Geek For E!

Geek For E!

Creators of the TwitView! Reviews in 140 characters or less.

Movie Review: Top Gun: Maverick

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Maverick is back, and this time – he’s training the best

Top Gun: Maverick (in theaters now! THU 05.26.22).  This high-octane and nostalgic ride should have been called ‘Top Gun: Mission Impossible’ rather than its true title.   Co-writer Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Director Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) bring home a winning combination of the original Top Gun film, mated with a gut wrenching and visually stunningly impossible mission for the intrepid pilots in this sequel.  TGM picks up some 25 years or so after the first film, and before you ask – No.  You don’t need to have seen the original to enjoy the hell out of this one.  Tom Cruise (Taps) returns as Pete Mitchell, and sadly, he’s still a Navy Captain (even though he’s old enough and experienced enough to be an Admiral).  Resigned to special interest Navy flying projects, he’s reluctantly recruited back to Top Gun school to train the newest and toughest graduates for a specific mission.  A tough mission…an insane and miraculous one that will have you on the edge of that IMAX seat (or whatever format you prefer).   The key to this one being so good is really the writing out of onscreen characters.  Taking the place of Navy pilot Iceman from the original film, is a square-jawed, ridiculously handsome asshole you love to hate in pilot callsign ‘Hangman’ portrayed cleanly, sharply and with much disdain by actor Glen Powell (Hidden Figures).  You all but forget Cruise’s original love interest from the first film, and seamlessly fall in love with his love interest Penny Benjamin (Jennifer Connelly-The Rocketeer).  She’s gorgeous, tough, a loving mom, a townie, and one hell of a sailor – you just feel the connections between the two.  But the genius in the writing here is how the original character Iceman from the first film was handled.  We all know, from real life, that actor Val Kilmer (The Saint) returned for the role – we also know that in real-life he’s suffering from a form of throat cancer that affects his ability to speak.  And his size and looks have changed dramatically since the original film.  The filming crew of TGM makes it work and exacts it on-screen into a beautiful culmination that serves the story. Films like this have a built-in audience, heck it’s been 35 years since the original, so this is going to be a hit – but I’ll go out on a limb with a fearless Memorial box office prediction of $230M.  I give it an A+ and even now I’m itching to watch the dog-fighting scenes again.

Review: Dr. Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022)

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If you asked me to describe Sam Raimi, the director of Dr. Strange in one word, that word would be “Bonkers”. From his early days as the director and creator of the Evil Dead Franchise, his movies have always had a feeling of being off the wall. This movie was no exception.

The movie picks up after the events of WandaVision, which is now currently playing on Disney Plus. If you have not seen the show, I would highly recommend watching it before you see the movie. Things will make much more sense if you do. Without giving too much away about the story, Dr. Strange recruits Wanda in helping him understand the Multiverse. This is where things go sideways.

Besides Wanda, we have our usual cast of characters, Wong, Mordo and Dr. Christine Palmer. A new character we meet is America Chavez, a girl who has the power to travel through multiverses. I do wish they spent a bit more time on her backstory, but maybe that will come in future projects. Wanda’s importance in the movie, I will not reveal, but safe to say she plays an essential role in the movie.

The movie which I enjoyed, felt messy and a bit all over the place with a script that felt as if it was being held together by a band-aid. There was not enough backstory to many elements of the movie, elements that I believe were more important to the overall movie. The stunning visuals of the different set pieces, however, which makes the viewing experience a blast as we watch Dr. Strange and his companions travel throughout the multiverse. (There are some exciting surprises in this movie as well).

The performances were fine, nothing special except for Elizabeth Olsen, who as Wanda, shows her full range of acting ability. Picking up where she left off in WandaVision, Olsen shows off her acting range as she seamlessly moves through a vast array of emotions throughout the movie and in my opinion, is this movie’s true star.

Is this movie the best of the MCU? No. I don’t feel as if I know any more about Phase Four now than I did before watching the movie. There are still so many questions I have.

Where this movie ranks is somewhere in the middle tier and make sure you stick around to the end as there are 2 credit scenes.

Rating – 3 out of 4 stars (writer: Marc Moses)

TwiView: The Lost City, C+

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TwiView: The Lost City, C+ (in theaters everywhere FRI 03.25.22) Sandra Bullock (Demolition Man) co-stars with Channing Tatum (21 Jump Street) in this sweet, implausible adventure and dare I say ‘love story?’  Loretta (Bullock) is a famed romance-adventure novelist who travels with Alan (Tatum) her cover-boy model that makes a living and life out of living as the pretty-boy Fabio cover model.  When Loretta taps into a clue to a famed Lost City in one of her books, she gets kidnapped by an eccentric zillionaire (Harry Potter aka Daniel Radcliffe) intent on finding a treasure buried within.  The adventure is fun enough, and Bullock looks uh-mazing, but there’s just no chemistry between she and Tatum (not as love interests anyway).   What starts as a comical action farce to rescue Loretta, somehow morphs into a love confession.  And just when you thought you could let that go and absorb the payoff of the big treasure find and untold riches….you just get a dose of lovey-dovey reality.  Brad Pitt’s cameo is fun and a great comical stretch for him, but even he can’t save this one.  See it for the fun ‘Indy Jones’ style adventure, see it for a knock-out Bullock in a hot pantsuit!  Heck, even see if for Tatum’s bare-chested hot bod; but don’t see if for a believable romance between the two of them, you’ll be lost.

