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Cinemaholics Review: Ready Player One

ready player

Ready Player One. It’s the movie people can’t stop talking about, one way or another. Half consider it an enjoyable romp worthy of Steven Spielberg, and the other half considers it a hellscape of boredom, maybe even bad intentions. Hyperbole aside, I sat with Will Ashton and Maveryke Hines to discuss the new film, highlighting its strengths, weaknesses, and comparisons to the source material.

But that’s not all. For Mini Reviews this week, Will and I finally chatted about Barry, the new show on HBO starring Bill Hader. This pivoted into a discussion about Alex Inc., a somewhat similar new show (circumstantially) starring Zach Braff. From there, we ended up talking about Scrubs for a solid 10 minutes, and you know what? I’m glad we did. The rest of the show contained a bizarre personal story about James Acaster and his new Netflix comedy special Repertoire, followed by a brief review of Best F(r)iends, a new movie starring Greg Sestero and Tommy Wiseau of The Room fame.

Question for you: Which Steven Spielberg movie sums up his talent as a filmmaker in your mind?

Go on…Cinemaholics Review: Ready Player One

Cinemaholics Review: A Wrinkle in Time and Thoroughbreds

wrinkle

On the show this week, Will Ashton and I review A Wrinkle in Time, the new Disney family film based on the classic novel. The film opened at around Disney’s box office expectations, second only to Black Panther (which is still breaking records), but it’s become a divisive topic among critics and fans who found the adaptation disappointing while also championing the film’s representation.

For the most part, Will and I are on the same page with Wrinkle. It’s complicated. Later in the show, we take a look at Thoroughbreds, plus we opened this week’s episode with some discussion about the Oscars and ongoing coverage over at SXSW Film Festival. It’s a useful talk if you’re curious about some upcoming genre films set to release in 2018, just remember to take these early film reviews with a grain of salt. The rest of this week’s reviews include Atlanta Season 2, Jessica Jones Season 2, and Will Ashton’s reactions to Love, Simon (which guest Kimber Myers reviewed for us last week).

Question for you: Where do you stand on A Wrinkle in Time?

Go on…Cinemaholics Review: A Wrinkle in Time and Thoroughbreds

Cinemaholics Review: Red Sparrow and Love, Simon

red sparrow

Special guests Mae Abdulbaki and Kimber Myers joined the show this week to help us review Red Sparrow, a new spy thriller starring Jennifer Lawrence and Joel Edgerton, directed by Francis Lawrence (no relation). Of course, Maveryke Hines and Will Ashton were also on the show, so we had a full panel to discuss what turned out to be a painfully bad film, at least in my opinion. We also opened the show with some light discussion about the 2018 Oscars.

We certainly had more positive things to say about some of the films and shows in our Mini Reviews. To start us off, Kimber shared her thoughts on Love, Simon, a new teen romantic comedy about “coming out.” Maveryke and I gave a passionate plea for listeners to start binging Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on Netflix, especially now that Season 3 has landed. Will talked us through a new British comedy called The Party, which should be on your radar. And I did my best to articulate my complicated thoughts on the new Netflix original series Everything Sucks!

Go on…Cinemaholics Review: Red Sparrow and Love, Simon

Cinemaholics Review: Annihilation and Game Night

annihilation

I’m still reeling from the experience of watching Annihilation in the theater, and I’m about equally pleased with the discussion that came out of this film with my cohosts Will Ashton and Maveryke Hines. In this episode, we spent a good amount of time unpacking the good, bad, and stellar Annihilation has to offer, and I suspect we’ll be revisiting this conversation throughout the rest of the year.

But that wasn’t the only movie we had some fun with this week. After a half-hearted review of the new Netflix movie, Mute, we got to an extended Mini Review of Game Night, a new studio comedy I find myself effortlessly recommending. And the box office agrees too, which put Game Night at #2 for the weekend behind Black Panther, which is continuing its gargantuan run across the world.

During Mini Reviews, we also had a brief discussion about Netflix original films. Between Bright, Cloverfield Paradox, and Mute, it seems Netflix is having a rough time pleasing critics despite their success with original shows. So that leads to our question for you all.

Which Netflix original film is your favorite? 

Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Go on…Cinemaholics Review: Annihilation and Game Night

Netflix Shows Worth Watching: Part-Time Characters

netflix shows worth watching

With so much to choose from, it’s hard to sit down and pick one Netflix series that’s worth watching. Not to worry! Hopefully Part-Time Characters can help with any indecisiveness. While Maria works the solo shift in this fictional video store, recurring guest and video store client, Jerry Rodriguez, joins this week’s episode to talk about Netflix shows and specials that are worth a try.

Go on…Netflix Shows Worth Watching: Part-Time Characters

Cinemaholics Review: The Disaster Artist

disaster artist

On this week’s podcast, I’m joined by Will Ashton and Maveryke Hines to review The Disaster Artist, along with a lot of other new releases we saw this week like Marvel’s Runaways and The Man Who Invented Christmas.

Starring James Franco and his brother Dave Franco, The Disaster Artist (which Franco also directed) is a new film from A24 about the making of The Room, known to many as perhaps the “best worst” movie ever made. The film is getting a ton of love from audiences and critics alike, so naturally, we had a great discussion on what we think of the Oscar contender.

The rest of the show is devoted to a slew of Mini Reviews, from a new documentary about Jim Carrey and Andy Kaufman on Netflix to the Nightcrawler writer/director’s follow up film starring Denzel Washington. Plus a few more surprises.

Go on…Cinemaholics Review: The Disaster Artist

Cinemaholics Review: Justice League and The Punisher Season 1

Justice

Is Justice League the last comic book movie of 2017? If so, what a bizarre ending to one of the most bizarre years in comic book movie history (at least in recent years). What should have been the biggest comic book movie since, well, The Avengers, has arrived with little-to-no fanfare, but we’re here to judge the movie on its own, removed from any hype it may attempt to earn by merit of its seven icons.

I’m joined this week by my trusty cohosts Will Ashton and Maveryke Hines, but also special guest Craig Hanks from the Legendarium Podcast. You may remember I guested on that show to talk about The Dark Tower back in August, and per the holy podcast networking laws hiding in plain sight, it’s only fair to have Craig on this week to share his thoughts on Justice League, the DCEU, and where this frenetic franchise is headed next.

Aside from Justice League, we talk about The Punisher Season 1, plus some new movies you might be interested in. Pixar’s Coco (full review next week), Last Flag Flying, and Wonder get a few minutes each, and we finished out the show with some banter about new movies to come over the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Go on…Cinemaholics Review: Justice League and The Punisher Season 1