Genre: Adventure, Animated, Sports, Comedy, Family
Writer: Aaron Buchsbaum, Teddy Riley Story by Nicolas Curcio, Peter Chiarelli
Director: Tyree Dillihay
Cast: Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Aaron Pierre, Nicola Coughlan, David Harbour, Nick Kroll, Jenifer Lewis, Patton Oswalt, Jelly Roll, Jennifer Hudson, Sherry Cola, Eduardo Franco, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, and basketball player Stephen Curry
Synopsis: A small goat with big dreams gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball, a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world.
Review: I am so impressed by kids movies. This isn’t anything new, but I love how many jokes they include in there for both children and adults. And how many little details there are to every single shot.
The animation to this movie was very impressive. Which is no surprise, as it was the same people behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The animation flows so well with the fast action through the film.
The movie has a lot of heart and a lot of message.
Review: I was so excited when I saw this show first announced. I have been a fan of Reggie Watts for a few decades now, but have never had the chance to see him live. And the cherries on top: The show was 30 minutes from where I grew up and a hometown rapper I like was opening the show.
The Colonial Theater was has been around for a century and just had a major upgrade. The venue reminded me of some of the venues in Boston like Bosch in Boston. It’s a beautiful older venue covered in gold, long bannisters, and a good view no matter where you are seated.
Adam and the Flood, formerly known as Adeem/Glue, is the newest project by Adam. He is a Keene native who now resides in my hometown. I saw him perform twice years back and he put on such a good, live show. His music is always filled with powerful samples, strong beats, and lyrics that mean something. This new project is fronted by a full band and Adam brought his bassist out for his show at the Colonial. They pushed through ten songs, while Adam talked a little inbetween each about the meaning behind them, the rappers who inspired him, his native roots, being a father. If you get a chance to see them, make it happen!
Setlist for Adam and the Flood:
Time Don’t Last
Bang
Ten Lives
You Don’t know
Hubris
Prey
I Learned Everything from Vonnegut
Trippin Over Nothin
Peace It Together
50 Miles from Home
I have been a fan of Reggie Watts for as long as I can remember. From his Conan appearances, his band leading duty on Comedy Bang Bang, the man has had a long and successful career in music comedy. I did stand up for a decade and occasionally played the piano or guitar and did one-liners and songs. Though I could never do what Reggie did, I remember researching his equipment, his setup, everything. I was so impressed by him.
The German-born, Minnesotan demonstrates his vocals on stage from bass to tenor, that man can hit all notes. Which is no surprise, as he formerly lead bands including the soul/funk Maktub.
On stage, Watts beatboxes, sings, raps, and loops sounds together to create hilariously skilled songs. And the coolest part: No two sets are alike. As in, everything is improvised. You could follow him for a whole tour and every night would be new. Don’t expect to see him and hear a favorite from one of his live recordings or late night appearances. Instead, expect to hear songs about the city he is performing in, songs about the crowd, songs about topical events.
I was scrolling Facebook yesterday when I saw the news that Catherine O’Hara had died. I figured it was just another spam account that I had followed by accident. That felt easier to believe. I guess it was wishful thinking. I then went to Google, where I saw countless news publications sharing the same news. And then came the tributes from those close to her.
Macaulay Culkin, Dan Levy, Pedro Pascal—so many people talked about what a joy it was to work with her.
O’Hara got her start in Canadian comedy. She worked alongside so many talents, including Eugene Levy and John Candy, on SCTV. She was also a cast member on Saturday Night Live. She went on to become everyone’s favorite mother in the Home Alone films. She dominated the mockumentary world in Christopher Guest films and worked alongside Tim Burton, including the famous dance scene in Beetlejuice.
More recently, O’Hara co-starred in Seth Rogen’s The Studio as a former executive pushed out because of her age. And, of course, we loved her as the once-affluent Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek.
Her role as the struggle mother in the 2002 comedy Orange County was one of the first things I saw her in and will always be one of my favorites. Her character tries to keep it together as a trophy wife and mother to a slacker played by Jack Black and an over achiever played by Colin Hanks.
