SWAN SONG MOVIE REVIEW

You may not recognize the name Udo Kier, but with a career spanning 55 years and over 270 credits, you’ve definitely seen him before. Like Peter Lorre before him, Kier’s bulging eyes and heavy German accent typecast him early on as villains and creeps. He’s depicted so many vampires, Nazis, and kinky weirdos that it’s always a pleasant surprise to see Kier playing a normal human being. Well, as normal as an elderly gay hairdresser and bitchy drag queen trapped in a Sandusky, Ohio nursing home could ever be. “Swan Song”, the latest from writer/director Todd Stephens recounts the story of Pat “Mr. Pat” Pitsenberger, an elderly gay man living in a nursing home on the outskirts of Sandusky. Misfortune and a stroke have stripped Pat of everything he ever had and ever was. Reduced to dressing in sweatpants and orthopedic shoes, Pat bears no resemblance to the glamorous bon vivant he once was. When an estranged friend and former client (Linda Evans) passes away, she leaves instructions in her will for Pat to handle hair and makeup services for her funeral. And so begins the quixotic journey of Mr. Pat, the “most exclusive hairdresser in Sandusky”. To get to the funeral parlor, Pat will have to break out of the nursing home, walk several miles across Sandusky, obtain the high-end beauty products he needs, and reckon with his past, including his former protegee turned rival (Jennifer Coolidge). With each step and each person he encounters, Pat’s memories are unlocked and he begins reverting to his old fabulous self. Our own crew of fashion victims, T.C, Adrian, Jordan, and Marco, met up at the salon to dish about how much they loved this movie and why they think Udo Kier deserves a shot at a Best Actor nomination.

**This review is available in a longer, uncut, video version for TIME LORD subscribers and above right here**

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Todd Stephens

STARRING: Udo Kier, Jennifer Coolidge, Linda Evans, Michael Urie, Ira Hawkins, Stephanie McVay, Tom Bloom, Justin Lonesome, Thom Hilton, Shanessa Sweeney, Bryant Carroll, Shelby Garrett, Catherine Albers, Dave Sorboro, Roshon Thomas, Annie Kitral, Eric Eisenbrey, Jonah Blechman, Tim Murray, Cheryl Talley-Sharp, Ray Perrin

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)

T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.

 

 

Adrian El Critico (Screener Squad)

Though born and raised in Chicago, this film critic is Mexican to the bone. Adrian has been watching movies since he was a child, many of which might not have been age appropriate. Still, he couldn’t get enough. All throughout his life,

JOHN AND THE HOLE MOVIE REVIEW

Despite Michael C. Hall being a man with a beard who lives out in the woods and murder and death being a plot point in this movie, this is not in fact a “Dexter” sequel. Set in a home tucked away in rural Massachusetts, we find a very quiet and ordinary family with a bit of wealth, considering their house and bank account. Living comfortably away from the nearest town, we have Brad (Michael C. Hall), his wife, Anna (Jennifer Ehle), and their children, Laurie (Taissa Farmiga) and her younger brother, John (Charlie Shotwell). John is thirteen and pretty much has all the telltale signs of a cliche movie psychopath in the making. Expressively blank and emotionless, the dangerously undiagnosed kid uses his mother’s sleeping pills to drug the entire family, haul them into the woods, and lower them into the titular hole, which is an unfinished bunker from some unknown landowners. We then watch John live what he has decided is an adult’s life, while frequently returning to the hole to toss some food and water down to his confused family. And there, for most of the story, they remain. Tessa, Lewayne, Jordan, and T.C. decide if they’d prefer a hole in the ground in the middle of the woods or watching this movie a second time.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Pascual Sisto

STARRING: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Ehle, Taissa Farmiga, Charlie Shotwell, Ben O’Brien, Lucien Spelman, Elijah Ungvary

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Tessa Morrison (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Unstabletop Gamers)

Well-rounded nerd and artist, Tessa Morrison grew up in the misty mountains of West Virginia and was constantly ridiculed for being a “weirdo.” Then moved to Austin in 2009 where people said the same thing, but in an endearing tone. Tessa works an office day job, creates puppets and fiber art, cosplays, models for gaming and animation studios, and volunteers for various organizations. One of which is the Other Worlds Film Festival, Austin’s first SciFi film fest, working in the capacity of Outreach Director and programmer. Another is local DIY-comedy-wrestling league, Party World Rasslin’, where Tessa scrambles around stage-handing and doing art department nonsense. Wrote and contributed to website and magazine Strange Kids Club for five years reviewing films, video games, and Halloween candy. Co-hosted a Public Access show called Ladies of Fandom. Previously guested on podcasts Blood Over Texas, Threequel Club, Trash in the Can, Retro Movie Roundtable, and Nerds with Mics.

