In 2022, director John Carpenter curated a special four-film marathon for Shout! Factory TV, one of the best streaming services out there. As recorded by Den of Geek, the lineup included Carpenter's four favorite films in the Godzilla mythos: "Gojira" (1954), "Rodan" (1956), "Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster" (1964), and, naturally, "War of the Gargantuas" (1966). One should be warned, however, that watching all four of those films in a row will instigate severe brain growth and usher in a phase of enlightenment previously unexperienced by most mortals.
Carpenter has long been a fan of Godzilla movies, having grown up in the 1950s when many of Toho's celebrated kaiju movies were opening in the United States. Carpenter's exposure to Godzilla at an early age not only contributed to his love of cinema but encouraged him to make movies of his own. As Carpenter's own fans might know, he got his start in filmmaking as a kid,...
Carpenter has long been a fan of Godzilla movies, having grown up in the 1950s when many of Toho's celebrated kaiju movies were opening in the United States. Carpenter's exposure to Godzilla at an early age not only contributed to his love of cinema but encouraged him to make movies of his own. As Carpenter's own fans might know, he got his start in filmmaking as a kid,...
- 2/3/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
After 34 seasons and counting, The Simpsons embodies many things. The longest running scripted series in the history of television began as an upstart, and grew to a Methuselah, with the wisdom of a dinosaur, and the prophetic voice of Nostradamus. Every other month, some news item or deleted tweet fulfills a prediction made by The Simpsons. It appears to follow what the kids in South Park knew decades ago: whenever something unexpected happens, The Simpsons already did it. They usually know because they were expecting it, don’t underestimate the studies of the writing team.
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Luckily, The Simpsons is constantly being rerun somewhere, reminding us even the most current events are old news in syndication. Most of the gags which have been interpreted as predictions are cases of The Simpsons pouring commentary on existing, if little known, events.
Even the foretelling...
Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Luckily, The Simpsons is constantly being rerun somewhere, reminding us even the most current events are old news in syndication. Most of the gags which have been interpreted as predictions are cases of The Simpsons pouring commentary on existing, if little known, events.
Even the foretelling...
- 8/13/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
“What We Do in the Shadows” delighted its fans for a continued fourth season last year as the hit vampire comedy reached new heights in terms of critical success and straight-up laugh-out-loud moments.
Jermaine Clement‘s series, adapted from his and Taika Waititi‘s 2014 movie of the same name, follows four vampire roommates living in modern-day New York: Matt Berry‘s Laszlo, Kayvan Novak‘s Nandor, Mark Proksch‘s Colin Robinson, and Natasia Demetriou‘s Nadja. All four comedians have their own style and brand of comedy that combine to create a brilliant show.
As Nadja, Demetriou is the only female lead and takes full advantage of this spotlight — her pitch-perfect accent blending brilliantly with her skills as a physical comedy actress. Demetriou is also, clearly, an intelligent, natural performer — as Nadja, she knows when to ramp it up, when to dial it down, and fulfills the potential of each...
Jermaine Clement‘s series, adapted from his and Taika Waititi‘s 2014 movie of the same name, follows four vampire roommates living in modern-day New York: Matt Berry‘s Laszlo, Kayvan Novak‘s Nandor, Mark Proksch‘s Colin Robinson, and Natasia Demetriou‘s Nadja. All four comedians have their own style and brand of comedy that combine to create a brilliant show.
As Nadja, Demetriou is the only female lead and takes full advantage of this spotlight — her pitch-perfect accent blending brilliantly with her skills as a physical comedy actress. Demetriou is also, clearly, an intelligent, natural performer — as Nadja, she knows when to ramp it up, when to dial it down, and fulfills the potential of each...
- 5/26/2023
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 21
If we’ve learned anything from The Simpsons, it is that clowns are funny. Homer went to Krusty’s Clown College in season 6 for “Homie the Clown.” We learn they can also be profitable in “Clown V. Board of Education,” which would have been a classic episode if we hadn’t already taken this class, and paid for it with money laundered by seltzer water.
Krusty the Clown has always been a stand-in for The Simpsons itself. So, when he bemoans how he lost touch with the audience in the ‘90s, it feels like a perfect setup for a continuation of an already tenured plot. One in which we know the Simpsons can succeed as a family, and Springfield as a community. Bart follows a path Homer laid out, and brings in a tender performance with the treacle pre-trimmed.
The...
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 21
If we’ve learned anything from The Simpsons, it is that clowns are funny. Homer went to Krusty’s Clown College in season 6 for “Homie the Clown.” We learn they can also be profitable in “Clown V. Board of Education,” which would have been a classic episode if we hadn’t already taken this class, and paid for it with money laundered by seltzer water.
Krusty the Clown has always been a stand-in for The Simpsons itself. So, when he bemoans how he lost touch with the audience in the ‘90s, it feels like a perfect setup for a continuation of an already tenured plot. One in which we know the Simpsons can succeed as a family, and Springfield as a community. Bart follows a path Homer laid out, and brings in a tender performance with the treacle pre-trimmed.
The...
- 5/15/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 19
The Simpsons line up all their deductions in “Write Off This Episode.” The installment itself is about how Marge is seduced by the money, power, and glitz of big-time charitable fundraising, and begins with a longshot gimmick. The opening bit about Homer making big bets on unlikely odds may seem like a jab at what Kent Brockman calls “degenerate gamblers,” but it is also vaguely tied to the point spread on corporate gain and tax dodges. It all begins and ends with an unexpected and necessary cleanup.
Nobody wants to go down to the basement, The Ramones wrote a classic song about it. There’s always something down there, and Homer’s got to go into the crawl space under the house. After blindly passing over the rotting remains of an old handyman, Homer’s take on ghosts and the...
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 19
The Simpsons line up all their deductions in “Write Off This Episode.” The installment itself is about how Marge is seduced by the money, power, and glitz of big-time charitable fundraising, and begins with a longshot gimmick. The opening bit about Homer making big bets on unlikely odds may seem like a jab at what Kent Brockman calls “degenerate gamblers,” but it is also vaguely tied to the point spread on corporate gain and tax dodges. It all begins and ends with an unexpected and necessary cleanup.
Nobody wants to go down to the basement, The Ramones wrote a classic song about it. There’s always something down there, and Homer’s got to go into the crawl space under the house. After blindly passing over the rotting remains of an old handyman, Homer’s take on ghosts and the...
- 5/1/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 18
The Simpsons tries to prove music can be more than just revenge, but then it gets a little cringey, and turns superfans into stalker fans. “Fan-ily Feud” appears to take on the army of a certain former country singer gone pop goddess, whose name would probably be better left unsaid, but that would only spur the ire of BTS stans, justifiably requesting rebuttal. The episode would have benefited from a guest appearance from Taylor Swift, but if it hadn’t gone right, her next seven albums might have targeted the series as a bad breakup, a win-win situation, to be sure, for everyone involved.
The Simpsons have been making entreaties to Swift since Bart wrote “Thank you for 28 great years… Taylor Swift” on the chalkboard in “Dogtown,” season 28’s season finale. Lisa must have kept her as her number 2 Google alert.
The Simpsons Season 34 Episode 18
The Simpsons tries to prove music can be more than just revenge, but then it gets a little cringey, and turns superfans into stalker fans. “Fan-ily Feud” appears to take on the army of a certain former country singer gone pop goddess, whose name would probably be better left unsaid, but that would only spur the ire of BTS stans, justifiably requesting rebuttal. The episode would have benefited from a guest appearance from Taylor Swift, but if it hadn’t gone right, her next seven albums might have targeted the series as a bad breakup, a win-win situation, to be sure, for everyone involved.
The Simpsons have been making entreaties to Swift since Bart wrote “Thank you for 28 great years… Taylor Swift” on the chalkboard in “Dogtown,” season 28’s season finale. Lisa must have kept her as her number 2 Google alert.
- 4/24/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Forget that restaurant out of First Dates, that always looks a bit too light and unforgiving to us anyway, for today’s thought experiment we are opening up the whole of fictional everything to choose a night out from. That’s right, everything. TV, Film, Books, Games, Comics, Taskmaster, literally everything. Wanna hangout on the Holodeck? Spend an evening grooving in the Cantina? Glamming it up at that ball from Baz Lurhmann’s Romeo + Juliet (although that actually was a first date of sorts and it did not end well)? Have at it.
