Movie Review Archives -

OBEX MOVIE REVIEW OBEX, the latest film from multi-hyphenate artist Albert Birney, is set in the pre-internet days of the 1980s. In addition to writing and directing, Birney also stars as Conor, a computer nerd and shut-in who lives alone with his dog Sandy. One day, intrigued by an ad, Conor orders a copy of […]

THE ELEPHANT REVIEW According to legend, and a very quick google search, the very first animated story was by French artist Émile Cohl called Fantasmagorie back in 1908. It lasted a little over a minute and featured our protagonist trying to get rid of hats, a clown, and an elephant. Over a century later, a […]

DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 368: JOHN’S BEST STACK EVER? When John picked up this week’s stack of physical media to watch for Digital Noise, he said, “Chris…this might be the best stack you’ve ever handed me”. So, the suspense begins…did they live up to his hopes? With everything from a legendary documentary about one of the […]

BEST OF 2025 PART THREE Chris and Wright gather a different lineup of regulars and friends to discuss more of the best movies and tv shows of 2025 that MAYBE aren’t the things you’ve heard everyone else talking about. Things have gotten a little looser on this second (in person, third overall) segment as the […]

BEST OF 2025 PART ONE We always try to do something a little different every year with our Best Of The Year shows. This year, we decided to get together just the Austin-based folks for a sorta mini-Gathering series of podcasts to take on the best of TV, Film, and Videogames of 2025. The conceit […]

NE ZHA 2 MOVIE REVIEW Ne Zha, the story of a rebellious and powerful child deity in Chinese mythology with origins in Buddhist lore, has been interpreted and adapted throughout the centuries through word of mouth, written folk lore, and like all the best myths, adapted to the silver screen. Therefore it is no surprise […]

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BETTE & JOAN? – BONUS EPISODE 6: SIGNATURE ROLES “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!” Welcome to the final bonus episode of What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?, an ongoing journey through the later careers of Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. This holiday season, we’ve gone […]

IS THIS THING ON? MOVIE REVIEW Comedy can be good for a lot of things but personal healing is not one you hear as much about. Writer/Director Bradley Cooper offers this year in an unusually low-key release his take on the subject, Is This Thing On? Loosely inspired by the life of British comedian John […]

STARRING DICK VAN DYKE MOVIE REVIEW Go over to PBS online and do yourself the favor of watching Starring Dick Van Dyke for FREE! You have no excuse not to enjoy this beautiful documentary that celebrates the life, legacy, and unshakable charm of one of entertainment’s most enduring icons. This film traces Van Dyke’s journey […]

TRASH IN THE CAN: THE GRINCH THAT STOLE BITCHES This week, the boys ruin Christmas with the help of a horny ex-con Grinch, drug dealing elves, and more ass shaking than a 2 Live Crew! Returning guest and podcaster, Caroline Sulek, helps us unwrap this trap house Dr. Seuss retelling that reminds us Tubi is […]

HEART/FELT – IT’S IN EVERY ONE OF US: EMMET OTTER’S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS & A MUPPET FAMILY CHRISTMAS In this holiday roundtable episode of Heart/Felt, I’m joined by returning guests Shira More, Frank Calvillo, and Rhett O’Hara to reflect on Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas and A Muppet Family Christmas. We explore how these intimate seasonal specials […]

INFLUENCERS MOVIE REVIEW Smash that like button and don’t forget to subscribe to that hashtag #MurderBeautifulPeopleOnVacation! Whether you follow on Instagram, Twitter rebrands, TikTok, or are over the hill and on Facebook, Influencers is that Gen X to Z killing spree goodness you need to close out your holiday shuffle as we all dance into […]

ANACONDA MOVIE REVIEW If you’ve ever seen the 1997 horror film Anaconda starring Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight, Owen Wilson, and Eric Stoltz, you know that it’s not exactly a masterpiece of the genre. And yet, it stubbornly exudes a weird cultural fascination that only comes with movies that are very bad yet oddly […]

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BETTE & JOAN? – BONUS EPISODE 5: GRANDE DAME GUIGNOL: A CONTINUING EDUCATION “I want this lying bitch out of my house!” Welcome to another bonus episode of What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?, an ongoing journey through the later careers of Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. Although our travels […]

SONG SUNG BLUE It’s Christmas time so you can expect a few things: people acting like Mariah Carey is some horror movie villain, reconsiderations of the Grinch as a powerful anti-capitalist figure unjustifiably bullied by a bunch of yokels, and lately Hugh Jackman playing a singing role in a film. Song Sung Blue tells the […]