 

 

Lewayne White (Screener Squad)

Lewayne’s earliest memories are of watching movies and reading comics, which instilled in him a sense of wonder, a vivid imagination, and unrealistic expectations. It also means he spends a lot of time watching movies, writing scripts for them, and trying to get them made. He lives in the middle of middle America after landing there as a child, and has remained there mainly because he hates packing.

 

 

 

Jordan Cobb (Screener Squad)

Born with a comic book in one hand, a camera in the other, and in front of the television as WrestleMania played out, Jordan Worth Cobb was thus birthed into this crazy world. A Digital Filmmaking major from the University of Central Arkansas, Jordan has done it all in film from directing, writing, editing, and producing in addition to skills involved in film and TV criticism, journalism, and years of podcasting experience. On any given day, her ADHD riddled brain bounces focus from film to pro wrestling to TV to superheroes to noir to video games to espionage and yes, even to sports. She played little league you know. For more of this eccentric nerd,

JUNGLE CRUISE MOVIE REVIEW

Remember when they announced the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie and we were all like, really? Making movies out of your theme park rides Disney? Seriously? And then it was really good and we all ate crow (at least until the sequels). I can tell you that when they announced “Jungle Cruise”, which is based on possibly one of the most WTF is it still doing there Disney theme park rides, I pretty much went through the same thing. And now, having seen it…dammit. It’s really not too bad at all. Sigh. Emily Blunt plays Lily, an adventurous Indiana Jones type of Botanist (yes, I know) who, along with her more timid brother (Jack Whitehall), wants to charter a boat on the Amazon river to find a mythical tree with blooms that grant miraculous healing. Unfortunately, a lot of barriers are in her way, such as being a woman (it’s 1916 and being a wild adventure type, much less wearing pants, was not a thing that was expected of ladies then), a nefarious German u-boat commander (Jesse Plemons), monstrous immortal Conquistadors, and trying to get her hired captain Frank (Dwayne Johnson) to just do what the hell she paid him to do. Chris, Jennifer, Tessa, and Spider-Mike take on this big Disney spectacle and were all surprised by how much of it wasn’t half bad.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Jaume Collet-Serra

STARRING: Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson, Jack Whitehall, Édgar Ramírez, Jesse Plemons, Paul Giamatti, Veronica Falcón, Dani Rovira, Quim Gutiérrez, Dan Dargan Carter, Andy Nyman, Raphael Alejandro

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, in 1992 Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas, where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this paradise you see before you. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Jennifer Lynn Larsen (Giganticast, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born near Seattle, WA, Jennifer has transplanted to Austin TX and is equal parts Roller Derby Girl, Cosplayer, Dungeon Master, Mothra Priestess, and game nerd. She writes the weekly Cosplay beat for Bell of Lost Souls under the name Mayhem’s Muse and travels the world competing in traditional Ground and Horseback archery tournaments with The Eastern Contingent. She comes to OneOfUs by way of Rage Select, where she is part of the dynamic duo “Team JRPG” with magical girl and fellow contributor Matt Frank. (So, SO much fangirling). Jennifer is known for her love of Dragonlance, classic JRPGS, and all things 1980s. She is a regular contributor to Giganticast and is currently diving through ever...

RIDE THE EAGLE MOVIE REVIEW

Many of us have complicated relationships with our mothers. Often, they are our first teachers. They guide us to accept people and ask questions. They help us thrive by encouraging our creativity. They are our caretakers and biggest fans. And then we grow up and realize that they’re just as weird and abnormal and as messed up as we are. And we’re left wondering what the hell happened. When did Mom become a crazy person? Was she always a crazy person? How did we not know that? What else don’t we know? Who was she when we weren’t around? How did she turn out so weird? Did she do drugs? Did she sell them?! She was in a cult?! Is she still in a cult? Who was this woman?!? Well, those are the types of questions that may come up in “Ride The Eagle”, which is about a son coming to terms with his mother, who he is because of or in spite of her, and what their relationship means to him. The story follows Leif (Jake Johnson) who is left with a “conditional inheritance” when his estranged mother Honey (Susan Sarandon) dies. Before he can move into her picturesque Yosemite cabin, he has to complete her elaborate to-do list with his ever loyal and patient dog, Nora. While there, he reconnects with Audrey, the one who might have gotten away (D’Arcy Carden) and meets a crazy mountain man and his mother’s lover, Carl (JK Simmons). T.C., Bradly, Spider-Mike, and Neil gather around the drum circle to share their mommy issues and open their spirits.