Review: Moonfall, IMAX (in theaters FRI 02.04.22)

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Moonfall, Don’t look up…oh wait, that’s another movie

First things first.  I don’t see Roland Emmerich movies because it’s Shakespeare (he’s done ID4, 2012, Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla).  I see them because he’s got a great visual eye for giving us world destruction playing out on the big screen (and in IMAX no less).  How he was snubbed in 2009 for even an Oscar nomination for Special Effects for ‘2012’ is beyond me…especially considering the Academy can nominate up to 5 films in each category, and that year (2009), they only slid the nom to 3 total films, and ‘2012’ – which had some of the most amazing detail in death and destruction I’ve seen on the screen, was snubbed for even a nod.  That aside, he’s charging back with Moonfall, a far-reaching story about an intrepid team of astronauts and star gazers who are convinced that the moon is in fact, not the shiny glowing white ball we’ve thought it was all these years.  Not just that, but’s its orbit around the earth is way off, and in just mere weeks, it’ll crash into the planet.  Yikes!  Awesome setup for sure, and as you can expect worldwide mayhem ensues with an eye-pleasing display of destruction peppered throughout, but sadly, the film misses.  Not because it rehashes some very similar elements from the film ‘2012.’ Including the family dynamic and sacrifice – but really because its just too unbelievable.  Even if we could hatch the on-screen plan to save us, this is America – we would botch the execution and then the laughable response to the crisis by the military in the film wouldn’t be so bad.  Did I mention that our 3 heroes have hatched their plan to ‘grab a space shuttle’ and go up to the moon…all by themselves? Yikes, again.  See this for the effects on the big screen.  See it because Halle looks super-cute in her wig and easily slides through this subject matter.  Heck, even see it because the comic relief character (aka Samwell from Game of Thrones, John Bradley), is a delight as a fervent, if not neurotic astronomy lover.   The film does touch on overall creationism with an intriguing theory that had me thinking (no spoilers), for that, I give the film a plus.  But even that can’t save this one.  Fearless forecast: 18M weekend box office (IMAX prices!) C+

TwiView: Matrix, Resurrections (2021)

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Matrix, Resurrections (2021) A-.  They should have called it Matrix Redemptions; it erased the stench of the 2nd and 3rd installments.  It was fresh, it what was logically next for the Matrix on film and for the lore of how the Matrix system worked.  It was a bit long at 2hrs+ and for me, a little short on ‘money shot’ effects.  Thankfully, it’s still a love story at its core, centered around the two we know (even if this time they don’t know each other).  You don’t need to have seen Reloaded or Revolutions to feel right at home in this one.  It’s the original Matrix film…essentially resurrected (no spoilers!)  The opening scene sets the tone for a sweet ride down memory lane via the first film (keep your eyes open and if you can, watch the original before catching this one!).  #MatrixStillHasIt #MatrixMovie #MatrixBaltimore

Movie Review: Sing 2 (in theaters and On-Demand, WED 12.22.21)

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Buster Moon is at it again!  Only this time, you’ll feel a bit different about it.  Sing 2 thumps into theaters and On Demand this holiday weekend and hopes to entice you and your little ones back for some high flying adventure and super cool pop tunes like the original.  All the cast is back including some newcomers (Singers Halsey & Bono as well as Letitia Wright to name a few), and they’re trying to put on an epic show anchored by a retired rock-and-roll star who is reluctantly pulled back into showbiz.   For me, this one is a miss – not because it’s almost 2 hours long (is that necessary?), and not because it’s the same awesome pop-music & hijinks formula as the original.  For me, it misses because it’s not inspiring, nor original.  You know the show will happen; you know it’ll be epic – but where’s the character growth?  Even Rosita (the worrywart pig voiced by Reese Witherspoon), and Meena (the shy elephant voiced by Tori Kelly) are the same tepid characters who big shock, overcome it again in the 3rd act.  I loved the song selections (covering the 70’s thru today), the coloring was masterful (the Ms. Crawly chase scene was amazing!), but it doesn’t make the film, and your little ones will fade away a bit, it’s just too long.  I’m giving this one a C+; see it if you have kids who need some new ‘food’ and loved the original.  Heck, watch it if you dig pop music through the years, but I defy you to not think you’re watching Zootopia 2 in between the song numbers. 

