Streaming Roulette, August: Pray away those freaky requiems

New month. Time for another round of Streaming Roulette where we point out a handful or two of random titles that are newly streaming and just for fun, freeze frame them at totally random places in the scroll bar...

[No dialogue. Confused, looking around.]

FREAKY (2020) on HBOMax
This must be when the serial killer and the teenager find themselves in each others bodies, in this horror comedy riff on the Freaky Friday template. We didn't see this one (did you?) but are a tiny bit curious. Tangent: Do you ever wonder how actors and musicians feel when they watch movies and see their own faces as set decoration, on character's bedroom walls? (Hi Brendon Urie.)

Click to read more ...

Zombieland: Double Tap

by Michael Frank

Zombieland: Double Tap doesn’t waste time telling you that you’re watching a zombie movie. The Columbia Pictures logo comes to life, fighting off multiple would-be enemies, leading to a Deadpool-esque opening credits sequence. It’s not new by any means, but it reminds you why you like zombie movies in the first place: they’re fun as hell. 

The rest of the film follows its opening: an enjoyable movie-going experience with a lack of plot, a lack of originality, yet just enough movie stars, inside jokes, and heart to make it worthwhile. Double Tap follows our leads from a decade earlier, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone), and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin), as they traverse the new-look world that’s still full of zombies. The actors themselves have aged nicely as well, with Harrelson, Eisenberg, Stone, and Breslin all maintaining prolific and award-winning careers. If anything, they’re more likeable than they were 10 years ago, an difficult feat for a cast to pull off. They bring their full arsenal of charisma to their roles in Double Tap, giving generous performances to a film that cares more about its world than its characters...

Click to read more ...

The New Classics - No Country For Old Men

Michael Cusumano here to take a fresh look at a film that never fails to reward it.

Scene: The Sad, Strange Death of Carson Wells

Moss: What's this guy supposed to be, the ultimate badass?

Wells: No, I wouldn't describe him as that.

Moss: How would you describe him?

Wells: I guess I would say he doesn't have a sense of humor.

But that’s not really accurate, is it? 

Anton Chigurh displays frequent amusement throughout the Coen’s adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s No Country For Old Men. It simply that the humor exists on a wavelength only he can hear. Shortly after making that assessment quoted above, Woody Harrelson’s Carson Wells will learn just how mistaken he is...

Click to read more ...

Showbiz History: Monty Dies, Amy Debuts, Detroit Divides...

10 random things that happened on this day (July 23rd) in showbiz history.

1884 Emil Jannings born in Switzerland. In 1928 he will become the first man to ever win the Best Actor Oscar. He won for his roles in the silent films The Last Command and The Way of All Flesh. He was the only man to ever win for a silent film until Jean DuJardin took the Oscar for The Artist (2011)

Montgomery Clift, Amy Adams, Woody Harrelson, Vanessa Williams and more after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Review: "Solo - A Star Wars Story"

by Chris Feil

Han Solo isn’t exactly a character that has our affections enmeshed in his origins. As played in the original Star Wars saga by peak hunk Harrison Ford, Han is about 50% swagger, 30% smart ass, and 20% emotional walls. He’s a crucial element, but one whose history isn’t essential to the story we all know and love - so in tracing his beginnings, Solo - A Star Wars Story needs a strong point of view to be more than a spin on the hampster wheel. It’s sadly almost there...

Click to read more ...