bey & Ace Austin vs Morgan Webster & Mark Andrews: Impact Tag titles: Under Siege
Carmelo Hayes vs Ilja Dragunov: NXT Title: Great American Bash
Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor: Raw Title: SummerSlam
Cody Rhodes vs Brock Lesnar: SummerSlam
Seth Rollins vs Jey Uso: Raw World Title: Raw
Gunther vs Miz: IC Title: Raw
Men's Iron Survivor: Deadline
It Ended With a Cockroach: It could be the title of a Rise & Fall of DCEU book, but instead.....well it is just a fitting ending to Aquaman: The Lost Kingdom. I have defended the DCEU the past ten years, it's been a messy & contrived journey with only Birds of Prey, The Suicide Squad & Peacemaker being the only great entrees, the rest like Shazam were still alot of fun. Aquaman might be the messiest since Justice League, and has some truly cringey dialogue and while i checked the time a couple times since the first act is pretty mind numbing & slow, it actually is a fun flick. RIP DCEU, bring on TroGunnVille's DCU!
Harley Quinn's first season took a while to get into, season 2 was great, season 3 was spotty, now the fourth is just the same. More miss than hit but when it hits it is badass. Jokes felt more forced again like they did the first season. I kind of wish the show was just about Harley & Ivy on their escapades.
Well the Iron Claw is definitely the feel bad movie of the holiday season. Growing up reading the PWI, Inside Wrestling and The Wrestler, read alot on the Von Erichs. I was also a huge tape head and had access to their matches, obviously being a kid on the 90s Kerry was the one i was most used to cause of the Texas Tornado but the story was gripping as fuck. The story makes for pure perfect cinema as this is possibly the year's best film, save maybe The Holdovers. It feels raw, has powerful acting and has a fantastic score. Even knowing what happens it pulls the rug under you and makes you think about life in all it's depressing ways. It's the rise & fall and rise again of the Von Erich clan. I just wish it was actually a bit longer to add in more events.
Rick & Morty is spotty alot of seasons, this one in particular felt very spotty. Maybe it was the issues with Justin Roiland but this season felt off. It wasn't awful just felt bland & generic. Even the heady high concept episodes felt like they were written by someone that thought they understood R&M but only on a face level.
I love most Zack Snyder films, only one i didn't care for it 300, well and Legends of the Guardians. I defend his work all the time, i love his style and his films have a tone that fits perfect for genre filmmaking. Rebel Moon is billed as his Star Wars but it is more like Dune....and maybe that is the problem. I found all the acting wooden, the plot was dull and even the visuals fell flat. This was an ugly looking film and not in a gritty way.
DC's first non WB distributed Batman animated film is Amazon's Merry Little Batman, and maybe it is cause DC animation has been meh lately but i didn't enjoy this. The animation was unique and fits the vibe and i get it is for kids, but it just felt like modern Cartoon Network, which isn't a bad thing, just not my thing. I did love the soundtrack though.
I thought Bradley Cooper knocked it out with A Star is Born, his follow up however, another music based film, Maestro, is quite the drab experience. It looks great and has some solid acting but the story did nothing for me and instead of being moved by the music i was moved to boredom.
I am not huge on Yorgos Lanthimos but i admire him, Poor Things however might be his masterpiece. This is a whimsically disturbing and darkly satirical look at toxicity, sex, independence and philosophy. It is a gorgeous picture with some very other....gorgeous aspects.....some tremendously over the top performances and a score that sticks with you. It is like Terry Gilliam, John Waters, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Todd Solondz had an orgy during a Wes Anderson marathon, all while being Universal Monster themed.
Three Christopher Nolan films in a row, three films i didn't care for in a row. I used to love his work, sure the Prestige i didn't love but i admired, Dark Knight Rises had faults but i loved it. Interstellar was part masterpiece, part let down at the same time it's a cluster but brilliant. Then along came Dunkirk, a film that almost needed to be longer, then Tenet, one of the biggest pieces of shit ever made, now we get Oppenheimer, a great film from a technical stand point, looks beautiful, has terrific sound, the wardrove is impeccable and the acting is magnificent, plus Florence Pugh.....nuf said, but the film is so damn boring. This might be the most boring film this decade. Nolan can make great films but he lost his touch at making lovable films. I wasn't even interested in this until BarbieHeimer but sadly events in life prevented me from double billing it so i only saw Greta Gerwig's slice of cinema and then i just never got around to seeing Nolan's until now. Barbie 4 Life! I will say though i am glad that we had Barbie that felt like an event film and Oppenheimer that is a legit adults film! So even though i didn't care for it i still say go support it!
