Confessions of a Savage Mind

People often ask me, "Greg what types of movies do you like?" I traditionally have come up with two answers. One of which is, "Good ones." The other equally acerbic response is, "Yes." But what does this mean when I refuse to divulge any information? Let's dive in to what it means. Genre to me is such a dull categorization of film. Yes different types of movies are created to evoke different emotions. For example, horror movies are designed to make you scared. Comedy movies are crafted by writers with the hopes of making you laugh. Many films only have one layer or purpose. They are only designed to create one emotion within you. Martin Scorsese was correct in the criticism of Marvel and other blockbuster tent pole based movies. They are are simple escapism that are usually entirely formulaic. This isn't me saying they are not cinema. I wouldn't dare to try and create such a gate-keeping position for myself as a critic. What I am ...

Why HBO Max's Stream Deal is Not "The Death of Theaters" (Yet)

HBO Max and its parent company, WarnerMedia broke the internet today when they announced that all of Warner Brothers 2021 film slate would be premiering the same day on HBO Max as it does in theaters. This means films such as The Matrix 4 , Dune , Godzilla vs. Kong , The Suicide Squad , In The Heights , and Space Jam: A New Legacy will all be available for streaming. Though we are still in a pandemic with no end in sight, the news comes as a shock to many viewers. Many pundits are calling it 'The Death of Cinema. I however, am taking an opposite stance. Allow me to demonstrate why. The big giveaway in the Warner Media/HBO Max announcement is the time period in which you can view films. New films will only be available to stream for 1 month, after which, they will no longer be available till the inevitable home media release. This demonstrates that these streaming releases are a temporary solution. If you believe that theaters w...

Black Widow Review

I'm finally back being a geek and getting to review Marvel movies! The last Marvel movie I even saw in theaters was Spider-Man: Far From Home, which was a whopping 2 years ago. Sure, there was a worldwide pandemic to blame for this, but let me bitch just a little longer! Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow was the founding female in the Marvel cinematic Universe. Starting off as an oversexualized badass, her character has evolved with a dismal romantic arc, light character development, and an untimely demise at the peak of Avengers: Endgame. Finally, the OG female gets her time to shine in this prequel/sequel entity that has been delayed approximately a bazillion times. Was the near year and a half wait worth it? Let's dive in... Black Widow is a middle of the pack action spy-thriller. It feels like a c-graded Mission Impossible with a nauseating motion camera. At times, it made me feel nauseous with how jerky the ...

10 Underrated Movies You Should Watch for Spooktober

It's about the time again witches and ghouls! You will see tons of lists of the "essential" Halloween movies. They usually have the same entries, such as The Nightmare Before Christmas , Halloween , Hocus Pocus and other traditionally great horror or slasher films. What I'm here to tell you about are some movies you may not have seen that are either creepy, crawly, or just a lot of spooky fun. Without further ado, here are ten films from various periods of cinema that you should check out. 1. Freaks (1932) At the height of horror in the 1930s and 1940s, Universal ruled the monster pic genre. With entries such as Tod Browning's Dracula and James Whale's Frankenstein , the genre was monumentally successful. These films were also the closest thing to a cinematic universe as that era had. The outlier in these films was the previously mentioned Browning's Freaks . Freaks is one of those movies that maintain insanely insulting whil...

Zola Review

"Y'all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out???????? it's kind of long but full of suspense." The now immortal words of Twitter user Aziah “Zola” Wells were posted in telling the tale of her journey with a pimp, an exotic dancer, and her boyfriend. A24, the independent power house, picked up the idea of the narrative to turn it into a big screen adaptation. In a Hollywood where original ideas have seemly run out with an inundation of sequels, prequels, and cinematic universes, we finally get a film based on...a Twitter thread. Reading about this film, I was highly excited about the adaptation. Riley Keough, aka Elvis Presley's granddaughter, has quickly turned into an independent tour de force as witnessed in American Honey , Logan Lucky , and others. Director Janicza Bravo appeared ready to deliver a fresh take on an American story though she is grounded in little directorial experience. D...