We’ve picked ours. We look forward to hearing about yours in the comments.
Cheers from Cheers
I was going to pick the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, from the Douglas Adams book of the same name, but that sounds very tiring and I would worry about getting home. And then I thought I...
We’ve picked ours. We look forward to hearing about yours in the comments.
Cheers from Cheers
I was going to pick the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, from the Douglas Adams book of the same name, but that sounds very tiring and I would worry about getting home. And then I thought I...
- 3/24/2023
- by Maznah Shehzad
- Den of Geek
This article contains spoilers for Jack Ryan season 3.
Through two seasons, Prime Video’s Jack Ryan has covered some well-trodden topics for CIA spy thrillers. Jack Ryan season 1 found Tom Clancy’s titular CIA analyst on the case of an Islamic extremist’s curious bank statements. Season 2 moved the action to South America, where Jack tried to ensure the democratic legitimacy of a Venezuelan election (a welcome change of pace for the CIA).
While both of those seasons were reasonable successes for the series, Jack Ryan was still missing a prevalent element from Tom Clancy’s writings and spy thrillers in general. That’s right: the Russians, baby. America’s favorite Cold War era big bad finally makes its return in Jack Ryan season 3, albeit in a little more measured, less jingoistic way. The bad guy in Jack Ryan season 3 isn’t so much Russia, but Russians – more specifically, a...
Through two seasons, Prime Video’s Jack Ryan has covered some well-trodden topics for CIA spy thrillers. Jack Ryan season 1 found Tom Clancy’s titular CIA analyst on the case of an Islamic extremist’s curious bank statements. Season 2 moved the action to South America, where Jack tried to ensure the democratic legitimacy of a Venezuelan election (a welcome change of pace for the CIA).
While both of those seasons were reasonable successes for the series, Jack Ryan was still missing a prevalent element from Tom Clancy’s writings and spy thrillers in general. That’s right: the Russians, baby. America’s favorite Cold War era big bad finally makes its return in Jack Ryan season 3, albeit in a little more measured, less jingoistic way. The bad guy in Jack Ryan season 3 isn’t so much Russia, but Russians – more specifically, a...
- 12/22/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Christmas is a time marked by tradition. For every family that celebrates the rituals are different, yet some things are close to universal: a tree strung in lights and ornaments; a house shining bright; and perhaps a candle in every window. Plus, there are the movies.
Christmas movies are as ubiquitous as ornaments these days, with streaming services like Netflix turning them into a virtual cottage industry. However, we all have our own personal favorites that tend to be made of longer lasting stuff–the kind that are almost their own ritual we revisit every new Yuletide season.
Below our staff has offered some of their own personal favorites that are perhaps largely off the more beaten track that defines the obvious classics… but each offers their own kind of Christmas magic every December.
It’s not Christmas until I watch… Scrooged (1988)
It is important to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
Christmas movies are as ubiquitous as ornaments these days, with streaming services like Netflix turning them into a virtual cottage industry. However, we all have our own personal favorites that tend to be made of longer lasting stuff–the kind that are almost their own ritual we revisit every new Yuletide season.
Below our staff has offered some of their own personal favorites that are perhaps largely off the more beaten track that defines the obvious classics… but each offers their own kind of Christmas magic every December.
It’s not Christmas until I watch… Scrooged (1988)
It is important to remember the true meaning of Christmas.
- 12/1/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
After a successful month of true crime content thanks to the Ryan Murphy double feature of Dahmer and The Watcher, Netflix is digging back in to the documentary and docuseries world with its list of new releases for November 2022.
The true-crime-a-palooza begins on Nov. 2 with the release of Killer Sally. That will be followed by docuseries like Pepsi, Where’s My Jet on Nov. 17 and documentaries like State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith on Nov. 10 and I Am Vanessa Guillen on Nov. 17. Of course, Netflix’s Original department is turning out some heavy hitting scripted series as well. The long-awaited Manifest season 4 part 1 arrives on Nov. 4. Arriving on Nov. 23 is the Tim Burton-directed Addams Family spinoff Wednesday. That will feature the titular young character as she investigates a murder spree at Nevermore Academy.
Read more TV Why Netflix Saved Manifest Season 4 By Michael Ahr Culture Charles Addams Biographer Defends...
The true-crime-a-palooza begins on Nov. 2 with the release of Killer Sally. That will be followed by docuseries like Pepsi, Where’s My Jet on Nov. 17 and documentaries like State of Alabama vs. Brittany Smith on Nov. 10 and I Am Vanessa Guillen on Nov. 17. Of course, Netflix’s Original department is turning out some heavy hitting scripted series as well. The long-awaited Manifest season 4 part 1 arrives on Nov. 4. Arriving on Nov. 23 is the Tim Burton-directed Addams Family spinoff Wednesday. That will feature the titular young character as she investigates a murder spree at Nevermore Academy.
Read more TV Why Netflix Saved Manifest Season 4 By Michael Ahr Culture Charles Addams Biographer Defends...
- 11/1/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Despite what popular perception might be, a lot of horror fans watch scary movies to get away from life’s harsh realities. So in a way, basing a horror on something that actually happened defeats the point. But the fact is it’s all in the telling. We’ve been quite strict about not including things that were just loosely inspired by a real event, with the majority of the story a fiction. So no Psycho or Texas Chain Saw Massacre (both inspired by Ed Gein) and no The Exorcist (the book was inspired by a real boy) etc.
Without further ado, here are our favourite horrors based on real events.
Dead Ringers (1988)
Arguably the last flat-out masterpiece of David Cronenberg’s exceptional mid-1970s/late-1980s run of films, Dead Ringers also marked a transitional moment for the filmmaker as he ventured beyond the visceral body horror he was...
Without further ado, here are our favourite horrors based on real events.
Dead Ringers (1988)
Arguably the last flat-out masterpiece of David Cronenberg’s exceptional mid-1970s/late-1980s run of films, Dead Ringers also marked a transitional moment for the filmmaker as he ventured beyond the visceral body horror he was...
- 10/25/2022
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
It seems that high profile werewolf movies are in short supply these days, doesn’t it? When you’re talking horror movies, there’s plenty of zombies to be had, vampires aren’t going anywhere, and slasher films will always come back into fashion.
But werewolves? They’re not so lucky. Maybe it’s because they seem to require a little more of a budget, and some proper special effects wizardry to make those transformations really pop. CGI werewolves just won’t cut it. And then there’s always the question of just how different you can really make any given werewolf story from the classics of yore. Marvel’s Werewolf by Night just did something really cool, but that’s a TV special and not really a feature film.
There have been a few signs of furry life recently, with fare like Wolfcop, Late Phases, and Werewolves Within starting...
But werewolves? They’re not so lucky. Maybe it’s because they seem to require a little more of a budget, and some proper special effects wizardry to make those transformations really pop. CGI werewolves just won’t cut it. And then there’s always the question of just how different you can really make any given werewolf story from the classics of yore. Marvel’s Werewolf by Night just did something really cool, but that’s a TV special and not really a feature film.
There have been a few signs of furry life recently, with fare like Wolfcop, Late Phases, and Werewolves Within starting...
- 10/18/2022
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Perhaps no medium understands television’s terrifying potential quite like film. That’s right: countless horror movies have paid homage to the spooky possibilities of their industry’s smaller screen little brother over the years. Movies like Poltergeist, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and The Ring all recognize that a television set is a potentially powerful totem.
A TV set is a device that families have placed in their living rooms for decades, passively welcoming in all manner of signals, blithely trusting that evil somehow won’t piggyback its way on them. Still, for much of television’s early years, there wasn’t a ton of great horror series to speak of (aside from the truly iconic like The Twilight Zone). That has all changed now.
To celebrate Den of Geek‘s 15th anniversary, we are once again counting down the best pop culture that the past decade and a half had to offer.
