I watched Citizen Kane for the first time during the pandemic. It was a masterpiece. It is one of those movies that is seen as one of the greatest movies ever made. Orson Welles directed, starred and produced the notorious film based on the life of newspaper man William Randolph Hurst. But how much did Welles contribute to the writing of the film? Welles is listed as a co-writer with alcoholic writer Herman J. Mankiewicz.
In the new biopic Mank, the story is told of the origin of the screenplay of Citizen Kane and follows the life of Mankiewicz, nicknamed Mank. Played by Oscar winner Gary Oldman, Mank rushed to finish writing the screenplay against plenty of opposition of 1930s Hollywood.
Mank was directed by David Fincher and written by his father Jack Fincher. Jack Fincher wrote the script originally in the 1990s but it never saw the light. Jack Fincher died in 2003. There is a distinct feel to the script, very dialogue heavy. The words were exceptional and helped carry the film. There was not a lot of actual plot development but the dialogue really made the film.
Another key to the special look of the film is that is was filmed in black and white. That gave the film a feel much like Citizen Kane itself and gorgeous to watch.
Gary Oldman led a fantastic cast that included Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tom Pelphry, Charles Dance, Tom Burke, and Arliss Howard. These actors all had to deal with the legendary Hollywood icons that they embodied. But Oldman was the standout here as he continuously blends into his roles. Oldman had to play two ages of Mankiewicz, as the film was told with flashbacks as well as the current day.
There are some slow moments, but the dialogue is always sparkling. The film is beautiful and tells a fascinating story, if not a completely accurate one.
There have been a ton of body swap movies over the year, and even several with the word “freaky” in the movie title. However, this version from Blumhouse is a slice above the rest with a new and original idea that takes Freaky to a new level.
Millie (Kathryn Newton) is a high school student who has been having a tough time sine her father died a year ago. Her mother (Katie Finneran) is smothering her, she is being bullied on a regular basis at school and her police officer sister (Dana Drori) has little time for her.
Everything changed when local urban legend The Butcher (Vince Vaughn) returned to the town and started murdering young people. The Butcher and Millie crossed paths and The Butcher stabbed her with a knife. However, the knife was special, an old Aztec artifact, causing the two of them to switch consciousness.
Of course, we have seen the idea of the body switch many times and the jokes about the characters perplexity and disorientation over the unfamiliar body they found themselves trapped within. There was the expected jokes about Millie and the penis that she now found herself with.
Still, the fact that one of the body switchers is a serial killer tweaks the story enough to freshen up the concept. The biggest issue I had with the story was that it would have helped make things easier if Millie (in The Butcher’s body) would have gone to her sister the cop for help. She was able to convince her two best friends, Nyla (Celeste O’Connor) and Josh (Misha Osherovich), and her crush Booker (Uriah Shelton) that the switch had happened. Shouldn’t her sister be easier to convince? They did not spend enough time showing the fractured relationship of the sisters to make me believe that this wouldn’t be the first thing she did.
Yet, I was able to get past that and a few other plot points that required some serious suspension of disbelief mainly because of how awesome Vince Vaughn was and how much charisma he had with these other kids. And Kathryn Newton played an epic bad ass killer. She does a tremendous job when she has The Butcher inhabiting her body. You believe that this was a different character, right down to the way she moved or looked at people. The characters were all a hoot and they helped move the movie past some of the more ridiculousness of the plot.
The is some strong humor involved here and a lot of gory kills. Some of the kills, in particular the one where Cameron from Ferris Buehler’s Day Off, Alan Ruck, who plays a teacher at Millie’s school, is killed.
I was excited to see this on Vudu today and it was certainly a fun time. The film moved quickly and worked quite a bit. Freaky took an old trope and gave it a new spin with several engaging performances.
Last month, a strange item that reminded many of the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey appeared in the middle of a Utah desert. How it arrived there was a mystery. Strangely, then the monolith disappeared overnight. As amazingly as it appeared, it disappeared. Jokes were made.
Jason Blum and Patton Oswalt are the showrunners for the upcoming animated Hulu series featuring M.O.D.O.K. He is the super genius supervillain gigantic head with small arms.
It seems as if M.O.D.O.K. has having some problems. AIM is looking to regain its strength and one of the way they are choosing to do it is to deactivate the malfunctioning M.O.D.O.K.
It does not turn out well.
So what does a supervillain do when its organization turns its back on you and you start seeing images that you know cannot be true?