I am not an Elvis guy, but i have now seen 2 films about him in the past year, and i was not a fan of either. Elvis was stylish, Priscilla is more grounded, it seems to be a good analogy of the two people as well. I mainly saw this cause of Sofia Coppola but while is started off and ended in an interesting way, the other 2 hours dragged ass. Good performances though.
Sam Esmail crafted one of the most thought provoking, weird and fucked up shows of all time in Mr. Robot, now he has taken that formula and applied it to Leave the World Behind. This is a unnerving film at times, one of the years craziest pictures, and shines a light on varying opinions all while tapping fears we have, the *redacted scene*, and being somewhat heartfelt when it comes to finding your personal escape. A fantastic cast, a sharp script, beautiful cinematography. This is like a missing 5/9 or Dark Army episode told from the perspective of background characters only with more apocalypse.
Sometimes you wonder why a film is made. Remakes/sequels/prequels have always been around. Sure many are not asked for but are based on cult stuff, like Dawn of the Dead, but then you get mainstream films like Willy Wonka and wonder does a new one need made? I get wanting to revamp for new generations, even though they can watch the original, it is done with Batman all the time. In 05 Burton remade it and it was terrible, now we get a prequel that seems to be content for the sake of content. The films has that forced fantasy aspects of post Harry Potter films, it lacks whimsy, the musical numbers are cringe, the only saving grace is Timothee Chalamet but he doesn't feel like Wonka. He is a dreamer sure but he lacks the darkness of Gene Wilder, and that isn't a comparison, but nothing about this character resembled Wonka. I did like how the song kicked in at the end but that is like hearing a good song on a bad day at work, the rest still sucks.
Monsters of California, from Blink 182's Tom DeLonge, is a mess with dialogue and acting that at times feels like the Room, in fact the plot even feels very Tommy Wiseua. It is a clusterfuck of a film but it has an odd amount of charm that keeps you invested even if you keep asking yourself why? It's not good at all and the alien/theorist aspect could have been a great film but like many musician/directors it falls flat, atleast it aint Verotica.
Joe Lynch is a student of the game, he knows exactly what he is making in his films. He is usually fun but then he tried to pay homage to Stuart Gordon's films with Suitable Flesh and made a film that is pretty dull and softcore pornographic(not that it is a bad thing) and it just seems to miss the mark. I love the cast but oof, here they are wooden. This film was a pure piece of shit.
Larry Charles isn't a perfect filmmaker but he made a perfect film, that was Borat, his follow ups have been decent to meh, and now he has Dicks the Musical. It is far from perfect, far from meh, and is a decent film that feels like a SNL skit stretched out past its welcome. It is bold and outlandish, a bonkers plot with taboo topics but it tends to feel like it is an hour too long. It being a 2 man show on a stage i feel would work better as it originally was, but atleast in film it was able to expand upon the idea.
John Woo was an action master, but then he got Americanized. Sure his first few US films were decent then they started feeling blah. Silent Night looked like it could have been epic, it was a WickSplitation film but one that feels forced. The no dialogue aspect was ingenious but feels pretentious and unneeded at times. The action feels tired and it ultimately feels like the picture i thought John Wick was going to be in 2014 before it wound up being the best of the best. Nobody this is not, this was a chore.
I enjoy most Todd Haynes films, even if alot feels like Oscar bait, and Oscar bait is all May December feels like. Dull, unlikable, ugly there is alot to dislike here. And that is possibly the point with the characters but i was never invested. Plenty are calling this camp, which it definitely is not, some are awarding it for comedy.....which it is far from. This is a bleak film about a fucked up relationship. Even as a character study this was torture.
The Sacrifice Game, Shudder's latest Christmas film, is a bit like the Holdovers, the year's best film, crossed with Last House on the Left, with a dash of Carrie mixed in. It takes you on a ride, and even if it falls apart, you atleast land on your feet, even if everyone else is dead.