A TV set is a device that families have placed in their living rooms for decades, passively welcoming in all manner of signals, blithely trusting that evil somehow won’t piggyback its way on them. Still, for much of television’s early years, there wasn’t a ton of great horror series to speak of (aside from the truly iconic like The Twilight Zone). That has all changed now.
To celebrate Den of Geek‘s 15th anniversary, we are once again counting down the best pop culture that the past decade and a half had to offer.
- 10/13/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Congrats, everyone! We’ve finally made it to another spooky season. To celebrate, Netflix is highlighting its best horror content on its list of new releases for October 2022.
It wouldn’t be October on Netflix without a new Mike Flanagan title. Thankfully the Midnight Mass showrunner returns with The Midnight Club on Oct. 7. This series, adapted from a book of the same name, takes place in a hospice for terminally ill teens who have all made a gruesome pact. This series will be followed up by other creepy TV titles like Unsolved Mysteries Vol. 3 on Oct. 18, 28 Days Haunted on Oct. 21, and most importantly: Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Oct. 25, which will collect eight terrifying stories from the famed director himself.
Read more TV Unsolved Mysteries Review (Spoiler-Free): True Crime With More Questions Than Answers By Tony Sokol TV Unsolved Mysteries Volume 2 Review: Reboot Fits a Flatfoot...
It wouldn’t be October on Netflix without a new Mike Flanagan title. Thankfully the Midnight Mass showrunner returns with The Midnight Club on Oct. 7. This series, adapted from a book of the same name, takes place in a hospice for terminally ill teens who have all made a gruesome pact. This series will be followed up by other creepy TV titles like Unsolved Mysteries Vol. 3 on Oct. 18, 28 Days Haunted on Oct. 21, and most importantly: Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Oct. 25, which will collect eight terrifying stories from the famed director himself.
Read more TV Unsolved Mysteries Review (Spoiler-Free): True Crime With More Questions Than Answers By Tony Sokol TV Unsolved Mysteries Volume 2 Review: Reboot Fits a Flatfoot...
- 10/1/2022
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This article contains spoilers for Stranger Things season 4.
The Stranger Things expanded universe, which is comprised of several standalone novels and comics, has some understandable inconsistencies that arise from having disconnected writers working in different media. Most of these are minor or at least can be written off as inconsequential if the television show is given canon precedence. But Eleven’s flashbacks in season 4 completely upend many ideas that prequel readers had about the activities of Dr. Brenner and the subjects of his experiments — in particular, the role of the one known as Six.
Six happens to be the title of a four issue comic series by Jody Houser that released in 2019, just before Stranger Things season 3 dropped on Netflix. It tells the story of Francine, who, because of her uncontrolled ability to see into the future, is recruited into the secret government program run by Dr. Martin Brenner at Hawkins National Laboratory.
The Stranger Things expanded universe, which is comprised of several standalone novels and comics, has some understandable inconsistencies that arise from having disconnected writers working in different media. Most of these are minor or at least can be written off as inconsequential if the television show is given canon precedence. But Eleven’s flashbacks in season 4 completely upend many ideas that prequel readers had about the activities of Dr. Brenner and the subjects of his experiments — in particular, the role of the one known as Six.
Six happens to be the title of a four issue comic series by Jody Houser that released in 2019, just before Stranger Things season 3 dropped on Netflix. It tells the story of Francine, who, because of her uncontrolled ability to see into the future, is recruited into the secret government program run by Dr. Martin Brenner at Hawkins National Laboratory.
- 5/30/2022
- by Michael Ahr
- Den of Geek
It actually sounds like a story from a comic book about a super villain: an evil doctor impregnates countless women without their knowledge to breed a vast aryan race of offspring who grow up to form an army. And when we say vast, we’re talking 96 siblings and counting.
Sadly, this is a true story and the subject of Netflix’s latest documentary, Our Father. In Indianapolis fertility doctor Donald Cline used his own sperm as donor material for his patients repeatedly, without their knowledge or consent – sometimes replacing anonymous sperm, and sometimes, horrifically, replacing their partner’s sample. Many of these children – and their mothers – grew up believing the father that raised them was their biological father but it wasn’t until one of the children, now grown, used a home DNA kit to trace her ancestry that she uncovered the truth. A truth that kept on growing.
To...
Sadly, this is a true story and the subject of Netflix’s latest documentary, Our Father. In Indianapolis fertility doctor Donald Cline used his own sperm as donor material for his patients repeatedly, without their knowledge or consent – sometimes replacing anonymous sperm, and sometimes, horrifically, replacing their partner’s sample. Many of these children – and their mothers – grew up believing the father that raised them was their biological father but it wasn’t until one of the children, now grown, used a home DNA kit to trace her ancestry that she uncovered the truth. A truth that kept on growing.
To...
- 5/13/2022
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
It’s Valentine’s Day but whatever. Or alternatively, it’s Valentine’s Day! Hooray! Whether you’re an old romantic or you’re in the ‘love sucks’ camp, we have such sights for you, in this list of genuinely excellent horror movies which are also love stories. Some are doomed, if that is your bag, but others are actually kind of happy endings if you can live with some corpses on the way.
So why not snuggle up with your loved one/dog/blanket/ice cold heart and check out these romantic chillers? You’ll find no Twilight here.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
The 1931 film Dracula opened on Valentine’s Day 1931, after two months of promos from Universal Pictures calling it “The story of the strangest passion the world has ever known” and ads promising “The kiss no woman could resist.” Bela Lugosi was a sex symbol on Broadway in...
So why not snuggle up with your loved one/dog/blanket/ice cold heart and check out these romantic chillers? You’ll find no Twilight here.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
The 1931 film Dracula opened on Valentine’s Day 1931, after two months of promos from Universal Pictures calling it “The story of the strangest passion the world has ever known” and ads promising “The kiss no woman could resist.” Bela Lugosi was a sex symbol on Broadway in...
- 2/14/2022
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
The arrival of Disney+ series Hawkeye will have Marvel Cinematic Universe archer Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) dealing with the implications of his post-Snap international vigilante spree as Ronin, which made him enemies among the world’s conventional criminals. Yet, rather than hit up one (or all) of his super-powered Avengers contacts, he instead relies solely on the help of an upstart fangirl and would-be arrow-apprentice in Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). This leads to a rather obvious question, which Marvel’s Kevin Feige now addresses.
Indeed, while we’ve been seeing Disney+ Marvel television shows entangle Avengers members in a variety of personal struggles, Hawkeye appears to have uniquely grounded stakes. This is especially clear when remembering that Barton, who helped save the universe from freaking Thanos and his intergalactic army in Avengers: Endgame, now finds himself in New York City during the Christmas season fending off neighborhood street toughs in matching red tracksuits,...
Indeed, while we’ve been seeing Disney+ Marvel television shows entangle Avengers members in a variety of personal struggles, Hawkeye appears to have uniquely grounded stakes. This is especially clear when remembering that Barton, who helped save the universe from freaking Thanos and his intergalactic army in Avengers: Endgame, now finds himself in New York City during the Christmas season fending off neighborhood street toughs in matching red tracksuits,...
- 11/18/2021
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
This article contains spoilers for The Many Saints of Newark.
In some of the spookiest words ever spoken on The Sopranos, the usually genial and optimistic Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri Jr. wonders aloud what being killed would be like.
“You probably don’t even hear it when it happens, right?” Bobby asks his boss Tony Soprano as they glide down a lazy river in a dinghy.
Well, depending on your interpretation of The Sopranos’ final moments, Bobby was right. You don’t even hear it when it happens. In fact, you don’t see, smell, feel, or taste it.
Now that David Chase’s long-awaited Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, has arrived in theaters and on HBO Max, it’s provided another protagonistic death to test Bobby’s theory. As Chase promised, The Many Saints of Newark is Dickie Moltisanti’s (Alessandro Nivola) story and that story ends with his death.
In some of the spookiest words ever spoken on The Sopranos, the usually genial and optimistic Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri Jr. wonders aloud what being killed would be like.
“You probably don’t even hear it when it happens, right?” Bobby asks his boss Tony Soprano as they glide down a lazy river in a dinghy.