You’ll never guess.
I enjoyed this issue and it had a different feel to it than other Marvel books. Perhaps that comes form the writers who are not normal comic book writers. If this is what the animated series is going to be like, then I will be watching Hulu when it comes out.
I have to say, I do not collect Venom comics. I like the character, but I have just never been into him much. I really did like the arrival of his son in the last Venom/Spidey event, but I have not seen anything from him since.
I enjoyed King in Black a great deal. I have not been a fan of the last few Marvel massive crossover events. If it is not tied to Spider-Man, I have basically waited for them to end.
I think this is going to be different.
There is such a feeling of dread involved in this issue. The arrival of Knull is absolutely devastating for the heroes, and when you see Tony Stark reacting the way he does, you know there are problems. Knull then almost immediately shows you his dominance in a powerful moment that you do not see coming.
I still wish we could get rid of all the crossover issues. These major Marvel milestones always feel as if the crossover issues are unimportant and are just there to try and get the collectors to shell out some more money. However, the main book can be intriguing and this is one of those.
I am excited to see where the story goes. The book did a good job of telling the story and I feel as if I have a pretty decent understanding of what is happening, even though I have not been a Venom reader. This may be a good time to jump on.
And Knull is totally terrifying. How is this monster going to be stopped? Our heroes are clearly at a low point. What are they going to do?
Chip Zdarsky’s run on Daredevil has been a must read every month.
This month’s 25th issue of Daredevil is everything you could possibly want in a Marvel comic. The characterization is great. You have characters doing things that fit with their character and making choices that make sense and are yet shocking. The art is great. The action is great.
It has been one of the best comics in Marvel.
No spoilers here, but the focus this month on Elektra gives us some fantastic insights into the character of Elektra Natchios. We get just a flavor of Daredevil in prison. There is going to be so much more coming from that.
The issue dives into the relationship between Matt Murdock and Elektra. How they are the same. How they are different. What they think of each other.
And all of this with Hell’s Kitchen as the backdrop.
It is story telling at its finest and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.
This year, there was an explosion of shows on YouTube. It seems as if there are all kinds of shows and only so many hours in the day.
In January, Collider Video fired a group of on air talent and sent them out into the world. That beginning helped bring about the current golden age of YouTube.
Here are the EYG Top 12 YouTube shows.
#12. Steve Hofstetter. Just discovered this comedian who specializes in taking on the hecklers of the world. He does it with the sharpest wit around.
#11. The Outlaw Nation. This stars John Rocha, one of the Collider people let go in January. He brings on guests and talks about anything he wants to. It gave him a much greater freedom than COllider ever would.
#10. Schmoedown Rundown. A reaction show for the Movie Trivia Schmoedown, Schmoedown Rundown features Brad Gilmore and “Frankie Numbaz” Frank Janisch. They discuss the matches from the week before and discuss the MTS.
#9. Jamel AKA Jamal. Jamal watches videos of classic music and comments. He makes his comments in the most engaging and entertaining ways. He has such a love of music and he shares it with you beautifully.
#8. Live at the Roxy. Roxy Striar is another of the Collider cast offs who have taken advantage of the opportunity by creating her channel. She has had a Live at the Roxy every day since, not yet missing a day. Whether for holiday, illness, grief or Nazi trolls invading her show, Roxy has been there.
#7. Backstage. The behind the curtain look at the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. Hosted for most of the year by Ben Bateman and John Rocha, the show has recently replaced Rocha with Innergeekdom legend Rachel “The Crusher” Cushing.
#6. Golden Ticket. “Thank you for being a fan.” A special game show type show where the Top 10 Show guys, John Rocha and Matt Knost, invited their Patreon members to compete in a Jeopardy style contest for a guest spot on their Top 10 Show. Lots of fun and the charisma from the two hosts come thorugh.
#5. Up & Downs. The “Bald *sshole” Simon Miller wields the finger of power and reviews Monday Night RAW, Smackdown, and other WWE PPVs giving the best parts of the shows an up and the bad parts a down. Simon is funny and shares his thoughts on the WWE product weekly.
#4. Fatman Beyond. Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin get together weekly at the bar Scum and Villainy in LA to discuss the current world of pop culture. Kevin and Marc are funny, engaging and thoroughly intelligent, approaching movies and TV with not only a critical eye, but also a fanboy perspective.