And everyone loves Best in Show. Which is fair. It’s fantastic. But A Mighty Wind is just as good, if not better. O’Hara’s relationships with longtime screen partner Eugene Levy is so good in this movie. https://youtu.be/QwLZfPPM7GQ?si=WyymHHW9Ax9o_MJf
Synopsis: An employee and her insufferable boss become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. Here, they must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, will they make it out alive?
Over the past two years, I wrote four children’s books. Three of them I plan to turn into series. I took a break from those to put together a book of short horror stories.
Some stories we’re written long ago. Some we’re just ideas in my head that I finally put to paper. And some of them are brand new. I would love to one day to turn them all into a television show or turn one or two of them into a movie. More realistically, I hope someone else turns them into a show or movie.
I was raised on thing like Stephen King films and The Twilight Zone. My stories are heavily inspired by those things.
There are stories about ghosts, spiders, monsters, torture.
Review: if you have read this site, then you know that I am a big fan of horror. It is my favorite genre. I just released a book of short horror stories. The last two October, I watched 31 horror movies that were new to me.
I’m looking forward to this year as we have a lot of good horror. Movies coming out. A new Silent Hill film, and a new Resident Evil film. We have Ready or Not 2, Clayface, a new Evil Dead, a new a Scream entry. And I’m sure many more movies in the Poohniverse.
I was excited for primate from the first trailer that I saw. It reminded me of Jordan Peele’s Nope. At least the opening. Monkeys are one of my absolute favorite animals. But I also enjoy a horror movie about monkeys. Such as 28 Days Later or Congo.
I didn’t know if this movie would be kitschy or not. I walked out out of the movie, saying that I really enjoyed it, but then saying that I felt there were some plot holes within the writing. But the more I thought about them, the more they made sense. The film follows a chimpanzee who gets rabies in Australia. A good fact to go into going into this Movie is that rabies do not exist in that continent.
Troy, who played the father in the Oscar winning CODA also plays the dad in this. There are some cool sign language scenes used between the humans and the chimpanzee and also some where the humans are communicating in sign language quietly, to avoid the ravenous Chimp. And there’s also a very cool, unique scene, where we take the POV of the death, father, which sets up some good scares.
For some reason, I didn’t think that the kills would be as brutal and gory. But I was wrong. The first one alone was very graphic. I felt like I was brought back again to when I took my girlfriend to see the substance last year, and she covered her face for a half of the movie.
Cast: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Ke Huy Quan, Fortune Feimster, Andy Samberg, David Strathairn, Shakira, Idris Elba, Patrick Warburton, Quinta Brunson, Danny Trejo, Alan Tudyk, Nate Torrence, Don Lake, Bonnie Hunt, Jenny Slate
Synopsis: Brave rabbit cop Judy Hopps and her friend, the fox Nick Wilde, team up again to crack a new case, the most perilous and intricate of their careers.
Review: A Silence of the Lambs reference and a Shining reference in the sequel. A Godfather reference in both. These movies now how to cater to children and to their parents. Ke Huy Quan has the most adorable voice and plays such a cute snake. And we get the whole Handsome podcast hosts of Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster, and Mae Martin.
If you went to the theaters this week and saw Anaconda this week, you probably laughed your ass off. We all know Jack Black and Paul Rudd do comedy well. Jack Black has proven his comedic chops in films such as Orange County, School of Rock, Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny, and the Kung Fu Panda,Jumanji, and Super Mario franchise. Paul Rudd also entered our screens in the 90s, in things like Clueless. Throughout the next few decades, he worked closely with David Wain in films like Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models,They Came Together, and Judd Apatow’s The 40-Year-Old-Virgin and Knocked Up.
Movie: Saving Silverman. Release date: 2001 Cast: Jason Biggs, Steve Zahn, Jack Black, Amanda Peet Synopsis: A pair of buddies conspire to save their best friend from marrying the wrong woman. Why: Jack Black and Steve Zahn play the best friends of Jason Biggs and can’t stand his new girlfriend. They go to extreme lengths just to get rid of her. The Neil Diamond cover band in this movie is so fun.