Well, depending on your interpretation of The Sopranos’ final moments, Bobby was right. You don’t even hear it when it happens. In fact, you don’t see, smell, feel, or taste it.
Now that David Chase’s long-awaited Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, has arrived in theaters and on HBO Max, it’s provided another protagonistic death to test Bobby’s theory. As Chase promised, The Many Saints of Newark is Dickie Moltisanti’s (Alessandro Nivola) story and that story ends with his death.
- 10/2/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
The quarantine movie — a film shot during the pandemic following the appropriate guidelines set forth by the CDC — will be a curious sub-genre to look back on. While these movies vary in quality and sometimes choose to explicitly place themselves in a world where Covid-19 is raging, they all share similar characteristics: small casts, limited locations, chatty scripts.
Antonie Fuqua’s The Guilty, a remake of 2018 Danish hit Den Skyldige written by True Detective scribe Nic Pizzolatto, is certainly a quarantine film. While the cast includes Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, Bill Burr, Eli Goree, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, you mostly only see leading man Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal plays Joe Baylor, a police officer working a shift at a 911 emergency response center in Los Angeles. The previously mentioned actors only feature as voices that Baylor hears through his headset. Baylor has been stuck on the phones for...
Antonie Fuqua’s The Guilty, a remake of 2018 Danish hit Den Skyldige written by True Detective scribe Nic Pizzolatto, is certainly a quarantine film. While the cast includes Ethan Hawke, Riley Keough, Paul Dano, Peter Sarsgaard, Bill Burr, Eli Goree, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph, you mostly only see leading man Jake Gyllenhaal. Gyllenhaal plays Joe Baylor, a police officer working a shift at a 911 emergency response center in Los Angeles. The previously mentioned actors only feature as voices that Baylor hears through his headset. Baylor has been stuck on the phones for...
- 9/30/2021
- by Nick Harley
- Den of Geek
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 1
Why don’t we do the show right here, Mickey Rooney or Judy Garland might ask in a Hollywood Golden Age movie about barnstorming local theater. Sadly, The Simpsons’ “The Star of the Backstage” can’t go Rent-free. The techies, theater-geeks, and all the animators pull out almost all the stops for the season 33 premiere, but offer a mixed bag, even when it takes a Wicked turn.
The premise is great. It begins at the funeral for Springfield High School’s theater director Franklin Chase, and Marge wants to bring the whole gang back together for one last revival of their senior year production, only to find she was never really part of the group. The show is called “Y2K: The Millennium Bug,” and the opening ode to pre-millennial paranoia teases wonderful promise with lines like “How will I...
The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 1
Why don’t we do the show right here, Mickey Rooney or Judy Garland might ask in a Hollywood Golden Age movie about barnstorming local theater. Sadly, The Simpsons’ “The Star of the Backstage” can’t go Rent-free. The techies, theater-geeks, and all the animators pull out almost all the stops for the season 33 premiere, but offer a mixed bag, even when it takes a Wicked turn.
The premise is great. It begins at the funeral for Springfield High School’s theater director Franklin Chase, and Marge wants to bring the whole gang back together for one last revival of their senior year production, only to find she was never really part of the group. The show is called “Y2K: The Millennium Bug,” and the opening ode to pre-millennial paranoia teases wonderful promise with lines like “How will I...
- 9/27/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This Evil review contains spoilers.
Evil Season 2 Episode 11
Leland (Michael Emerson) does all the voices, from the venerated holy relics of The Exorcist to Laraine Newman’s Shirley Temple in Saturday Night Live’s takeoff on it. He tosses priests across rooms with one hand tied to a bedpost. He sweats, swears and pukes vile, living, inky blackness from the bowels of hell. He looks lost and defeated, beaten, and busted. But when it’s all over, Leland gives a knowing wink to a suspicious David Acosta (Mike Colter), and bitches about the new kids on the block and those awful fashions. Satanism is not a flavor of the week, at least not this week.
The Catholic Church splurges on its rival’s T-shirts only to find they are knockoffs for the latest installment of Evil. This is by design. They were told to find bad stitching in the very fabric of the manufacturer.
Evil Season 2 Episode 11
Leland (Michael Emerson) does all the voices, from the venerated holy relics of The Exorcist to Laraine Newman’s Shirley Temple in Saturday Night Live’s takeoff on it. He tosses priests across rooms with one hand tied to a bedpost. He sweats, swears and pukes vile, living, inky blackness from the bowels of hell. He looks lost and defeated, beaten, and busted. But when it’s all over, Leland gives a knowing wink to a suspicious David Acosta (Mike Colter), and bitches about the new kids on the block and those awful fashions. Satanism is not a flavor of the week, at least not this week.
The Catholic Church splurges on its rival’s T-shirts only to find they are knockoffs for the latest installment of Evil. This is by design. They were told to find bad stitching in the very fabric of the manufacturer.
- 9/26/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This What We Do in the Shadows review contains spoilers.
What We Do in the Shadows Season 3 Episode 4
A coastal resort destination like Atlantic City might not seem the wisest place for a vampire to vacation, but it pays off in “The Casino.” The Staten Island vampires may be shirking their duties on the Vampiric Council, but What We Do in the Shadows season 3 episode 4 benefits from the change in scenery. This is especially shattering for Nandor (Kayvan Novak), who learns during this episode that the world is not only round, but also not held up on the shoulders of four mighty elephants.
The fang gang, plus energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) and familiar-turned-bodyguard Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), are invited out by their favorite neighbor, and Laszlo’s (Matt Berry) best human friend, Shaun (Anthony Atamanuik). He and his, also human, wife Charmaine (Marissa Jaret Winokur) are celebrating their wedding...
What We Do in the Shadows Season 3 Episode 4
A coastal resort destination like Atlantic City might not seem the wisest place for a vampire to vacation, but it pays off in “The Casino.” The Staten Island vampires may be shirking their duties on the Vampiric Council, but What We Do in the Shadows season 3 episode 4 benefits from the change in scenery. This is especially shattering for Nandor (Kayvan Novak), who learns during this episode that the world is not only round, but also not held up on the shoulders of four mighty elephants.
The fang gang, plus energy vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) and familiar-turned-bodyguard Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), are invited out by their favorite neighbor, and Laszlo’s (Matt Berry) best human friend, Shaun (Anthony Atamanuik). He and his, also human, wife Charmaine (Marissa Jaret Winokur) are celebrating their wedding...
- 9/17/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
One thing about the origins of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that’s easy to forget these days is that much of the Avengers stuff was inspired by the Ultimate Marvel comics, specifically The Ultimates. This especially went for Hawkeye, who had little to do with his mainstream comic self and far more with Ultimate Hawkeye. His uniform, Shield black ops status, and even his family were taken from the Ultimate Marvel comics. Not only that, but the way he became a hopeless mass murderer after the deaths of his wife and kids (far more permanent in the comics) was lifted from the books.
So it’s a bit weird to see them suddenly shift to his mainstream comic self. Up to Avengers: Endgame, the only specific bit of Hawkeye taken from the regular comic continuity is that he started dressing as Ronin for a time. Now he’s starring in...
So it’s a bit weird to see them suddenly shift to his mainstream comic self. Up to Avengers: Endgame, the only specific bit of Hawkeye taken from the regular comic continuity is that he started dressing as Ronin for a time. Now he’s starring in...
- 9/13/2021
- by Gavin Jasper
- Den of Geek
This What We Do in the Shadows review contains spoilers.
What We Do in the Shadows Season 3 Episode 1
What We Do in the Shadows season 3 episode 1, “The Prisoner,” moves quickly through the blood and raw meat left over from the slaughter of the season 2 finale, “Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires.” The episode is named for the faithful familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), who took out about 70 percent of the most powerful vampires in the Tri-State area. When the episode opens, he is being held in a cage while Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), Nadja of Antipaxos, (Natasia Demetriou), Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry), and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) decide his fate.
It’s not an easy decision, apparently. Much of the opening finds the vampires arguing over whose responsibility the errant servant is. Nandor is happy to share ownership of the young man who slew the upper echelon of blood-thirstiest suckers in the northeast.