OFFICIAL TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Trent O’Donnell

STARRING: Jake Johnson, D’Arcy Carden, J.K. Simmons, Susan Sarandon, Luis Fernandez-Gil, Cleo King, Eric Edelstein, Billy Bungeroth

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)

T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.

 

 

Bradly Martin (Screener Squad, Eye on the Prize, Breakfast Pub)

Bradly Martin was born in the united states and grew up on a healthy diet of sports, films, and books. A rather shy lad who kept to himself, Bradly soon discovered the best way to know a person was to know what people liked. Throughout the years Bradly became a fan of many things and a fanatic of none. From Doctor Dre, to Doctor Strange and the who’s who of Whos. From Playstation to the Dreamcast and Marvel to DC. From LeBron James to James Bond and Lord of the Rings to Lord Palmerston (or Pitt the Elder if you agree with Wade Boggs) and is a huge fan of dad jokes and randomly obscure Simpsons references. Armed with a vast knowledge of comics, films, and pop culture. Bradly traveled the world making friends and sharing takes. As a young man Bradly married the love of his life young and grew older every year with each new child brought into the brood. If trends continue,

ENEMIES OF THE STATE MOVIE REVIEW

What would you do for your family if one of them suddenly got caught up in a crazy government conspiracy? That’s what the Dehart family finds out when their son Matt, an alleged hacktivist member of Anonymous and whistleblower, suddenly found himself fleeing the country with them when he seemingly stumbled upon a dark secret. According to this new documentary produced by the legendary Errol Morris, this secret indicated some serious misconduct by the CIA and as we all know, the CIA doesn’t like secrets pointing at their misconduct. Well we sent in our own hackers Bradley, Jordan, and Melina tap into the mainframe and download the information you need to know if this movie is worth the risk or if it needs to go into witness protection.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Sonia Kennebeck

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

Bradly Martin (Screener Squad, Eye on the Prize, Breakfast Pub)

Bradly Martin was born in the united states and grew up on a healthy diet of sports, films, and books. A rather shy lad who kept to himself, Bradly soon discovered the best way to know a person was to know what people liked. Throughout the years Bradly became a fan of many things and a fanatic of none. From Doctor Dre, to Doctor Strange and the who’s who of Whos. From Playstation to the Dreamcast and Marvel to DC. From LeBron James to James Bond and Lord of the Rings to Lord Palmerston (or Pitt the Elder if you agree with Wade Boggs) and is a huge fan of dad jokes and randomly obscure Simpsons references. Armed with a vast knowledge of comics, films, and pop culture. Bradly traveled the world making friends and sharing takes. As a young man Bradly married the love of his life young and grew older every year with each new child brought into the brood. If trends continue, Scientists predict that .2% of Canada (where Bradly and family reside) will be populated by Bradly’s children by the year 2029. You can hear him leading and listening to his favorite critics on the Screener Squad and Eye on the prize and maybe even provide some comments of his own.

 

 

Jordan Cobb (Screener Squad)

Born with a comic book in one hand, a camera in the other, and in front of the television as WrestleMania played out, Jordan Worth Cobb was thus birthed into this crazy world. A Digital Filmmaking major from the University of Central Arkansas, Jordan has done it all in film from directing, writing, editing, and producing in addition to skills involved in film and TV criticism, journalism, and years of podcasting experience. On any given day, her ADHD riddled brain bounces focus from film to pro wrestling to TV to superheroes to noir to video games to espionage and yes, even to sports. She played little league you know. For more of this eccentric nerd, you can follow her on Twitter here and read her original writings on Deepest Corners of My Notebook.

 

 

Melina Eames (Screener Squad)

Melina first discovered that she carried the nerd gene at the tender age of four following her exposure to a little film called A New Hope. In the twenty-some years that followed, Melina continued to grow into her geek identity through the discovery of Batman, Mst3k, Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings and The Mandalorian. But perhaps her most significant discovery came at the age of fourteen when a night of YouTube mining led her to the review site of Spill.com. Melina became a devoted follower whose fandom did not end with the site’s demise. By then, it had worked its dark magic and left her with a love and appreciation for film criticism that she has yet to shrug.