WE BURY THE DEAD MOVIE REVIEW The apocalypse arrives with a bang after a catastrophic military experiment off the coast of Tasmania wipes out nearly all life on the island. Slowly, the dead begin to rise and shamble due to the effects of the fallout. Ava Newman (Daisy Ridley) scours the post-collapse nation for her […]

OH. WHAT. FUN. MOVIE REVIEW One Christmas you’re bound in a homemade leather suit decapitating mannequins while eluding the detective skills of a millionaire with daddy issues while awakening your independence and empowering an audience of all ages to do the same in the face of an uncaring apathetic world. Meow! Then three decades later, […]

DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 367: HIDEOUS MUTANT FREAK CRITICS A long time ago Wright and Chris were walking down a long and lonesome road when all of the sudden shined some shiny…physical media. And our audience said, “Give the best reviews in the world or we’ll eat your souls”. And Chris and Wright looked at each […]

JAY KELLY MOVIE REVIEW Netflix’s Jay Kelly arrives as a quiet, contemplative drama about success, friendship, and the uneasy space between who you were and who you’ve become. Noah Baumbach uses his career-long craft of telling stories that explore themes of success, sacrifice, loss, and existential dread to get George Clooney and Adam Sandler Golden […]

COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT MOVIE REVIEW Allen Ginsberg once said “Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It’s that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that’s what the poet does.” Andrea Gibson is a poet whose works include the acclaimed […]

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BETTE & JOAN?: BONUS EPISODE 4: AND THE NOMINEES ARE… Welcome to the fourth bonus episode of What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?, an ongoing journey through the later careers of Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. Although our travels through Bette & Joan’s post-Baby Jane years may have come to […]

THE HOUSEMAID MOVIE REVIEW Ready for some trashy Paul Feig twisty silliness? The Housemaid is one of those films that you’re either going to be with its over-the-top, elevated Lifetime movie dramatics as super fun, or totally bored by it. Sydney Sweeney plays Millie, a desperate woman with a troubled past who is sleeping in […]

AVATAR: FIRE AND ASH MOVIE REVIEW James Cameron has constantly been pushing the needle throughout his career in terms of visual F/X. If there’s a new Cameron movie, you can be sure you’re going to see some digital work that is the newest and shiniest thing out there. With the third in his Avatar series, […]

UNDER THE STARS MOVIE REVIEW Regarding true love, I give you this quote from the pages of “A Wizard and Glass” by Stephen King. “True love, like any other strong and addicting drug, is boring—once the tale of encounter and discovery is told, kisses quickly grow stale and caresses tiresome…except, of course, to those who […]

ELLA MCCAY MOVIE REVIEW Writer/Director/Sitcom creating legend James L. Brooks is back with his first feature film in fifteen years with Ella McCay. Emma Mackey plays the titular role and she is a force of nature. When we meet her in the film, she’s a schoolgirl telling off her dad (Woody Harrelson) for being a […]

DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 366: DOCTOR LORD SIR JOHN GHOLSON ON HOME RELEASES Ok, before you do anything else, go buy the movie Man Finds Tape which is available right now on VOD. John plays the antagonist in this horror film that is getting stellar reviews and lots of attention. It’s well worth your time. And […]

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BETTE & JOAN?: BONUS EPISODE 3: PRODUCED BY BETTE & JOAN “Must you always let that sister of yours get ahead of you?” Welcome to the third bonus episode of What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?, our ongoing journey of the later careers of Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. Although […]

JINGLE BELL HEIST MOVIE REVIEW Nice Christmas tree you got there with all that silver and gold on it. Be a shame if something happened to it. Jingle Bell Heist follows Sophia (Olivia Holt) who is all dressed up in red and green, and making cash at the Christmas department store adorned with Christmas trees […]

HEART/FELT – HIS HUMANITY: THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL In this episode of Heart/Felt, I’m joined by friend of the show, Baylor Johnson, for a poignant conversation about The Muppet Christmas Carol, a film born from profound loss and creative resilience. Together, we explore how the first Muppet feature made after Jim Henson’s passing became both […]

LEFT-HANDED GIRL MOVIE REVIEW Director Shih-Ching Tsou once said “I fell in love with my own city again. I spent 23 years of my life in Taipei. That’s home. That’s where my family is. I can never remove that from my brain or my body, and I notice every little detail of the city now. […]