#3. Top 10. Matt Knost and John Rocha each week set a topic, compile their individual top 10 lists of those movies and then count them down. Finally, after they reveal their personal top 10 lists, they compile it into a list for the show. I have loved listening to these two for several years now.
#2. SEN Live. SEN stands for the Schmoedown Entertainment Network and it is a morning zoo type show, hosted by Kristian Harloff. They discuss movie news along with whatever else may tickle their funny bone. This year, regular member of SEN, Brett Sheridan, created a character called ZaFlertinflause that took over the internet for a couple of weeks during the pandemic.
#1. Movie Trivia Schmoedown. The MTS was dealt a tough blow this year with the pandemic bringing the show to a halt. However, Kristian Harloff and Mark Ellis did not let the virus derail the momentum their show had been building. They took the show virtually and found more of an audience. Between a brilliant live Star Wars tournament on Twitch to the broadcast of the surprising matchup between Kevin Smith and Chris Jericho, the MTS took the challenges thrown at them and made the best of them. A partnership with Skybound gave the show a special burst.
The John Carter Memorial Award is given each year but, to be honest, feels like it is not too fair this year.
That is because the John Carter Memorial Award goes to the film which is considered the year’s biggest flop.
Past “winners” of this award include:
Previous winners: John Carter, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Lone Ranger, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Expendables 3, Jem and the Holograms, Pan, Rock the Casbah, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Robin Hood (2018), Mortal Engines, Playmobil: The Movie
A flop does not need to be a bad movie. It is just one that did not perform well at the box office for whatever reason. And this is the reason why this year may not be a fair year to present this award. The box office was nonexistent for much of the year because of the Covid-19 outbreak. Pandemics do cause issues with movie theaters.
However, I did look at early in the year (with one exception) for the films under consideration. So… here is the John Carter Memorial Award recipient.
The Rhythm Section
Blake Lively’s character becomes an assassin who is after the people who were responsible for her family’s death. It lost a bunch of money early in the year. While it may not have been the final award winner in a regular year, this year’s reduced box office makes this one look worse.
Runners-Up: Dolittle, Tenet, Call of the Wild. (Tenet is the only one not from the pre-pandemic world mainly because it did not save the box office as Christopher Nolan seemed to believe).
The 2020 Star of the Year was difficult to determine because 2020 was such a dump fire of a year. So much happened that I felt like it sorely limited the potential choices.
I started brainstorming a list of possible choices but none of them felt right. I’ll address those in the runners-up list. Finally, the idea popped into my head and it fit perfectly. It was not unprecedented that the “Star of the Year” was not an individual person. A few years back I gave the Star of the Year to Marvel Studios (ironically, Marvel Studios did not release a movie or TV show in 2020) so I knew this was going to work.
Previous Winners: Gal Gadot, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jennifer Lawrence, Marvel Studios, J.J. Abrams, Josh Brolin, Damon Lindelof & Regina King
What, then, was the Star of the Year for 2020? What was something so vital and so important to us in the months of isolation and quarantine? And what came through with its best year of movie entertainment ever?
Yes, The Star of the Year is Netflix!
Not only did Netflix have amazing binge-worthy series such as The Crown, including something for everyone, not only did they have tremendous documentaries like The Social Dilemma that were both chilling and sometimes hard to watch, not only did it give the world a true pop culture iconic show with Tiger King that everyone talked about, but it also provided us with some of the best movies of the year. These include, among plenty of others, Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods, Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7, Adam Sandler’s Hubie Halloween, the comic adaption of The Old Guard, Chris Hemsworth starring in Extraction, and the upcoming final performance in the career of Chadwick Boseman with Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
This is just a few examples of the content dropped on Netflix in 2020. This streaming service played such a major part in keeping us sane and entertained as the world went to crap around us. Netflix provided an outlet that made the world not feel like it was collapsing in on us. The nightmares of the real world were kept at bay as we blamed Carol for killing her husband or watched as the game was afoot with Enola Holmes or laughed along with Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani as they tried to prove that they were not involved with a murder in Lovebirds.
All this and the streaming service did not even have Stranger Things this year. 2020 is clearly a highlight for Netflix and, with all the more streaming services nipping at their heels, Netflix truly came to play.
Runners-Up: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, President-Elect Joe Biden, Late Night Talk Show Hosts, Baby Yoda, Joe Exotic and Carol Baskin, Roman Reigns.