 

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify,

STILLWATER MOVIE REVIEW

In this new film from director/writer Tom McCarthy (“The Station Agent”, “Spotlight”) Matt Damon plays Bill, an Oklahoman oil worker/construction guy. He’s a little bit country, to be sure. Not that he doesn’t get out and see the world. Specifically, Marseille France, which decidedly and immediately seems out of character. Here’s a guy who doesn’t dislike the French or anything really, but he doesn’t see any real reason to pick up ANY of the language, despite regularly visiting. So why is he there? His daughter (Abigail Breslin) was imprisoned for a murder she swears up and down she’s innocent of, and he saves up with his odd jobs to be able to fly over there, visit her, and bring her books and clothes. When she suggests that someone might actually have a lead on the mysterious man who she claims committed the murder but her lawyer isn’t interested, Bill takes it on himself to try to track down the culprit. But you know what? That’s not what this movie is really about. It’s NOT a cold-case, father protecting his daughter thriller, he DOESN’T have a particular set of skills. Bill is a simple guy whose world gets opened up bit by bit through his time in this very foreign (to him) world and the people he meets there. And we kinda dug the heck out of it. Listen to Chris, Alan, and Beau give you the rundown.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Tom McCarthy

STARRING: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin, Lilou Siauvaud, Deanna Dunagan, Idir Azougli, Anne Le Ny, Moussa Maaskri, Isabelle Tanakil, Naidra Ayadi, Pierre Piacentino, William Nadylam, Mahia Zrouki, Bastien d’Asnieres, Jean-Pierre Gourdain

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, in 1992 Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas, where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this paradise you see before you. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Alan Galinsky (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)

Born and raised in Texas, Alan Galinsky is a lifetime movie fan. As a youth, he would rent multiple movies every weekend and go to the theater for the latest releases, and that pace has remained steady. When Alan isn’t watching movies, you can find him talking about movies. When he’s not talking about movies, you can find him playing music in the band Delicate Boys.

 

 

Beau Paul (Highly Suspect Reviews, The Original Gentlemen, Screener Squad)

Beau Paul is an Austin native, an actor, and a writer. Sometimes all at once! Previously he has attempted to be an internet entertainer (the funny...

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATION – PART 1

Kevin Smith has the power! Did he use it wisely though? “Masters of the Universe: Revelation” is a direct sequel to the original 80s cartoon where after an intense battle with Skeletor, all the magic in Eternia has been thrown into a split Sword of Power. It’s up to Teela and company to gather the pieces and bring magic back to Eternia. The Screener Squad reviewers Bradly, Mindy, Trevor, and Spider-Mike travel to Eternia, but not all of them enjoyed the trip.

WATCH HERE

CREATED BY: Kevin Smith

STARRING: Chris Wood, Mark Hamill, Liam Cunningham, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Lena Headey, Diedrich Bader, Alicia Silverstone, Stephen Root, Griffin Newman, Susan Eisenberg, Kevin Michael Richardson, Kevin Conroy, Henry Rollins, Jason Mewes, Alan Oppenheimer, Justin Long, Tony Todd, Phil LaMarr, Cree Summer, Harley Quinn Smith, Tiffany Smith, Dennis Haysbert, Adam Gifford, Jay Tavare

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Bradly Martin (Screener Squad, Eye on the Prize, Breakfast Pub)

Bradly Martin was born in the united states and grew up on a healthy diet of sports, films, and books. A rather shy lad who kept to himself, Bradly soon discovered the best way to know a person was to know what people liked. Throughout the years Bradly became a fan of many things and a fanatic of none. From Doctor Dre, to Doctor Strange and the who’s who of Whos. From Playstation to the Dreamcast and Marvel to DC. From LeBron James to James Bond and Lord of the Rings to Lord Palmerston (or Pitt the Elder if you agree with Wade Boggs) and is a huge fan of dad jokes and randomly obscure Simpsons references. Armed with a vast knowledge of comics, films, and pop culture. Bradly traveled the world making friends and sharing takes. As a young man Bradly married the love of his life young and grew older every year with each new child brought into the brood. If trends continue, Scientists predict that .2% of Canada (where Bradly and family reside) will be populated by Bradly’s children by the year 2029. You can hear him leading and listening to his favorite critics on the Screener Squad and Eye on the prize and maybe even provide some comments of his own.