It's a Wonderful Knife is a fun high concept slasher in the vein of Happy Death Day. The cast seems to be having fun, there was some decent kills and there is oddly alot of heart and charm in this. I wasn't expecting it to be as cute as it was, but this might be Shudder's best of the year.
Good sexual thrillers are a thing of the past. Most think of the 90s when they were huge but Eileen feels more like a 70s thriller. Thomasin McKenzie is fantastic as always as is Anne Hathaway. Thomasin masturbates throughout, meets Hathaway, they bond then shit gets twisted.
Mens War Games
Womens War Games
Gunther vs Miz
Chad Gable vs Noam Darr
Alex Shelly vs Jonathan Gresham
Minus One is a perfect Godzilla film. It is fun without being funny, it is human with being overly serious. The characters are well developed and you care for them, the action puts most modern Hollywood blockbusters to shame and Godzilla himself looks badass.
Big Sky was always a spotty series, the first half of season 1 was great, the second half felt like a new season. Season 2 was a chore, but when it was awesome it was awesome. Same is basically the same for the third and final season. Jensen Ackles is a welcome cast member, and carries the series,
Dream Scenario is a perfect Nic Cage role. He is embracing his madness, and in this film his character is aswell. It feels like a missing Charlie Kaufman script, and with Cage it gave me Adaptation vibes. It stars off strong and ends strong but kind of lags in the middle. I wish it went for broke with the insanity of the premise but it is a solid film with great performances.
Emerald Fennell gave us a tough watch wrapped in candy colors in 2020 with Promising Young Woman. Exploitation disguised as art house. Now she is at is again and with an equally as creepy and unsettling film, Saltburn. This is not what i expected, i kept thinking the family would be the antagonists but i loved how methodical this was. It's stylish as fuck and Barry Keoghan as usual is a creepy lil bastard and totally steals the show here.
It is hard to write a review for Strange New Worlds. I was watching it weekly but with my mom, she passed away a few days after the finale and we were not able to watch, so i kept putting it off. Fantastic season, fantastic finale. This is a fun episodic series that has great characters and moments. The finale was right out of Alien and they nailed it. Now to wait til 2025 for the third season.
Another season of Creepshow has come and gone, more so than most seasons this was a mixed bag....okay most are mixed bags, this was more miss than hit though. Really only 2 segments i enjoyed, the vampire family and the George Romero segment, but both of thouse fell apart aswell. Fun show overall but it might be time to put it to rest. Give us one more as a finale, or even just a special.
16 years ago Eagle Vs Shark was a film i loved seeing it the Dundee. I anticipated seeing Taika Waititi's next film but Boy underwhelmed me, as did What We Do in the Shadows and Hunt for the Wilderpeople. His take on Thor while the series' best was way too comedic....same with his follow up. Now JoJo Rabbit was the film i wanted. But could he do it again? Well Next Goal Wins doesn't seem to know if it wants to be taken serious, and if it is serious it plays out in a tired way, or if it wants to be comedic, which joke fall flat and Waititi's narration takes you out every time. If i want to watch a struggling football team i will watch Ted Lasso, this has the misfortune of coming out the same year as their final season and while the plots are different all this did was make me appreciate Lasso that much more.
Lockdown Tower is a perfect example of modern exploitation. From its Mist premise to the Snowpiercer battle lines, it cements characters in their areas and shows how truly fucked the world becomes. It would have been a perfect covid film with the isolation but honestly i feel it is more effective without having that afterthought.
Birth/Rebirth has some genuinely unnerving moments. It build great tension and has some solid acting, it is one of the better Shudder films period, i just honestly was bored by it. Give me Christmas Bloody Christmas anyday!
The Treasure of Foggy Mountain is dumb as fuck but it kept me laughing. It's from Please Don't Destroy, so if you don't watch SNL you might not know em, but they essentially took over the SNL Digital Shorts. If you like their absurd comedic styling than you'll dig this. It's not a tight film, but it is fun, and it honestly feels like a film i'd watch after school on Comedy Central.....comedy alone is tough to find in 2023, and this feels like it would play well with Rolling Kansas, Sex Drive, various road flicks like that. I feel it could find itself a cult audience over the next few years, and while it is not a stoner film by any stretch of the imagination it feels like it lends itself to being viewed on 420.
