Oh So Geeky

“ In Sickness and In Hell.” Melting ice sculptures. Sibling rivalries. A mother’s cringe-worthy honeymoon advice. Plenty of mishaps can and will throw off a bride’s special day. Perhaps nothing more can cause such damage than when an ex-flame shows up out of nowhere and that ex just happens to be….Dave. Also known as Satan. The horror of tying the knot has never been so much fun than in director and writer combo Jono Mitchell and Madison Hatfield’s latest film Courtney Gets Possessed. When soon-to-be-newlywed Courtney (Lauren Bugioli) becomes possessed by Dave (Jonathon Pawlowski), her bridal party – including type A maid of honor Lexi (Aditi George), jealous sister Caitlin (Madison Hatfield), and groom’s disapproving sister Jasmine (Najah Bradley) – race to exorcise Dave out of the picture for good before he makes their beloved friend tie the cursed knot for all eternity. Following in the footsteps of famed classic The Exorcism and hit-comedy Bridesmaids , Mitchell and Hatfield ...

In the gritty world of mobsters, there’s the hunter and the prey. A hierarchy of crime bosses rule the roost while their henchmen or women, loaners, and sharks must obey pecking order to survive. Step one toe out of line and the whole business descends into chaos. This is something two hapless brothers in Clover  learn the hard way. Mickey (Jon Abrahams) and Jackie (Mark Webber) Callaghan are about to lose the pub that's been in the family for generations. The night before they’re supposed to payback a sizable loan, Jackie loses it all while gambling. When local mobster Tony Davolio (Chazz Palminteri) offers one last opportunity to wipe the slate clean, the siblings must go on the run with a young girl Clover (Nicole Elizabeth Berger) after she accidentally kills Davolio’s son.

Young adult movies always explore characters feeling like an outcast, falling in love for the first time, or trying to find their identity outside of school. Grease riffs on the jocks, nerds, and beauties from the 1950s. Mean Girls cleverly explores dysfunctional girl culture in high school. The Perks of Being a Wallflower brings the misfits together in their senior year before college. While I love all of these movies, and many more, my go-to teen flick has and will always be Drop Dead Gorgeous. Because it was a commercial and critical failure, there’s a chance you might’ve never heard of it. And if you did, there are even more chances that the talk surrounding the movie was about its sense of humor. But it is a dark and twisted comedy that not only do I know better than the back of my hand, but also feels like it deserves some praise, especially on its 20th anniversary.

Sometimes it's not the budget that makes a short film good, it's the production team rallying behind it that counts. Following in director Robert Rodriguez's footsteps, independent filmmaker Alejandro Montoya Marin participated on El Rey's network show Rebel Without A Crew where creators banded together to create an original film. Armed with $7,000, no crew, two days to prep and fourteen days to film his project, Marin creates a fun action movie reminiscent of today's blockbusters. Jim (Jamie H. Jung)'s life is about to change in the worst ways when he loses his job and his girlfriend gives up on their relationship. Caught in the crossfire of two hit women aiming to take down a drug cartel, Jim is on the run for his life and standing up for himself once and for all. As the story counts down Jim's day starting off as bad as it can be and only getting more bleak and chaotic from there, what Martin and the cast were able to put together in such a short am...

For the past several years,  romantic comedies haven't flourished like they used to . Gone are the days where one quirky love story after another swept us off our feet and dominated the box office. While The Big Sick and Love, Simon have recently become beloved favorites, regular hits seem few and far between. After significant word-of-mouth through social media, there might be some hope left for the ol' harmless genre with Netflix's  Set It Up Two hardworking assistants Harper and Charlie (Zoey Deutch and Glenn Powell, respectively) are anxious to live a normal life outside of the office and enjoy more free time to themselves. To get a much-needed break and reconnect with neglected aspirations/relationships, they decide to secretly set up their bosses Kristen (Lucy Liu) and Rick (Taye Diggs) for a quick hook-up that might just become the real deal. Fascinatingly, Set It Up is not entirely different than most 'chick flicks' you'd find on the Hallmark ch...

Similar to studios releasing horror movies into theaters at New Years or Christmas movies in July, romantic comedies haven't been relegated to February releases in several years. But it still has remained a strange mood to adjust to when Cupid's month rolls around and there isn't a bundle of swoon-worthy films to enjoy a girls' weekend or single's dalliance at the theaters. In fact, looking at the next year ahead in 2017, only a handful of romantic-centered movies are coming out in theaters or on a streaming service like Netflix. And the lack of popularity of this once inescapable genre makes me ask: where did all the rom-coms go? While pondering about recent releases at home and in theaters, I reasoned that my inability to find more options was because my own personal tastes for this genre are limited. Generally, I like to be swept off of my feet, but prefer rom-coms where the characters aren't around to fill a 'swooning' quota, the script offers dy...

Photo Credit: How To Be Single / Warner Bros Pictures February is a go-to month for Hollywood to release movies about love and relationships. Taking a break from the Nicholas Sparks' norm, and truly awesome Pride and Prejudice and Zombies adaptation , was a more modern comedy  How To Be Single starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, and Leslie Mann. Putting her long-term relationship on pause to ensure no part of her own identity is left untapped Alice (Dakota Johnson) explores the freedom of being single. Helping her navigate a new world of flirtation and one-night-stands is a workaholic sister Meg (Leslie Mann) recognizing her desire for motherhood, and Robin (Rebel Wilson), a non-stop partying and unfiltered coworker. How To Be Single  is more funny than romantic, and the credit goes to its leading ladies. Johnson had a tremendous breakthrough last year  50 Shades of Grey , and she's steadily establishing herself as a versatile and nat...

Indie film "Hearts and Cash" is about to debut at Sundance film festival. Diva and lead actress Jill, slacker production assistant Dave, amateur director Jim, and ambitious producer Hannah Rosner document their raucous road trip from Santa Monica, California to Park City, Utah. Things start off on the wrong foot from the get-go; their car runs out of gas. If anything can happen, it does. Once on the road again and finally landing at Sundance, their obstacles only rev up. Ready for hard-earned success to finally pay off, their adventure takes a turn for the worst when their only 35mm film print is lost a few hours before their world premiere. Park City is a smart comedic exploration on a young filmmaker's attempt of trying to open their work up to more audiences and take friendly jabs at the chaotic world known as show business. It was in fact this approach that I was led to watch this through a private screening. The approaching premiere at Sundance and the film...