Here is a brand new award for the Year in Review. Debuting this year is “The Don’t Feed the Trolls: Insane Internet Rage Scandal of the Year” Award.
This was inspired from this year’s winner. The craziness that can come into the world from social media locations such as Facebook or Twitter makes several corners of the internet a toxic place. So much so that many celebrities have left the platforms because of the trolls.
However, I decided that since that toxicity can be a serious situation, we would only “honor” those moments of internet rage that consist of pop culture references that should be considered silly to fight about. Though there were many instances of internet rage directed toward and for President Trump, for or against Black Lives Matter or threats directed toward people, I plan on keeping those out of this award consideration.
I debated about “Karen” videos that are all over the place, but I decided that those fall into the other serious category.
So… here are the three runners-up
Movie Trivia Schmoedown- Marc Andreyko puts down the answer Idris Alba instead of Elba and he wins the challenge. This led to so much chaos for several weeks over something that was not worth the time.
Roxy Striar fights off the trolls from her show. This just happened a few days ago on her Live at the Roxy when a bunch of internet trolls invaded Roxy’s chat with their hate speech and white supremist ideals. I left this in here because of how Roxy fought off the trolls until her moderators could clean them out.
What is the Snyder Cut exactly? The internet trolls were out and heavy for the announcement of the release of the Snyder cut of Justice League but you had better not make any sort of comment about the film not being a complete cut. The utter insanity here was amazing. It is going to be released. Calm down all.
The first winner….
Clearly it should be something about Star Wars, right? Yep…
Baby Yoda eats frog eggs.
Yes, the beloved character from The Mandalorian was not even immune to the trolls as the world lost their minds after Baby Yoda (aka The Child aka [SPOILERS] Grogu) ate some of the frog lady’s remaining eggs that she was trying to get safely to her husband. Cries of genocide echoed through the land. Sure, it may be a little dark, but it is not as if these eggs were fertilized yet. It was like having a boiled chicken egg. Some people used this as evidence to support the theory that Baby Yoda is evil. That sure feels like a stretch to me.
The first category of the Year in Review is a category to look at the top films that had been released in 2019 but I had not seen until 2020. This could be be films that had been released in limited release for Oscar consideration or limited release because of another release schedule. Because I do not want to include 2019 films on my 2020 list, I came up with this adjustment. This year there were four films that hit this category.
#4. Pain & Glory.
This is a Spanish speaking film featuring a great lead performance from Antonio Banderas. Banderas received an Oscar nomination for this role.
#3. Jay & Silent Bob Reboot. The return of the duo of Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes to their iconic roles in a story featuring Jay’s unknown daughter.
#2. Just Mercy. Michael B. Jordan is a lawyer and he is trying to save Jamie Foxx who is on death row. Race court battle that is compelling as can be.
#1. 1917. I loved this movie. It may have been near the top of the list last year had I seen it before the year ended (probably #3 behind Endgame and Jojo Rabbit).
Disney + brought back one of the classic animal tales for a live action movie on their streaming service. Black Beauty was a novel from Anna Sewell in 1877. It became arguably the most well-known and beloved horse story ever. It had been adapted into several formats over the years prior to the arrival of this new film. Directed and adapted by Ashley Avis, this feels like the perfect kind of IP for Disney +.
Unfortunately, I found this version of Black Beauty to be overtly melodramatic and silly.
The wild stallion was caught and brought to John Manly’s (Iain Glen) Birtwick Stables. The horse seemed to be unbreakable. When John’s niece Jo (Mackenzie Foy) comes to stay with him after her parents died, she created a bond with the horse and named her Beauty.
The film started off immediately causing me to check out when I realized that there was a voice over by Kate Winslet and she was supposed to be the thoughts of the horse. I felt like I was in a Disneynature movie. The voice spoke like a human and told the story. What Beauty knew was never really explained nor did it matter that a horse would not know the vocabulary required. This did not start the film off well for me.
Then there was so much melodrama involved in the movie that I could barely stand it. Just about every type of plot contrivance that could appear, does. There is the fire, the mean girls, the money problems, the injured horse, the horse out saving people’s lives etc. There was just too many of these masquerading as plot. It was also quite manipulative film as there was no doubt that they were trying to play on the audience’s emotions. It all felt pretty fake to me.
While I found Mackenzie Foy a lovely presence on film, her character was not developed to the point it could have been. The early part of the movie tried to give Jo some character traits, but it was all surface area. She just became the kind hearted girl who bonded with the horse.