 

 

Mindy Rast-Keenan (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)

Having grown up in Nairobi, Kenya, and being very disappointed at the lack of riding elephants her cartoons had promised her, Mindy spends the majority of her time as a film, theater, and voice over actress in the Austin, Texas area. They still give her money for being on HBO that one time, with her name in the credits spelled wrong. A nerdy geek, this award-winning actress joined One of Us figuring she’d put her summa cum laude BFA acting degree to good use…by judging other people’s acting. In the few seconds she gets to herself, Mindy bakes for charity, knits eccentric plushies, plays original RPG’s with her gamemaster husband, and spends time with her soulmate, Batman.

 

 

Trevor Trujillo (Screener Squad)

Trevor T. Trujillo is a One Of Us contributor in addition to being the co-host, co-founder, and co-producer of the Nighthawks Podcast. Trevor’s 17-year media career spans multiple arenas including television, radio, podcasting, and online journalism; and he is currently the editor-in-chief for a regional online news provider in the Rocky Mountain West. Often a nomad, Trevor has found himself “at home” in places like Austin, Texas; West Hollywood, California; and throughout central and southeastern Wyoming. Get the pause button ready, Trevor also manages to pop up in blink-and-you’ll-miss-them featured extra roles in Nickelodeon’s FRED, TruTV’s OPERATION REPO and the Todd Rohal/Zack Carlson short THE SUPLEX DUPLEX COMPLEX.

 

THE GREEN KNIGHT MOVIE REVIEW

Ah, the longing for times past, the glory days of yore. I’m not talking about medieval times, they kinda sucked as far as I can tell. I’m talking about The Gathering and The League of Extremely Ordinary Gentlemen podcasts. If you are one of those who enjoy that type of spirited, geeky, chaos, you’ll love listening to Chris, Tessa, Beau, and Wright talk about the latest A24 film from director David Lowery, “The Green Knight”. With Dev Patel playing the role of King Arthur’s nephew Gawain, the film follows him on the world’s most depressing quest: to go get his head chopped off by the seemingly immortal Green Knight. Along the way he meets many strange characters, makes a number of terrible decisions, encounters ghosts, giants, monsters, and more. It’s not the sort of thing you can really interpret only on a literal level. Indeed, it’s deeply abstract and esoteric style with probably make a lot of viewers turn away from it. But not this crew. Listen to them heap praise while they make Monty Python and Dungeons & Dragons jokes in this totally wild review.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: David Lowery

STARRING: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury, Sean Harris, Kate Dickie, Barry Keoghan, Ralph Ineson, Erin Kellyman

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, in 1992 Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas, where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this paradise you see before you. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Tessa Morrison (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Unstabletop Gamers)

Well-rounded nerd and artist, Tessa Morrison grew up in the misty mountains of West Virginia and was constantly ridiculed for being a “weirdo.” Then moved to Austin in 2009 where people said the same thing, but in an endearing tone. Tessa works an office day job, creates puppets and fiber art, cosplays, models for gaming and animation studios, and volunteers for various organizations. One of which is the Other Worlds Film Festival, Austin’s first SciFi film fest, working in the capacity of Outreach Director and programmer. Another is local DIY-comedy-wrestling league, Party World Rasslin’, where Tessa scrambles around stage-handing and doing art department nonsense. Wrote and contributed to website and magazine Strange Kids Club for five years reviewing films, video games, and Halloween candy. Co-hosted a Public Access show called Ladies of Fandom. Previously guested on podcasts Blood Over Texas, Threequel Club, Trash in the Can, Retro Movie Roundtable,

SETTLERS MOVIE REVIEW

This movie about colonizing Mars is interestingly timed, seeing as a couple of billionaires have recently shot themselves into orbit in their definitely not overcompensating giant dick rockets, and the conversation of space travel and eventual colonization of Mars is prominent in the zeitgeist. But people discuss going to the Red Planet like it’s going to happen soon and that we’re all going to go. We’re not. Our grandkids aren’t. Hell, their kids aren’t, because before we can hang out in space and visit the 4th rock from the sun, we have to establish a colony there, and in order for that to happen, there are gonna be the poor bastards sent to blaze the trails and likely die. And then there’s going to be the people who manage to live but barely survive. And then those that do make a habitable living situation are definitely going to be trying to kill each to continue to survive. It’s going to be the wild west. And that’s the world we’ve got here in SETTLERS. A small family, led by Reza (Jonny Lee Miller) and Ilsa (Sofia Boutella) live in a lonely outpost on Mars. They are attacked by bandits, and the leader of the marauders, Jerry (Ismael Cruz Córdova), lays claim to the outpost. He attempts to integrate into the family, demanding thirty days to prove himself. We experience this all through the perspective of the daughter of the family, Remmy (Nell Tiger Free). It’s a frontier film set 237 million miles away, but where humans live, human fear and danger will always follow. Tessa, Matt, and T.C. hunker down in their own oxygen enriched outposts and discuss their feelings for this Mars movie.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Wyatt Rockefeller