Movie: Tropic Thunder Release date: 2008 Cast: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey, Jr. Steve Coogan, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Brandon T. Jackson ,Bill Hader, Nick Nolte Why:If you liked Anaconda, then you will love Tropic Thunder. Because they follow the same formula and both star Jack Black! In the film, a bunch of actors who need a win decide to film a Vietnam war movie on location. They then wind up getting caught up in their own war and have to find their way out using the skills of their characters.
Movie: Strange Wilderness Release date: 2008 Cast: Steve Zahn, Allen Covert, Jonah Hill, Kevin Heffernan, Ashley Scott Peter, Dante Harry Hamlin, Robert Patrick, Joe Don Baker, Justin Long, Jeff Garlin, Ernest Borgnine Why: Like Grandma’s Boy, this was one of the movies that starred all of the people from Adam Sandler movies without Adam Sandler. I saw it in theaters in college and it is easily one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. Like Anadona, it is so incredibly dumb, but so damn funny.
Movie: Orange County Release date: 2001 Cast: Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O’Hara, Schuyler Fisk, John Lithgow, Lily Tomlin Why: This movie came out when I was 13. I saw this in theaters around the same time as Out Cold and the two comedies did so much for my love for comedy. Jack Black is a force in this movie. He plays the slacker, stoner, step brother to Colin Hank’s character.
Cast: Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Steve Zahn, Thandiwe Newton, Daniela Melchior, Selton Mello
Synopsis: A group of friends are going through a mid-life crisis. They decide to remake a favorite movie from their youth but encounter unexpected events when they enter the jungle.
Review: I didn’t know what to think of this movie going into it. I knew that it would be funny, at the least, Jack Black, Paul Rudd, Steve Zahn. That’s a good enough recipe for me to see a movie. I also loved the Tropic Thunder premise to it.
The movie is really, really funny. As always, Steve Zahn steals the show. Not to say that Rude and Black are not also hilarious. The scene with Jack, Black and the boar had me crying laughing.
Along with the movie. Being funny, it also surprised. We have some really good jumps scenes and some heart. I shouldn’t be surprised at the gym scenes, but there were one or two times where I literally jumped in my seat. The movie does play pretty well as a horror Comedy and not just a dumb buddy buddy comedy. The movie also has a lot of heart for people who feel stuck in their lives right now and want to do that one thing they’ve always wanted to do. The two main characters grew up making videos together and there’s a scene where they’re watching their old Movies together. The scene made be nostalgic as I also used to make videos with friends back when we were kids.
Without spoiling anything, there’s a few cameos in the movie that are pretty wild. There’s also some good jokes that almost break the fourth wall where they talk about how bad a remake to a classic can be. There’s also a story line in there about the IP for Anaconda.
The movie. Definitely surprised me. It wasn’t just a comedy. It wasn’t just a stoner comedy. It had action, it had heart, it had jumped scenes.
I hope that we get more movies like this. Movies within movies within movies within remakes. And allows people to get away with things on screen and really just make things fun and poke fun while also putting together a pretty good movie.
Writer: Steve Dawson, Andrew Dawson, Tim Inman, Jimmy Carr, Patrick Carr
Director: Paul Feig
Cast: Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Radcliffe, Katherine Waterston, Emma Laird, Tom Goodman-Hill, Anna Maxwell Martin, Sue Johnston, Tom Felton, Damian Lewis
Synopsis: A new porter forms an odd bond with the youngest daughter of a well-known UK family. As the Davenport family, headed by Lord and Lady Davenport, deals with the epic disaster of the wedding of their eldest daughter to her caddish cousin.
Review: We are all patiently awaiting Scary Movie 6 to come out next year. The news of the original creators and cast got us all quickly onboard. The last few years have also spoiled us with horror movies, so the Wayans brothers have a lot to work with.
This year, we were lucky enough with two parodies. Liam Niesen starred in a new Naked Gun and Fackham Hall entered theaters just at the end of the year.