HAMNET MOVIE REVIEW It’s important to remember when looking at biopics about real people that we actually know very little about, that being queeny about the historical details is entirely besides the fact. Guarantee that director Chloé Zhao knew that when she signed up to make the film Hamnet and it was never intended to […]

KILL BILL: THE WHOLE BLOODY AFFAIR MOVIE REVIEW Quentin Tarantino’s tribute to all his favorite geeky things Kill Bill Volume 1 originally came out in theaters in 2003, with Volume 2 following in 2004. They reached the highest gross of a Tarantino release at that point and were largely critically acclaimed. His original cut for […]

TRAIN DREAMS MOVIE REVIEW Denis Johnson once said “If you write fiction, you’re by yourself. There are certain advantages to that in that you don’t have to explain anything to anybody”. An adaptation of one of Johnson’s most cherished novellas is now streaming on Netflix, Train Dreams. Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) is a man living […]

MARTY SUPREME MOVIE REVIEW The Safdie brothers appear to have, for now, split up their teamwork. While Bennie took on the UFC Dwayne Johnson movie this year with The Smashing Machine, Josh seems to have retained a bit more of the Uncut Gems/Good Time feel with his latest, Marty Supreme. The film stars Timothée Chalamet […]

BUNNY MOVIE REVIEW There are so many songs about New York from all kinds of artists. From crooners to rappers, the adulation of the big apple can be heard world wide, but the best kind of harmonies that make up the most memorable stories are from the voices of the communities within the city itself. […]

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BETTE & JOAN?: BONUS EPISODE 2: ROM-COM QUEENS Welcome to the second bonus episode of What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?, an ongoing journey of the later careers of Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. Although our travels through Bette & Joan’s post-Baby Jane years may have come to an end, […]

WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY MOVIE REVIEW The greatest detective of the 21st century is back with a new mystery, once again written and directed by Rian Johnson and starring Daniel Craig as the quirky Benoit Blanc. This time, he is looking into a ‘locked room’ murder; an arrogant and narcissistic priest […]

HEART/FELT – IT’S WHEN WE LAUGHED: LABYRINTH Fiber artist Tessa Morrison joins me for a deep dive into the glittery, goblin-packed world of Labyrinth. We explore its mix of fairytale whimsy, coming-of-age themes, and yes, David Bowie’s codpiece, while highlighting Jim Henson’s bold blend of puppetry and cutting-edge effects that make the film’s imaginative maze […]

TRASH IN THE CAN: THE FOLLOWER This week, the boys dive into the bloody, ring-lit world of clout chasing with a very special guest, actual star of the movie, Stephanie Oustalet! It’s a tale of hashtags, hatchets, and the world’s smallest woman. Join us as we break down 2022’s The Follower, a movie where the […]

WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BETTE & JOAN?: BONUS EP 1: BETTE & JOAN GET CONTROVERSIAL Welcome to the first bonus episode of What Ever Happened to Bette & Joan?, an ongoing journey through late-era Bette Davis & Joan Crawford. Although, our travels through Bette & Joan’s post-Baby Jane years may have come to an end, […]

CHAINSAW MAN – THE MOVIE: REZE ARC Tatsuki Fujimoto’s most hellish manga creation has rev’ed up from the the page, onto the tv screens, and moving onto the biggest screens of silver and into our hearts. We are talking about Chainsaw Man The Movie- Reze Arc directed by anime key artist and showrunning legend Tatsuya […]

WICKED: FOR GOOD MOVIE REVIEW The most anticipated movie of the year (by studios hoping to pay for the rest of the year’s screwups by this paying for it) is here. The celebrated musical adapted from a book which was a reimagining of the movie which was based on a book has now concluded (?) […]

MUZZLE: CITY OF WOLVES MOVIE REVIEW Surprise! A sequel to a movie you didn’t know exists! Well, at the very least The Screener Squad didn’t know about it. Muzzle: City of Wolves storms onto the scene as the surprise sequel to 2023’s Muzzle, once again centered on Aaron Eckhart’s LAPD K-9 officer Jake Rosser. Still […]

THE RUNNING MAN MOVIE REVIEW The Stephen King adaptations won’t stop coming of late and we’ve gotten some pretty good ones like The Life of Chuck and The Long Walk. Now, Paramount is going back to the well with The Running Man, which had a somewhat successful 1987 adaptation as an Schwarzenegger film. Problem with […]

BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER MOVIE REVIEW Did you know that there are other casinos in the world and Las Vegas doesn’t corner the market on gambling? It’s true! Also the tables offer more than poker and blackjack. That’s right, sometimes the cards are used for a game called baccarat. It’s a simple game in […]