What We Do in the Shadows Season 3 Episode 1
What We Do in the Shadows season 3 episode 1, “The Prisoner,” moves quickly through the blood and raw meat left over from the slaughter of the season 2 finale, “Nouveau Théâtre des Vampires.” The episode is named for the faithful familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), who took out about 70 percent of the most powerful vampires in the Tri-State area. When the episode opens, he is being held in a cage while Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak), Nadja of Antipaxos, (Natasia Demetriou), Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry), and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) decide his fate.
It’s not an easy decision, apparently. Much of the opening finds the vampires arguing over whose responsibility the errant servant is. Nandor is happy to share ownership of the young man who slew the upper echelon of blood-thirstiest suckers in the northeast.
- 9/3/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
By the end of The Old Ways, we’ve learned a few things about Brigitte Kali Canales’ Cristina, primarily that she’s been lost for much longer than the movie lets on. Sure, she finds herself captive in a village in the outskirts of Veracruz, Mexico, but she wasn’t any closer to home as a reporter in Los Angeles. In fact, Cristina admits in one of the best scenes of the movie that she’s always felt displaced anywhere she went, that she doesn’t think there’s a home for her, which is why she’s run away from her life in order to find death.
Instead, by the time the credits roll on this tale of witchcraft, Cristina has found purpose as the new bruja (Spanish for “witch”) of the Mexican village where she was born, ready to continue fighting the demons that lurk in La Boca...
Instead, by the time the credits roll on this tale of witchcraft, Cristina has found purpose as the new bruja (Spanish for “witch”) of the Mexican village where she was born, ready to continue fighting the demons that lurk in La Boca...
- 8/31/2021
- by John Saavedra
- Den of Geek
This Evil review contains spoilers.
Evil Season 2 Episode 7
Moving from the networks to the more risk-taking Paramount+ brings more fun and experimentation to Evil season 2. Episode 7, “S Is for Silence,” takes its title seriously, but also humorously, as the series presents its first entry into the silent genre of visual storytelling. Half the team go off exploring the shadowy darkness of impressionists, the other explores silent comedies.
Not a word has been spoken within the walls of the monastery of St. Thomas in 130 years, reads a sign just inside the gate. The compound and structure were built around an apocalyptic demon, who was captured and is held in an ornate and sanctified crate oozing ectoplasmic residue. The team is met by Father Winston, who hands each of the team a vintage magic slate paper to communicate with, one from Star Trek, another from Casper the Friendly Ghost and the third of a classic Robin Hood.
Evil Season 2 Episode 7
Moving from the networks to the more risk-taking Paramount+ brings more fun and experimentation to Evil season 2. Episode 7, “S Is for Silence,” takes its title seriously, but also humorously, as the series presents its first entry into the silent genre of visual storytelling. Half the team go off exploring the shadowy darkness of impressionists, the other explores silent comedies.
Not a word has been spoken within the walls of the monastery of St. Thomas in 130 years, reads a sign just inside the gate. The compound and structure were built around an apocalyptic demon, who was captured and is held in an ornate and sanctified crate oozing ectoplasmic residue. The team is met by Father Winston, who hands each of the team a vintage magic slate paper to communicate with, one from Star Trek, another from Casper the Friendly Ghost and the third of a classic Robin Hood.
- 8/29/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
The liquid-diet trio at the center of What We Do in the Shadows will endure the tortures of endless conflict in season 3. Nandor the Relentless (Kayvan Novak) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou), will be taken to task by the entire Tri-State vampire community. Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry) will pay, and dearly, for licentious driving.
For psychic vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), it’s another Wednesday, which some fellas in his office like to think of as Hump Day. What We Do in the Shadows is a series adaptation of the feature film created by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, and for the uninitiated, it is a mock-doc styled vampire reality show. The vampires’ familiar, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), keeps things real for the human audience. Colin brings the vampires to ground.
The psychic or energy vampire’s food source is different from traditional vampires, who subsist on the life-giving fluid of living creatures.
For psychic vampire Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), it’s another Wednesday, which some fellas in his office like to think of as Hump Day. What We Do in the Shadows is a series adaptation of the feature film created by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement, and for the uninitiated, it is a mock-doc styled vampire reality show. The vampires’ familiar, Guillermo (Harvey Guillén), keeps things real for the human audience. Colin brings the vampires to ground.
The psychic or energy vampire’s food source is different from traditional vampires, who subsist on the life-giving fluid of living creatures.
- 8/20/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Forget Jay Gatsby, Forrest Gump, and Fievel Mouskewitz, no fictional character so thoroughly embodies the American dream as Jenna Maroney. Conceived on a toilet, born on a kerb, and raised in a swamp, Maroney flew to fame and fortune on a rocket built from desperation and a pathological need for attention (why should babies get all the fuss? They’re not the only ones who can fit both feet in their mouths).
Born Ystrepa Grokovitz to parents Verner and Werner, and brought up in Toilet Cove Swamp, Jenna was a natural performer from a young age, gracing many a Florida child pageant stage and at Christmas, regaling mall staff with carols to distract from her mother’s shoplifting. She boasts a seventh grade education and a diploma from the Royal Tampa Academy of Dramatic Tricks, at which she majored in game show pointing and theatre superstitions. It all changed for...
Born Ystrepa Grokovitz to parents Verner and Werner, and brought up in Toilet Cove Swamp, Jenna was a natural performer from a young age, gracing many a Florida child pageant stage and at Christmas, regaling mall staff with carols to distract from her mother’s shoplifting. She boasts a seventh grade education and a diploma from the Royal Tampa Academy of Dramatic Tricks, at which she majored in game show pointing and theatre superstitions. It all changed for...
- 8/3/2021
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
This Evil review contains spoilers.
Evil Season 2 Episode 6
Hands in the air. Dueling procedurals get arrested for resisting the officers on Evil season 2, episode 6, “C Is for Cop. This is one of the most harrowing episodes of the series on many fronts. The monster of the week is not a demon or a creature or one of the deadly sins. As Kristen (Katja Herbers) told her daughter Lila (Skylar Gray) last week: sometimes a monster is a person who forgets who they are. This week’s evil represents a constant reminder.
The team is called in to assess a very different kind of evil than they’re usually assigned. A white cop shot an African American woman at a traffic stop because he thought she was pulling out a gun. It turned out to be a cell phone, but he swears he saw a gun. He believes he saw the weapon because,...
Evil Season 2 Episode 6
Hands in the air. Dueling procedurals get arrested for resisting the officers on Evil season 2, episode 6, “C Is for Cop. This is one of the most harrowing episodes of the series on many fronts. The monster of the week is not a demon or a creature or one of the deadly sins. As Kristen (Katja Herbers) told her daughter Lila (Skylar Gray) last week: sometimes a monster is a person who forgets who they are. This week’s evil represents a constant reminder.
The team is called in to assess a very different kind of evil than they’re usually assigned. A white cop shot an African American woman at a traffic stop because he thought she was pulling out a gun. It turned out to be a cell phone, but he swears he saw a gun. He believes he saw the weapon because,...
- 7/25/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
It was the biggest hit in the summer of 1997. Cool, funny, and sometimes deeply weird, it was not quite like anything audiences had ever seen, even as it once again starred Will Smith opposite alien invaders a year after Independence Day. It was a crowd-pleaser that, as Agent J might say, made itself look good. In other words, Men in Black appeared destined to launch countless sequels.
Nearly 25 years later, there have been three follow-ups if you count 2019’s failed attempt at a semi-reboot within the Men in Black franchise. There’ve also been action figures, video games, a cartoon series, and a theme park ride at Universal Studios. And yet, to date there has never been a Men in Black adventure to capture the charm and ingenuity of that first movie. Sure, Men in Black II made money, but a quick perusal of its Rotten Tomatoes score—currently at...
Nearly 25 years later, there have been three follow-ups if you count 2019’s failed attempt at a semi-reboot within the Men in Black franchise. There’ve also been action figures, video games, a cartoon series, and a theme park ride at Universal Studios. And yet, to date there has never been a Men in Black adventure to capture the charm and ingenuity of that first movie. Sure, Men in Black II made money, but a quick perusal of its Rotten Tomatoes score—currently at...
- 7/14/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
This Evil review contains spoilers.