The film looked good and was shot well. I think it was too long and needed more of a edit.
This again may be a decent family film to entertain the children, but I did not enjoy it much.
Sarah Paulson has been one of the most consistently good actresses that we have had over the last several years. Her work in American Horror Story, The People vs. OJ and several other projects have shown her as a powerhouse.
So seeing her as one of the main leads of Hulu’s movie Run, I was expecting her typical level of high quality. Yet, she took it to a new height.
The film begins showing us that Diane (Sarah Paulson) had just given birth to a premature baby girl and the doctors and nurses worked desperately to save the newborn. The look at the baby told us that she was going to face a tough life.
Fast forward seventeen years and Diane has home schooled her daughter Chloe (Kiera Allen) and Chloe was expecting letters from college. Everything seemed to be idyllic in this home and that whatever health issues Chloe had were being managed with love.
However, as one of Chloe’s medications were changed, she begins to be suspicious that her mom had an ulterior motive and that she had a deep secret.
Run does an exceptional job of creating tension and anxiety during the runtime of this thriller. You feel anxious and confused as Chloe does everything in her power to discover the truth. The film shows how capable the young woman was despite her paralysis and her list of other ailments. Kiera Allen is excellent playing the confusion and the apprehension Chloe is feeling. You can see the conflict within her as she discovers more and more about her suspicions.
Sarah Paulson is unbelievable. She take this character into so many directions and you see how obsessive she can be. The steps she takes are wild and shocking, but you can see where they come from inside the psyche of the woman.
However, poor Mailman Tom (Pat Healy). His kindness and strength of character should have been rewarded.
One problem I have is the same one I have with a lot of these kind of movies. The title is so nondescript or generic that a great film like this suffers from it. The title should be something that immediately resonates with the audience and that will forever remain in your head. The title Run does not even have that much of a significance to this movie.
I was on the edge of my seat for Run and it worked extremely well. There were amazing performances and a story that kept building throughout. Sarah Paulson continues to show that she is exceptional and that she can carry off any role you give her.
Uncle Frank is a film written and directed by Alan Ball and debuted on Amazon Prime this weekend. It boasts a top line performance from Paul Bettany.
Frank (Paul Bettany) is part of a larger family filled with dysfunction in 1973 South Carolina. So much so that Frank had to get out, making his way to Manhattan. Living there for years, Frank’s niece Beth (Sophia Lillis) came as well. When she arrived, she discovered Frank’s deep, hidden secret. He was gay.
He had also been living with another man, Wally (Peter Macdissi), for years. He was desperately trying to keep the truth from his family, afraid of what they might think. However, when Frank’s verbally abusive father (Stephen Root) dies, he and Beth struggled to return for the funeral.
The movie has some solid performances and some really good character work, but everything is dominated by Paul Bettany. Frank has so much baggage from his life and unresolved pain from his self-discovery of his orientation and Bettany dominates every scene. You can see how he has never truly dealt with the tragedy in his past, all connected to his father, so when his father dies, it brings up a massive personal reaction.
The relationship between Frank and Wally is sweet and real. The fears that they faced as a gay couple in the early seventies were real and potentially dangerous and their attempts to shield who they were is a sad fact of life. We see this played out in some powerful scenes between them. Frank’s issues have led to him having a drinking problem which only compounds his deep-seeded pain.
Sophia Lillis does a great job too. At first, the film feels as if she would have been our main protagonist, but it does seem as if she takes a supporting role to that of Paul Bettany for most of the movie.
Uncle Frank is a good movie, though it may not be as strong as the performance given by several of the actors, in particular Paul Bettany. It is a worthwhile watch though.
I hope that I am not being too subtle about my feelings.
Honestly, Kobe Bryant’s death feels like it was 20 years ago.
Still, we will be doing our annual Year in Review over the next month. We will still be doing our Top 30 best and worst movies of 2020. The movies that will make those lists may not make a normal year’s list, but I have currently (as of 11/27) seen 131 movies (which, by comparison, in 2019 I saw 177 films) so there are enough for the two lists.
And with the awards that we present every year, there will be no asterisks! The lists may be lower, but they still count!
We will also be having some extra lists that may reach into the different areas that we typically cover.
Either way, I am looking forward to 2020 coming to a close and wiping this out of the memory .
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EYG- Embrace Your Geekness 