NOUVELLE VAGUE MOVIE REVIEW In 1959, film critic Jean-Luc Godard set out to direct his first feature, “À bout de souffle” or Breathless as it is known in English. Following Godard’s oft quoted dictum that ‘All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun’, Breathless tells the story of a louche […]

SENTIMENTAL VALUE MOVIE REVIEW After his critical success from 2021’s The Worst Person in the World, Joachim Trier’s new film Sentimental Value dives right back into the complex “feels” pool. The film follows Nora (Renate Reinsve) and her deeply fraught relationship with her father, Gustav (Stellan Skarsgård), who is a celebrated film director on his […]

HEART/FELT – AMERICA’S OLDEST CHILD STAR: FOLLOW THAT BIRD In this episode of Heart/Felt, I’m joined by friend of the show Elliot Williams to talk about Follow That Bird, Big Bird’s big-screen debut. We discuss the film’s gentle mix of road-trip adventure and emotional storytelling, its reflections on belonging and community, and what makes Big […]

DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 365: WE PICKED THE WRONG WEEK TO STOP SNIFFING GLUE Wright and Chris review all the home releases fit to podcast about. With this mighty stack of titles, only their pure heroism and combined forces of will keep them on point (largely) to tell you about everything from the greatest western out […]

PREDATOR: BADLANDS MOVIE REVIEW Director/writer Dan Trachtenberg gets his third go-round helming a Predator film (definitely watch Prey and Predator: Killer of Killers). This time he gets a theatrical release, like his previous two should have, and again he finds a way to tell a story very different from your traditional Predator film entry. Dek […]

HEDDA MOVIE REVIEW That Gatsby, now he was great, a guy who knew how to throw a party. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars. You know who else could throw a luxurious party and all for the sake of killing […]

A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE MOVIE REVIEW Tony Scott’s Crimson Tide. John Woo’s Broken Arrow. Heck, even Michael Bay’s The Rock. What do these films have in common? Bad men have THE BOMB and they are threatening to launch. Okay, Gene Hackman as a bad man in Crimson Tide is sort of debatable but that’s what […]

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE MOVIE REVIEW In the 1992 film The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, fictional character Peyton Flanders said “When your husband makes love to you, it’s *my* face he sees. When your baby’s hungry, it’s *my* breast that feeds him. Look at you! When push comes to shove… you can’t […]

DIGITAL NOISE EPISODE 364: TWO ALL-TIMER HIDDEN GEMS John and Chris take on a small stack this week but loaded with two older films completely unknown to either of them that instantly elevate to ALL-TIMERS. Like, so good, go see them immediately, tell all your friends about them type of great. You’ll have to listen […]

V/H/S HALLOWEEN MOVIE REVIEW Close down that YouTube browser and put the leftover creepy pasta in the fridge. The time of year has arrived for short form horror films in a nice packaged anthology! Presenting the eighth film in the franchise, V/H/S Halloween. A collection of scary cinema icons and prospects present six chilling tales […]

THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10 MOVIE REVIEW Author Ruth Ware once said “The only advice I can give to aspiring writers is to write the book you would want to read, and hope other people agree”. I don’t know about reading but Netflix sees you, Ruth, and is hoping A Woman in Cabin 10 is […]

HEART/FELT – AN ALL THE TIME JOB: THE MUPPETS TAKE MANHATTAN In this episode of Heart/Felt, I’m joined by Shira More of the Necromancer podcast to dive into The Muppets Take Manhattan. We talk about the film’s more grounded, less zany tone compared to its predecessors, the historic first appearance of the Muppet Babies, and […]

DELIVER ME FROM NOWHERE MOVIE REVIEW There are few American musicians more iconic and more blue-collar than Bruce Springsteen. Despite huge swaths of choads not actually listening to the words to Born in the USA and using it as a right-wing rallying cry, Bruce has firmly always been a poet of the people. What director […]

STAY MOVIE REVIEW One of the most famous and spooky scary EVP’s (Electronic Voice Phenomenon) ever documented was the phrase “Get out of my house”. Often a haunted house tale is a story of a restless spirit that doesn’t want anyone in its space and someone figuring out why it’s so restless. Move on? I […]

FRANKENSTEIN MOVIE REVIEW It’s officially getting into that end of the year Oscar qualifying season and you know what that means: elevated horror directors put out their own remakes of classic monster movies time. I mean, lately. This year it’s Guillermo del Toro’s turn and he dives into the Mary Shelley creation that he’s spent […]