Evil Season 2 Episode 4
Evil season 2, episode 4, “E Is for Elevator,” stops between floors to squeeze in an urban legend. The team is called in on a job outside their scope, an internet game. It has no demonic ties except for a pentagram drawn on the floor of a player. With that as the only spiritual tie, David Acosta (Mike Colter) goes off to contemplate the mysteries of his superiors’ faith in Leland Townshend (Michael Emerson), while Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) and Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) go pushing buttons.
The family who calls in the team admits there is no satanic connection, but the police have already written them off, and tagged their son a runaway. The whole thing would have been passed on if it weren’t for the game. This gives the episode a pass for an all-ages admission, and lets the children play.
Evil Season 2 Episode 4
Evil season 2, episode 4, “E Is for Elevator,” stops between floors to squeeze in an urban legend. The team is called in on a job outside their scope, an internet game. It has no demonic ties except for a pentagram drawn on the floor of a player. With that as the only spiritual tie, David Acosta (Mike Colter) goes off to contemplate the mysteries of his superiors’ faith in Leland Townshend (Michael Emerson), while Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) and Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) go pushing buttons.
The family who calls in the team admits there is no satanic connection, but the police have already written them off, and tagged their son a runaway. The whole thing would have been passed on if it weren’t for the game. This gives the episode a pass for an all-ages admission, and lets the children play.
- 7/11/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This Evil feature contains spoilers.
“I saw that your serial killer’s dead,” Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) informs partner Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) in an early scene in the opening episode of Evil season 2. “Is there anything I should be worried about there?” The first thing he learns is not to be concerned about any possessive feelings Kristen may harbor towards Orson LeRoux (Darren Pettie), the man Ben says was “bludgeoned.” And while the audience is already pretty sure what happened, that’s about all he gets.
Evil fans deliciously tortured themselves with lingering questions over the death of Orson ever since Kristen took off into the night with a sharp climbing tool and no mountain in sight. They deepened after she dabbed a drop of blood off her leg, and scarred the flesh of her palm with a touch of a crucifix. But the circumstantial evidence seemed too obvious to be true.
“I saw that your serial killer’s dead,” Ben Shakir (Aasif Mandvi) informs partner Dr. Kristen Bouchard (Katja Herbers) in an early scene in the opening episode of Evil season 2. “Is there anything I should be worried about there?” The first thing he learns is not to be concerned about any possessive feelings Kristen may harbor towards Orson LeRoux (Darren Pettie), the man Ben says was “bludgeoned.” And while the audience is already pretty sure what happened, that’s about all he gets.
Evil fans deliciously tortured themselves with lingering questions over the death of Orson ever since Kristen took off into the night with a sharp climbing tool and no mountain in sight. They deepened after she dabbed a drop of blood off her leg, and scarred the flesh of her palm with a touch of a crucifix. But the circumstantial evidence seemed too obvious to be true.
- 6/20/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This Clarice review contains spoilers.
Clarice Episode 10
Clarice, episode 10, “Motherless Child,” finally addresses the elephant in the room. Well, almost. The Silence of the Lambs spinoff is a series of almosts. Agent Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds) almost gets killed every episode, as well as nearly always coming to the edge of getting fired, sometimes twice in an installment.
Tonight, Clarice almost helps Catherine Martin (Marnee Carpenter), who almost kills Buffalo Bill’s mom, Lila Gumb (Maria Ricossa). She also almost helps Attorney General Ruth Martin (Jayne Atkinson), who nearly fires her for it. Ultimately, neither one gets what they want, while Starling gets to decide what they deserve. Lila, who never wanted anything to begin with except to be left alone, loses even that. With great power comes greater entitlement.
Clarice also almost derails Agent Ardelia Mapp (Devyn Tyler) in her fight for equal representation within the FBI. Adelia is...
Clarice Episode 10
Clarice, episode 10, “Motherless Child,” finally addresses the elephant in the room. Well, almost. The Silence of the Lambs spinoff is a series of almosts. Agent Clarice Starling (Rebecca Breeds) almost gets killed every episode, as well as nearly always coming to the edge of getting fired, sometimes twice in an installment.
Tonight, Clarice almost helps Catherine Martin (Marnee Carpenter), who almost kills Buffalo Bill’s mom, Lila Gumb (Maria Ricossa). She also almost helps Attorney General Ruth Martin (Jayne Atkinson), who nearly fires her for it. Ultimately, neither one gets what they want, while Starling gets to decide what they deserve. Lila, who never wanted anything to begin with except to be left alone, loses even that. With great power comes greater entitlement.
Clarice also almost derails Agent Ardelia Mapp (Devyn Tyler) in her fight for equal representation within the FBI. Adelia is...
- 6/4/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
If the pandemic was good for something, it was giving folks time to catch up on or get reacquainted with the best television series from the modern era. Are you someone who promised you’d watch The Wire if you only had the time? Well, time found you. Were you dying to revisit Breaking Bad now that you’ve had some distance? Well, what a perfect activity for social distancing! Looking to careen through 40 seasons of Survivor? The CDC has spoken!
Many people, myself included, took the opportunity to revisit arguably the greatest series of the 21st century, The Sopranos. If I couldn’t hang with my friends at a bar, I guess I could watch Tony and the gang meet-up at The Bing. If I couldn’t leave the house, at least I could commiserate with Uncle Junior. If my therapy sessions were going to be digital, I might...
Many people, myself included, took the opportunity to revisit arguably the greatest series of the 21st century, The Sopranos. If I couldn’t hang with my friends at a bar, I guess I could watch Tony and the gang meet-up at The Bing. If I couldn’t leave the house, at least I could commiserate with Uncle Junior. If my therapy sessions were going to be digital, I might...
- 6/3/2021
- by Nick Harley
- Den of Geek
TV had the run of the place for awhile there during the pandemic. But now that vaccinations are speeding up and the weather is warming, it’s film’s time to shine. At least that’s the conclusion that can be drawn from HBO Max’s list of new releases for June 2021.
There are no real original TV series of note coming this month, which is highly unusual for HBO and HBO Max. In their place, however, are some really impressive film offerings. Major Warner Bros. titles like The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (June 4) and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights (June 11) both arrive this month. So too do some interesting documentaries like Revolutionary Rent on June 15 and Lfg on June 24. The former deals with the staging of the musical Rent in Cuba and the latter follows the U.S. women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay.
There are no real original TV series of note coming this month, which is highly unusual for HBO and HBO Max. In their place, however, are some really impressive film offerings. Major Warner Bros. titles like The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It (June 4) and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights (June 11) both arrive this month. So too do some interesting documentaries like Revolutionary Rent on June 15 and Lfg on June 24. The former deals with the staging of the musical Rent in Cuba and the latter follows the U.S. women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay.
- 5/31/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything highlights the almost psychic rapport between radicals and radical thinking musicians. One activist brought together the Queen of Soul and the top royalty of British Rock. The documentary points out how Aretha Franklin offered to post bail for Angela Davis, but the former philosophy professor also drew in support from The Rolling Stones, former Beatle John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and by extension, Bob Dylan.
Angela Davis was born to encourage free thought. The neighborhood where she grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, was called “Dynamite Hill,” because the Ku Klux Klan tried to bomb middle-class Blacks out of the area. Cops broke up interracial study groups Angela organized in high school, and she knew some of the young girls killed in the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham. She spoke French, graduated Brandeis and traveled to Europe before she became a UCLA philosophy instructor. She joined the Black Panthers,...
Angela Davis was born to encourage free thought. The neighborhood where she grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, was called “Dynamite Hill,” because the Ku Klux Klan tried to bomb middle-class Blacks out of the area. Cops broke up interracial study groups Angela organized in high school, and she knew some of the young girls killed in the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham. She spoke French, graduated Brandeis and traveled to Europe before she became a UCLA philosophy instructor. She joined the Black Panthers,...