Movie Screening: Black As Night (THU 09.30.21 @ 9PM)

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HOME MOVIE SCREENING: Black As Night (THU 09.30.21 @ 9PM @ Your House!)  The horror macabre lovers at Blumhouse TV & Amazon Studios are back at it.  This time with an eerie new tale of a resourceful black teenage girl who takes on a group of deadly vampires down in the creole of New Orleans.  This is no standard vampire tale as our 15yo heroine frantically fights the masses while trying to turn her friends back into human beings.  What’s a young girl to do?  Why not find out with us!  This is a special contest that not only gets you streaming access for 2 to the film, but you also get an exclusive invite to the online after-party with the stars of the film, filmmakers, producers, acting talent and a LIVE DJ!  This is the Halloween jam you and your friends have been looking for, so why not post a pic on our Facebook page, win some tix and catch the horror!  Look for us on Facebook @geekfore and start posting! #staygeeky #Blumhouse #Black As Night

Contest Details:

You know we like you to show your love of the studio and this one is no different.  Post up any image, any meme for any past Blumhouse movie (don’t know any?  IMDB is your friend!).  Add the hashtag #blumhouse and you’re all set.  If we LIKE your post, please send us both names and email addresses for you and your online guest.  We’ll send that to the studio who will send you the unique access codes for the online movie screening and party!    In a rare twist, we’re also allowing you to win more than once (we may LIKE many of your posts!).  If you are LIKE’d more than once, you must provide unique names/email addresses for the studio to send the access codes to!

TwiView: Candyman (2021)

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Candyman (2021) He’s still got it!  Although this time out he’s much more stylized and just as deadly.  Don’t say his name 5 times, it’ll only draw him out.  I’d call this a continuation of the original, yet still a sequel, but this time it’s a struggling artist named Anthony who happens upon the lore of Candyman and the derelict public housing of Cabrini Green which is now a fully gentrified bustling area.   It’s still a horror film, but done slicker, almost like the film is a work of art on the screen, an ode to the character Candyman.  As Anthony descends into the madness, he discovers there was always something more to the legend, and that the plight of today’s world brings a necessity for Candyman.  But, for all it’s vision (and it does look good sans the blood splattering), and it’s storied reach (thanks to Oscar winner Jordan Peele), there’s an element missing.  The original left you scared in real life to utter his name in your own mirror.  After watching this version, it almost felt like a harmless dare to speak it.  You’ll like the urban style, you’ll love the on screen delight for the eyes of a bustling Chicago art scene – you’ll be ho-hum about those who ‘get it’ from Candyman but you’ll revel in the fact that Candyman still lives.  And what is up with #VanessaLWilliams from the original? It’s been 30yrs since the original film and she still looks 25?! You go girl 🙂 B-

TwiView: M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Old’

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TwiView (Movie reviews in 140 words or less, cause ain’t nobody got time for that!)
M. Night still has it!  Don’t try and scour the edges of this slick noir for the clues, you will not guess this twist, just sit back and enjoy it.  That said, you will get a classic suspenseful treat that will have you guessing, figuring, pointing, laughing, and maybe even shedding a tear or two.  Simple premise, a family is on a tropical vacation at the beach and begin aging rapidly with no explanation as to why or what’s to become of them.  This is not a perfect M. Night rollout, but he has mastered the art of subterfuge by showing you everything and telling you nothing (till the end).  Did I love the twist?  Let’s just say it makes sense at the end, but I never saw it coming, maybe you will – get to the megaplex asap and post up your plot questions on our Facebook page…we have a few ourselves, but we’ll wait until the film opens (FRI 07.23.21 at theaters everywhere!)!  A-

MOVIE SCREENING/Premiere: Without Remorse (THU 04.29.21)

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Film deets:

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Bell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lauren London, Brett Gelman, Jacob Scipio, Jack Kesy, Colman Domingo, Todd Lassance, Cam Gigandet, Luke Mitchell and Guy Pearce

Without Remorse

An elite Navy SEAL uncovers an international conspiracy while seeking justice for the murder of his pregnant wife in Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse, the explosive origin story of action hero John Clark – one of the most popular characters in author Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan universe. When a squad of Russian soldiers kills his family in retaliation for his role in a top-secret op, Sr. Chief John Kelly (Michael B. Jordan) pursues the assassins at all costs. Joining forces with a fellow SEAL (Jodie Turner-Smith) and a shadowy CIA agent (Jamie Bell), Kelly’s mission unwittingly exposes a covert plot that threatens to engulf the U.S. and Russia in an all-out war. Torn between personal honor and loyalty to his country, Kelly must fight his enemies without remorse if he hopes to avert disaster and reveal the powerful figures behind the conspiracy.  The film is rated R with a running time of 110 minutes.

CONTEST DETAILS:

We want your Michael B image/meme posts – in all his glory (keep it PG-13 though).  Go back to the Facebook post that brought you here and start posting images of Michael B Jordan with the hashtag #WithoutRemorse. 

If GeekForE ‘LIKE’s’ your Facebook post, you are a winner and we’ll Inbox you your unique redemption code to stream the movie the day before it opens (THU 04.29.21 @ 7PM).  If GeekForE ‘LOVE’s’ your post, then you’re one of our two World Premiere/VIP prize winners and we’ll send you details on how to attend the VIP screening on THU 04.29.21 @ 8PM.  Now go get posting and don’t forget the hashtag!