STEVE MOVIE REVIEW A famous monologue in the Irvine Welsh novel Trainspotting reads “Choose us. Choose life. Choose mortgage payments; choose washing machines; choose cars; choose sitting oan a couch watching mind-numbing and spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fuckin junk food intae yir mooth. Choose rotting away, pishing and shiteing yersel in a home, a total […]

GOOD FORTUNE MOVIE REVIEW Aziz Ansari has been wanting to move into feature filmmaking for awhile now but, as most are aware, there were a series of stumbling blocks. But now he writes, directs, and stars in this comedy that crosses Wings of Desire with Trading Places, the aptly named Good Fortune. Ansari plays Arj, […]

BLACK PHONE 2 MOVIE REVIEW Based on a Joe Hill short story, 2021’s The Black Phone was a surprise late-pandemic success, a modestly budgeted supernatural horror film that found a sizable audience despite not having any big stars, or recognizable IP. With success comes expectations – and sequels – so director Scott Derrickson and frequent […]

HEART/FELT – A DARKER, CAVERNOUS PLACE: THE DARK CRYSTAL In this episode of Heart/Felt, I’m joined by fellow One of Us podcaster Rhett O’Hara to explore The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson’s bold departure from the Muppets into darker, more immersive fantasy. We discuss the film’s groundbreaking puppetry, rich world-building, and its lasting impact on Henson’s […]

TRON:ARES MOVIE REVIEW Has it really been FIFTEEN years since Tron: Legacy? Disney has been trying to get a third Tron film up off the ground ever since Legacy with multiple stumbling blocks, including the cast of that film being unwilling to return for a third. So of course they go to everyone’s favorite leading […]

PLAY DIRTY MOVIE REVIEW Trim the tree, put up the lights, hang the stockings with care: there’s an action film on Amazon Prime with Shane Black as writer/director…Christmas will soon be here! Inspired by the popular Parker book series by Donald E Westlake, Play Dirty starring Mark Wahlberg, is about a heist gone wrong that […]

HOUSE ON EDEN MOVIE REVIEW All the leaves are brown, and the sky is gray. I went to a church, and it was so spoooooky SCARY! Halloween is coming and Shudder is ready to assume its final form. Director, writer, and actres Kris Collins finds the camera and supplies the footage for a haunted house […]

THE MAN IN MY BASEMENT MOVIE REVIEW Charles (Corey Hawkins) has fallen on the worst of times in the most apathetic of decades, the 90s. He doesn’t have a job, the bank is continually threatening to foreclose on his house, and he is burdened with a past full of trauma and anger. His ancestral domicile […]

KILLING FAITH MOVIE REVIEW It was a time of tumbleweeds, rawhide, and ghost towns. A time of doctors who traded in bottles of medicine to find the bottom of bottles made of dead families and glass. Ranches with too many horses in a one horse town with no name. Well, the town had a name, […]

ALL OF YOU MOVIE REVIEW Criss Jami once wrote, “To say that one waits a lifetime for his soulmate to come around is a paradox. People eventually get sick of waiting, take a chance on someone, and by the art of commitment become soulmates, which takes a lifetime to perfect.” Beautiful, profound, and thought provoking. […]

ANEMONE MOVIE REVIEW Nepotism is alive and well! Daniel Day-Lewis has come out of retirement to co-write and star in his son’s (Ronan Day-Lewis) feature film debut with Anemone. The film follows Jem Stoker (Sean Bean) as he travels far and wide to find his estranged brother Ray (Daniel Day-Lewis) who’s become a hermit over […]

DEAD OF WINTER MOVIE REVIEW Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once said “Love keeps the cold out better than a cloak”. Had he ever been to Minnesota during ice fishing season? Dead of Winter is the story of Barb’s (Emma Thompson) solo pilgrimage through northern Minnesota. It’s an annual trip she used to take with her husband […]

INFESTATION: FANTASTIC FEST 2025 – MARTIN AND GUINEVERE THOMAS WEIGH IN In what is becoming a Fantastic Fest tradition at Oneofus.net, we invite our good friend Martin Thomas in to discuss some of the films he got to see and loved but Wright and Chris didn’t get to. Only this time, in a first for […]

NIGHT OF THE REAPER MOVIE REVIEW Once upon a time we all had a babysitter and once upon a time within that once upon a time we all watched babysitters get massacred by a maniac around Halloween. From the network that brought you such nostalgia as “Kids on bikes solving mysteries” and “Your ghost isn’t […]