STARRING: Sofia Boutella, Ismael Cruz Córdova, Brooklynn Prince, Nell Tiger Free, Jonny Lee Miller, Natalie Walsh, Matthew Van Leeve

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Tessa Morrison (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Unstabletop Gamers)

Well-rounded nerd and artist, Tessa Morrison grew up in the misty mountains of West Virginia and was constantly ridiculed for being a “weirdo.” Then moved to Austin in 2009 where people said the same thing, but in an endearing tone. Tessa works an office day job, creates puppets and fiber art, cosplays, models for gaming and animation studios, and volunteers for various organizations. One of which is the Other Worlds Film Festival, Austin’s first SciFi film fest, working in the capacity of Outreach Director and programmer. Another is local DIY-comedy-wrestling league, Party World Rasslin’, where Tessa scrambles around stage-handing and doing art department nonsense. Wrote and contributed to website and magazine Strange Kids Club for five years reviewing films, video games, and Halloween candy. Co-hosted a Public Access show called Ladies of Fandom. Previously guested on podcasts Blood Over Texas, Threequel Club, Trash in the Can, Retro Movie Roundtable, and Nerds with Mics.

 

 

Matt Foster (Screener Squad)

Matt Foster is a stand up comic, podcaster, and movie critic currently living in the greater Salt Lake City area. His lifelong love of genre film began early, when he realized they freaked out his mom. He performs (epidemics permitting) regularly on Dungeons and Comedy, a DND live play with standup comedians, and is the slightly less mustache-y half of the Nighthawks Podcast, a cinema-centric discussion cohosted by Trevor T. Trujillo.

 

 

 

T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)

T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ,

FOR MADMEN ONLY

What can you say about Del Close? Wait, what do you mean you’ve never heard of Del Close? Or more accurately, I’m surprised if you don’t work in comedy and you HAVE heard of him. Which is a crime because the guy more or less single-handedly invented modern improv comedy, taught every major comedian for decades, and was a kinda crazy, unbalanced, drug addict who never got the recognition and success he craved. This new documentary assembles a sizable amount of folks who worked with Del, trained under him, and were deeply influenced by him, to talk about all sides of this irascible, insane, genius of a guy. Chris, Marco, Mindy, and Drew do their best to ‘yes, and’ the film on their review.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Heather Ross

STARRING: Andrew Alexander, Ike Barinholtz, Bernadette Birkett, Craig Cackowski, Janet Coleman, Robert Dassie, Josh Fadem, Mike Gold, Ed Greenberg, Charna Halpern, Howard Johnson, Joe Keefe, Lauren Lapkus, Michael McCarthy, Adam McKay, Tim Meadows, Susan Messing, Alan Meyerson, Bob Odenkirk, John Ostrander, Patton Oswalt, Lennon Parham, David Pasquesi, Diona Reasonover, Paul Scheer, Brian Stack, Jason Sudeikis, Dave Thomas, James Urbaniak, Matt Walsh, Michaela Watkins, George Wendt

 

 YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, in 1992 Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas, where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this paradise you see before you. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Marco Noyola (Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Audio Editor)

By day, Marco is a mild-mannered office worker, but by night he is a mild-mannered movie watcher. He does other mild-mannered stuff too.

“You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody!”

 

 

 

Mindy Rast-Keenan (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)

Having grown up in Nairobi, Kenya, and being very disappointed at the lack of riding elephants her cartoons had promised her, Mindy spends the majority of her time as a film, theater, and voice over actress in the Austin, Texas area. They still give her money for being on HBO that one time, with her name in the credits spelled wrong. A nerdy geek, this award-winning actress joined One of Us figuring she’d put her summa cum laude BFA acting degree to good use…by judging other people’s acting. In the few seconds she gets to herself, Mindy bakes for charity, knits eccentric plushies, plays original RPG’s with her gamemaster husband, and spends time with her soulmate, Batman.

 

 

Drew Tinnin (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews, Deliberations of Doom)