In 2011 i fell in love with Quentin Dupieux, that was a mistake. His films post Rubber were underwhelming, add Smoking Causes Coughing to that list. It was an intriguing trailer, that i soon forgot about and a great concept but i feel i felt the way about this that many did about Rubber. It's bonkers but it doesn't hit the nail at all for me. I preferred the self awareness of Rubber and atleast that is a film that people are intrigued by cause of the concept, this just feels post comic book.
Infinity Pool came out with alot of praise, i had no interest as i wasn't big on the previous Brandon Cronenberg films, but i kept being told to watch it discuss it. The S&M promotion made me a tad interested but i honestly was bored to tears with this. I didn't care for Anti Viral, but i didn't mind Possessor but it was highly forgettable, this here i feel falls in between the two.
Scott Pilgrim is my favorite comic series of all time, the movie was my favorite film of the 10s, the video game is a blast, there is alot to love about this property, and those that read the comic/manga obviously know it has the anime influence. So doing an anime series was a perfect match, i'm not even big on anime in general. The first episode takes some getting used to with the animeness but then you realize this is a whole new story and in doing so they are free to tell their own thing, in their own way and it works perfectly. It is meta as fuck, has new sides of characters, and a fresh take on the multiverse.
Thanksgiving is a film i have been waiting 16 years for, for a while it seemed as if it would never come true. When Grindhouse came out in 2007 it was my event of all events, but since then many films have tried doing the aesthetic, key word being tried. Most have failed, but now Eli Roth has given us his faux trailer in all its glory in the feature film. And it doesn't try to be grindhouse, it instead becomes a missing 80s slasher. A group of douches get killed off, and in fun & innovative ways. The humor doesn't derail anything, it is perfect dark humor and it also doesn't take itself too seriously, it knows exactly what it is. Eli pays homage to many slashers here including a maybe too on the nose reference to The Guest, regardless this film is the fun slasher that is needed right now.
The Marvels is a blast. The hate it is getting seems to be from "superhero fatigue" or from people that haven't watched the TV shows. And i get it, it's a chore to watch that shit, especially as bad as they have become, but this along with the rest of the MCU 2023 slate, has been fun across the board. This isn't the heavy journey that Guardians was, it's light & quick, the way comic flicks should be. Yes it has the MCU humor and it has the MCU flaws but unlike most in this saga, it doesn't act like it is higher art than it is. The leads have chemistry, through said chemistry is a cute connection and a story full of heart! Oh and that mid credit Singer......i mean stinger!
Totally Killer is a fun film, a flawed film, but fun all the same. I enjoyed stuff like The Final Girls and Happy Death Day alot more, but this is a fun send up of both horror and time travel. Unlikable characters become likable, social issues are tackled, it has some film smarts and has some pretty funny moments, but i found the moments i liked far & few between. Regardless i had a totally killer time watching this.
For myself, The Killer is David Fincher's best film since Zodiac. A character driven noir with dark humor and some shocking kills. On top of that this might be Michael Fassbender's best performance, with as subtle as this is! Plus The Smiths soundtrack is perfectly placed throughout.
Zombie Town, based on an RL Stine story, is the new film on Hulu starring Dan Akroyd and "Chevy Chase", yes Chase is in it, minor role, and i am sure he was a Pierce to everyone. This is a a film about zombie film fans facing off with zombies, but it feels as if no one involved has seen any zombie films.
The MCU has become a mess, especially on TV. She Hulk, Secret Invasion, and now Loki Season 2 were all HUGE misses. I had no idea what was happening in this season, and it felt unneeded, especially after the Multiveral 1 2 punch of No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness, so maybe atleast let this be a write off.....nope it continues at the end seemingly. Atleast unlike the other 2 shows i mentioned, this had atleast 1 redeeming episode.
I am not anti remake, and i don't feel all films are untouchable. White Men Can't Jump is far from untouchable.....but this was an unneeded remake. I get they wanted to be topical but it missed all the marks. Unfunny, no heart, poorly crafted. White Men Can't Jump, more like White Men Can't Produce a Good Film.