- 5/24/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Apple TV+’s docuseries 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything makes it seem like The Rolling Stones’ Exile On Main Street album was more fun to record than listen to, and that sets a high standard. The record distills the band’s sounds, from acoustic world music political ballads, through deep heartfelt blues, to honky tonk so funky you have to shake your ass. The group plays country, Southern blues, R&b, and the almost-punk-before-punk “Rip This Joint.” “Tumbling Dice,” is a radio staple. Keith Richards even took the lead vocals on a track to keep you happy. There was so much material, it came out as a double album. What could be more fun than that?
Richards’ Nellcôte mansion, on the Côte d’Azur in the South of France, was the hardest rocking musical getaway paradise in 1971. It was a Rock and Roll Main Street, and even the...
Richards’ Nellcôte mansion, on the Côte d’Azur in the South of France, was the hardest rocking musical getaway paradise in 1971. It was a Rock and Roll Main Street, and even the...
- 5/21/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 32 Episode 21
Abe comes in from the cold on The Simpsons Season 32, episode 21, because it’s cold. “The Man from G.R.A.M.P.A.” is a tepid espionage chiller about an increasingly insignificant spy, but a room with a working window at the Springfield Retirement Home lies in the balance.
The episode opens with the uneasy soundtrack of intrigue as the titles tell us we are in London in 1970 at the office of the MI5. The British spies are toasting their youngest and brightest star, Terrance, voiced by Stephen Fry, who also voices the Head of the MI5, and will go on to voice his own father and daughter. He is that kind of spy, an Englishman unafraid to dress in drag. His then-most recent operation in Prague only left 11 dead, which for British Intelligence is barely a parking ticket.
The Simpsons Season 32 Episode 21
Abe comes in from the cold on The Simpsons Season 32, episode 21, because it’s cold. “The Man from G.R.A.M.P.A.” is a tepid espionage chiller about an increasingly insignificant spy, but a room with a working window at the Springfield Retirement Home lies in the balance.
The episode opens with the uneasy soundtrack of intrigue as the titles tell us we are in London in 1970 at the office of the MI5. The British spies are toasting their youngest and brightest star, Terrance, voiced by Stephen Fry, who also voices the Head of the MI5, and will go on to voice his own father and daughter. He is that kind of spy, an Englishman unafraid to dress in drag. His then-most recent operation in Prague only left 11 dead, which for British Intelligence is barely a parking ticket.
- 5/17/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This Clarice review contains spoilers.
Clarice Episode 8
Clarice episode 8, “Add-a-Bead,” mirrors the procedural with the psychological. Clarice (Rebecca Breeds) lets her emotions find a safe landing place as her ViCAP unit investigates the suicide of a medical student who jumped to her death.
The opening segments of Clarice episodes are very atmospheric and color the entire installment. The glass ball in the doctor’s office reflects deep memories, and Clarice reflexively responds. Dr. Renee Li (Grace Lynn Kung) is the psychiatrist the agent chose over all the doctors which were ordered by the agency, and it is because she speaks the same language.
The work, the work, it’s all about the work. Clarice just suffered post-traumatic stress in a job where trauma is a daily occurrence, take a day off. The hypnotist is very effective. Up until this point, Clarice would jump down the throat of anyone who so...
Clarice Episode 8
Clarice episode 8, “Add-a-Bead,” mirrors the procedural with the psychological. Clarice (Rebecca Breeds) lets her emotions find a safe landing place as her ViCAP unit investigates the suicide of a medical student who jumped to her death.
The opening segments of Clarice episodes are very atmospheric and color the entire installment. The glass ball in the doctor’s office reflects deep memories, and Clarice reflexively responds. Dr. Renee Li (Grace Lynn Kung) is the psychiatrist the agent chose over all the doctors which were ordered by the agency, and it is because she speaks the same language.
The work, the work, it’s all about the work. Clarice just suffered post-traumatic stress in a job where trauma is a daily occurrence, take a day off. The hypnotist is very effective. Up until this point, Clarice would jump down the throat of anyone who so...
- 5/7/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This The Simpsons review contains spoilers.
The Simpsons Season 32 Episode 19
The Simpsons Season 32, episode 19, ” Panic on the Streets of Springfield,” is one of the most pointed parodies the series has crafted in a while. It takes on pre-teen angst with the dry iced wit of an 80s anti-Brit-pop band. But it also follows a slow, sad slide into anguished irony.
I was looking for a laugh, then I found a laugh, and heaven knows I’m miserable now. My head hangs heavy with the pain of laughter. Not only does the episode strip Lisa of what appears to be perfectly suitable accompaniment for a life of lonely elitism, it also makes us all rethink Slapify. It may offer Millennial rock at Baby Boomer prices, but it teaches Lisa good taste is a curse.
The spiky haired, middle child is very picky about her music. After hating everything she hears, Slapify...
The Simpsons Season 32 Episode 19
The Simpsons Season 32, episode 19, ” Panic on the Streets of Springfield,” is one of the most pointed parodies the series has crafted in a while. It takes on pre-teen angst with the dry iced wit of an 80s anti-Brit-pop band. But it also follows a slow, sad slide into anguished irony.
I was looking for a laugh, then I found a laugh, and heaven knows I’m miserable now. My head hangs heavy with the pain of laughter. Not only does the episode strip Lisa of what appears to be perfectly suitable accompaniment for a life of lonely elitism, it also makes us all rethink Slapify. It may offer Millennial rock at Baby Boomer prices, but it teaches Lisa good taste is a curse.
The spiky haired, middle child is very picky about her music. After hating everything she hears, Slapify...
- 4/19/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This Clarice review contains spoilers.
Clarice Episode 7
Clarice, episode 7, “Ugly Truth,” is a monster-of-the-week exploration of a cold case procedural. It also moves the overall arc along as true ugliness is found within. “Some monster killed two little kids,” Ardelia Mapp (Devyn Tyler) says. The episode opens with a hideous image, foreshadowed and cinematically darkened by the growing buzz of a swarm of flies.
The opening shot is quite masterful. It takes a while for the idea to register that flies are drawn to dead things until just a moment before we see what died. The flies should be given credit, as they will continue to recur as both a character and mood-setter over the course of the early investigation. Clarice routinely plays with forced perspective and stalled chronology to move the inner story. The camera-work goes into overtime this episode as clues, details and emotional states are captured through the shifting flow of time.
Clarice Episode 7
Clarice, episode 7, “Ugly Truth,” is a monster-of-the-week exploration of a cold case procedural. It also moves the overall arc along as true ugliness is found within. “Some monster killed two little kids,” Ardelia Mapp (Devyn Tyler) says. The episode opens with a hideous image, foreshadowed and cinematically darkened by the growing buzz of a swarm of flies.
The opening shot is quite masterful. It takes a while for the idea to register that flies are drawn to dead things until just a moment before we see what died. The flies should be given credit, as they will continue to recur as both a character and mood-setter over the course of the early investigation. Clarice routinely plays with forced perspective and stalled chronology to move the inner story. The camera-work goes into overtime this episode as clues, details and emotional states are captured through the shifting flow of time.
- 4/9/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Rocky IV remains a prototypical example of 1980s American franchise filmmaking, having conveyed a patriotic Cold-War-evocative ethos through the lens of superhuman pugilists pummeling each other over revenge and world peace, all to Vince Dicola’s absurd synthesizer-led score. Oh, and lest we forget, it had a robot! While those attributes entitled the 1985 film to the smug dismissal and earnest appreciation of posterity, star/writer/director Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming director’s cut risks erasing its allure.
Stallone, who announced his plan for a new Rocky IV cut last year, has completed his redux of the famous franchise‘s four-quel. However, unlike that other director’s cut dominating current conversations, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Sly’s upcoming Rocky IV Director’s Cut is an update of a film that was properly released by its director. Having premiered back on Nov. 27, 1985, Rocky IV was a box-office-topping hit for studio MGM,...
Stallone, who announced his plan for a new Rocky IV cut last year, has completed his redux of the famous franchise‘s four-quel. However, unlike that other director’s cut dominating current conversations, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Sly’s upcoming Rocky IV Director’s Cut is an update of a film that was properly released by its director. Having premiered back on Nov. 27, 1985, Rocky IV was a box-office-topping hit for studio MGM,...