In the Heights Review

One of the kindest things a corporation did for us, the viewer last year was Disney streaming a recorded version of the Tony darling Hamilton . I knew Lin-Manuel Miranda was an intelligent guy, but Hamilton hammered home what an absolute Renaissance man he is in his productions. It finally became time to view Manuel's first production to turn into a feature length film. After In the Heights was delayed an entire calendar year, it was finally released dually in theaters and HBO Max this past weekend. Recognizing that I am a huge musical nut and the need to support my local theater justified why I wanted to see this on the largest screen possible, despite the 14.99 HBO Max draws from my checking account each month. I will add I was wary to see how this was adapted on the screen. After all, the last musical I paid to see in theaters was Cats for God's sake! I was hard-pressed for answers. Does Jon M. Chu have what it ...

Captain Marvel Review

T he Marvel Cinematic Universe reached it's crowning apex with Avengers: Infinity War . The film left comic book fans and causal viewers devastated by the snap of Thanos. Just when all hope had seem abandoned in the MCU, the post-credits sequence teased the appearance of Captain Marvel. Oscar-winner Brie Larson signed on to play the hero in the first female-centered superhero movie. Anticipation was high and filled with great controversy before the actual release of the film. After being the nerd I am and going to the first possible showing, I am here to tell you that I was somewhat pleased with the results. Captain Marvel is a somewhat mixed bag of genres. It uses some aspects of a neo-noir, such as lost memories, a lack of trust in all characters, and a bad-ass femme fatale. Using a poor man's Memento -like plot, the film pieces together who really is the character we see on the screen. It also u...

Us Review

Jordan Peele is a great Hollywood success story. From Mad TV to Key & Peele, he was seen as one of television's great minds. However, his most mainstream success came in the release of the social horror/thriller Get Out. The film was seen as a welcome departure from Peele's comedic stylings, and earned him an Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay. The expectations were set high for Peele's next film Us . Little was known about the film prior to release, except that it had a larger budget and starred Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o. What Peele chose to deliver was...interesting. Us follows a young African American family as they take a vacation to Santa Cruz. The matriarch of the family, Adelaide Thomas is a woman haunted by her PTSD. How she leads her family is directly impacted by her traumatic past. Her family is then haunted by her worst fear: a soul-less, doppelganger version...

Greg's Best Movies of the 2010s

We have just ended another decade. As a film writer, this decade in film has great sentimental meaning for me. The 2010s were where I found my passion for film, viewed most of my movies, and began to express my feelings about them. These movies will always hold a place in my heart. I thought long and hard about this and these are my favorite movies from every year of the 2010s. A lot of these choices were incredibly difficult ones, and I felt insincere not listing all my honorable mention choices. 2010: Black Swan Honorable Mentions: The King's Speech, The Social Network, Incendies I really wish I wasn't severely impaired the first time I took in Darren Aronofsky's meditation on perfection. On the contrary, perhaps it heightened the attention to detail viewing Black Swan requires. Natalie Portman delivers a career best performance as Nina Sayers, a ballerina attempting to dance s the Swan Queen in Tchaikovsky's Swan La...

How Cinema Saved My Life

I often think of the challenges I have faced in my life. When I define these challenges, I don't usually remember the challenges, but what I used to cope. Almost every time I had a life threatening or life changing experience, a film or two changed my life. It started when I was about nine years old. I had just lost a few family members to cancer, including my father. I had no idea how to deal with grief. My mom happened to think I was mature enough to handle Forrest Gump . Watching Forrest as he mourned the loss of his friends and family gave me strength and ability to handle my own grief. I think that's why it was the first movie I ever considered my favorite. Flash forward a couple of years to when I turned 16. I was starting to experience the first suicidal ideations I had ever had. I felt I was in a situation I could not escape, and the only release or rest I could ever get was in the swee...