Oh So Geeky

Director and writer Adam Elliot's latest film is both devastating and healing in equal measure. A young woman Grace Pudel struggles to overcome familial losses, separation from her twin brother, and troubled relationships. Her self-imposed isolation in a tiny flat pads the painful experiences she's had since her childhood and the snail collectibles she hoards. After losing all she's ever loved, Grace starts to move beyond the trials and tribulations she's ever known. In contrast to the film's child-like poster and style of animation, Memoir of A Snail is a fitting animated feature for adults, especially as we move into the new year. Outside of the film's R rating, the script does not shy from mature themes, offering a devastating recount of bullying, abuse, loss, and overwhelming grief Grace has faced over the years. At first, lighter moments of levity and silver linings are hard to find. However, as Graces narrates and recounts her life story, it becomes more ...

Nobody wants to hear from a bunch of twenty year olds who are trying to make history. They haven't gotten the experience, the grudges, the ego, the no-looking-back grit to cut throats and defend what they built. They want to create and see what comes out of it. Like who ever made history out of taking chances. Many of them aren't even aware they're making history - they're there cause they were called and it was a gig, like at least they got a call cause the phone wasn't ringing at all. Or they were plucked from a network of friends, or were known around town, or they landed a good audition. Now, they gotta make something out of whatever they're there to do. Saturday Night is filled to the brim with unknowns except what we do know - which is that Saturday Night Live still on television with one of its co-creators Lorne Michaels at the helm and at its home network fifty years after it first premiered.

Set during the Dust Bowl in the 1930s, fiercely protective mother Margaret Bellum (Sarah Paulson) goes to extreme lengths to protect her children from paranoia and illness in recluse Oklahoma.  For me, the obvious main hook Hold Your Breath with is relating elements from the 2020 COVID lockdown through the dust bowl – the circumstances of survival to be careful what you breathe to avoid illness, or death, and Bellum taking extra precautions to survive. And, it also tries to branch out with sinister lore of a Grey Man who will make the characters do inexplicable things for breathing in too much of him (too much dust) and contrasts that with a lowly stranger ( The Bear’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach) who claims to be a healer. Haunted by her own past and watching more lives getting claimed around her, the desperation, the grey man, and the increasing unreliability of Paulson's point of view runs nicely side by side, morphing and transforming into one another until you can't really tell w...

  An athlete's mindset can be their greatest advantage or distraction. When scrutiny of the outer world - family, coaches, society - bears down on players for their performance, let alone their gender or identity, the moment to break under pressure is always simmering under the surface. Much of this is the heart of director D.W. Waterson's feature directorial debut Backspot. An ambitious cheerleader, Riley (Devery Jacobs), faces new adversity, an increased drive for perfection, and a demanding head coach (Evan Rachel Wood) when she and her girlfriend are selected for an all-star cheer squad. With a competition looming, Riley must navigate her drive alongside her crippling anxiety, as one wrong move could bring her crashing to the ground. The world of sports is not easy for women, no matter the field. Cheerleading is itself is not considered as gruesome with their squad smiling through choreography and poses. Backspot doesn't merely aim to dispel the lack of dedication...

“ 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 ...

I've only been a Swiftie for a good six or seven years. I always kinda question my stance in the fandom, given that I'm not afraid to speak out against things that I disagree with and haven't been following her career since the beginning (which I guess earns some the 'real stan' badge or something on social media). But the depth of my admiration for her springing out is not something that I'm genuinely aware of until I pretty much become the resident Swiftie in close circles. With the 1989 re-recording on the way, and much of the publicity this year for the Eras Tour, Speak Now re-release, and the hubbub with the NFL, has been giving me overexposure vibes via 2015 right before she got cancelled. Going into this, and being a big lover of concert films in general, I was very much giving neutral energy just to keep my expectations at bay and mostly expecting to have a nice day out from my hellfire workplace. And, what in turn ended up happening was feeling like not...

Humans have only one ending. Ideas live forever. Contains slight spoilers