- 4/8/2021
- by Joseph Baxter
- Den of Geek
Ed Gein is watching. The most influential figure in slasher horror may be long dead, but his eyes are upon us. So are his mother’s. The pair cast a long shadow over the American murder landscape, and you can almost feel them breathing down your neck in discovery+’s new Shock Docs special. Ed Gein: The Real Psycho is a surprisingly fun whistle past a graveyard. Documentary film producer and paranormal investigator Steve Shippy heard the infamous proto-serial killer is still haunting the town he terrorized in life, and invites psychic medium Cindy Kaza to probe the inner darkness.
Shippy can barely contain his excitement, and he makes it quite contagious. He truly enjoys exploring Gein’s hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin. Every room in every building has a story to tell, though he sometimes seems anxious to get out of the woods. Kaza is mesmerizing as she slips into undead energies,...
Shippy can barely contain his excitement, and he makes it quite contagious. He truly enjoys exploring Gein’s hometown of Plainfield, Wisconsin. Every room in every building has a story to tell, though he sometimes seems anxious to get out of the woods. Kaza is mesmerizing as she slips into undead energies,...
- 4/7/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise is a deep dive into one of the most compelling and confounding serial killers in American history. Known as the Killer Clown, John Wayne Gacy assaulted and murdered at least 33 young men and boys between 1972 and his arrest on Dec. 21, 1978.
Peacock’s original six-part docuseries doesn’t limit coverage to the infamous headliner. The victims receive full and detailed histories. Journalists discuss Gacy’s impact on the news. The NBC News Studios documentary team interviews the investigators on the case, and family members of the victims. They also interview Gacy’s sister Karen Kuzma. The highlight of the project is a 1992 interview Gacy gave to FBI profiler Robert Ressler. Aside from a few minutes of excerpts, this is the first time the interview has been shown in public.
Executive produced by Rod Blackhurst (Amanda Knox), John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise is the...
Peacock’s original six-part docuseries doesn’t limit coverage to the infamous headliner. The victims receive full and detailed histories. Journalists discuss Gacy’s impact on the news. The NBC News Studios documentary team interviews the investigators on the case, and family members of the victims. They also interview Gacy’s sister Karen Kuzma. The highlight of the project is a 1992 interview Gacy gave to FBI profiler Robert Ressler. Aside from a few minutes of excerpts, this is the first time the interview has been shown in public.
Executive produced by Rod Blackhurst (Amanda Knox), John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise is the...
- 4/2/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
“Clowns can get away with murder,” John Wayne Gacy told retired Des Plaines police officer David Hachmeister during a 10-day surveillance operation. The statement made the hair on the investigator’s head stand up. Over the course of Peacock’s original’s six-part docuseries John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise, Hachmeister’s follicles come to perform routine calisthenics.
Gacy is best known as the “Killer Clown,” but what sent Hachmeister’s neurological system into overdrive was how normal this clown appeared to be. That is the biggest reveal and the most common thread across the narrative. Gacy wasn’t Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, and even less like Joaquim Phoenix’s neurotic take. Gacy wasn’t socially inept, he wasn’t freakish, and he certainly wasn’t a loner. He was politically connected, threw a popular annual neighborhood picnic, ran the Polish Constitution Day Parade, and had...
Gacy is best known as the “Killer Clown,” but what sent Hachmeister’s neurological system into overdrive was how normal this clown appeared to be. That is the biggest reveal and the most common thread across the narrative. Gacy wasn’t Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, and even less like Joaquim Phoenix’s neurotic take. Gacy wasn’t socially inept, he wasn’t freakish, and he certainly wasn’t a loner. He was politically connected, threw a popular annual neighborhood picnic, ran the Polish Constitution Day Parade, and had...
- 3/25/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
This is weird, right? In a normal year this kind of article would have been written closer to New Year’s Day, and the awards season red carpets would’ve been rolled up weeks ago. But 2020 really was a weird experience, to put it mildly. And among other problems, it caused the Oscars race to bleed all the way into April. Indeed, it’s mid-March and the weekly Sunday night ceremonies have barely begun.
Nevertheless, and despite hand-wringing from this time last year about whether there would even be anything worthy of nomination in 2020, we’ve just come through a resilient and even hopeful period for quality cinema. Movie theaters remain largely closed throughout the U.S. and Europe, yet filmmakers have found a way to get their passion projects out via streaming, video-on-demand, and for a precious few in limited capacity movie theaters. Through it all, the industry endured...
Nevertheless, and despite hand-wringing from this time last year about whether there would even be anything worthy of nomination in 2020, we’ve just come through a resilient and even hopeful period for quality cinema. Movie theaters remain largely closed throughout the U.S. and Europe, yet filmmakers have found a way to get their passion projects out via streaming, video-on-demand, and for a precious few in limited capacity movie theaters. Through it all, the industry endured...
- 3/12/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace but Aka Notorious B.I.G., is a contradictory legend. A rapper who was always heard singing, a serious artist who never stopped clowning, he took the streets with him knowing it would take him down. His first album was called Ready to Die and his next was Life After Death, but he had a life in between. It is sad how his legacy is posthumous. But, as Sean Combs says at the very start of Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell, “This story doesn’t have to have a tragic ending.”
Combs, who co-produced the film, celebrates the contradictions and how they informed the music. When Biggie rapped he had “so much style I should be down with the Stylistics” he was being artistically autobiographical. Smalls had been singing those soul classics and listening to jazz greats from the earliest age. It’s...
Combs, who co-produced the film, celebrates the contradictions and how they informed the music. When Biggie rapped he had “so much style I should be down with the Stylistics” he was being artistically autobiographical. Smalls had been singing those soul classics and listening to jazz greats from the earliest age. It’s...
- 3/2/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Last week, as part of the streaming service’s ongoing plan to bring Warner Brothers’ slate of theatrical releases to audiences at home, HBO Max premiered Judas and the Black Messiah on the same day it opened in theaters. Directed by Shaka King, the incendiary historical drama centers on the rise of Fred Hampton, the charismatic Black Panther Party leader, and his tragic betrayal at the hands of FBI informant William O’Neal. Daniel Kaluuya stars as Hampton, a scorched-earth performance that attempts to recreate the magnetism and magma-like intensity of the revolutionary figure, but Kaluuya is somehow not the star of the film.
The film’s true protagonist is O’Neal, played by Lakeith Stanfield. After getting himself into some hot water, O’Neal is propositioned by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) to either infiltrate the Black Panther Party and report back on his findings or face jail time.
The film’s true protagonist is O’Neal, played by Lakeith Stanfield. After getting himself into some hot water, O’Neal is propositioned by FBI agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons) to either infiltrate the Black Panther Party and report back on his findings or face jail time.
- 2/18/2021
- by Nick Harley
- Den of Geek
This Clarice review contains spoilers.
Clarice Episode 1
Clarice, episode 1, “The Silence is Over,” is a fairly literal title. It is set shortly after the events in the film The Silence of the Lambs, in the period when most agents should be reflecting on such an emotionally trying case. Especially since the agent, who was only a trainee at the time, was thrown into “Buffalo Bill’s House of Horrors” just like the women she was trying to save.
Agent Clarice Starling is not comfortable with the word survivor. She swears she was only doing her job, and Rebecca Breeds brings this work ethic to the forefront of how the world sees FBI Agent Starling. As she is mentally sparring with her department-appointed therapist, her eyes dart around the room, noting his movements, the way he sits, how he arranges his magazines. She profiles him as a matter of course. He...
Clarice Episode 1
Clarice, episode 1, “The Silence is Over,” is a fairly literal title. It is set shortly after the events in the film The Silence of the Lambs, in the period when most agents should be reflecting on such an emotionally trying case. Especially since the agent, who was only a trainee at the time, was thrown into “Buffalo Bill’s House of Horrors” just like the women she was trying to save.
Agent Clarice Starling is not comfortable with the word survivor. She swears she was only doing her job, and Rebecca Breeds brings this work ethic to the forefront of how the world sees FBI Agent Starling. As she is mentally sparring with her department-appointed therapist, her eyes dart around the room, noting his movements, the way he sits, how he arranges his magazines. She profiles him as a matter of course. He...
- 2/12/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
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