THE VALET MOVIE REVIEW

One of the tried and true rom-com formulas is taking two people from different worlds and contriving a reason for them to have to pretend to be a couple. And now, there’s a new entry into the genre, Hulu’s much smaller albeit more charming The Valet, starring Eugenio Derbez (How To Be a Latin Lover) and Samara Weaving (Ready or Not). Antonio (Derbez) is a humble valet living with his mother (the late and great famed Mexican actress Carmen Salinas). He is separated from his wife and shares custody of their son. Meanwhile, actress Olivia Allan (Weaving), one of the biggest stars on the planet, is having an affair with city developer and married billionaire Vincent Royce (Max Greenfield). One night, when Olivia is getting into her Uber with Vincent standing next to her, Antonio crashes his bike into the car. The three are photographed together, sparking rumors of Olivia and Vincent’s affair. Fearing he will lose his company if his wife Kathryn (Betsy Brandt) divorces him, Vincent comes up with a plan to have Olivia and Antonio pretend to be a couple. Olivia accepts because she wants to avoid any bad publicity before the premiere of her new movie, “Earhart”. Antonio, true to form, humbly requests $12,850 to pay off his wife’s debts. Antonio and Olivia begin a fraud romance that grows into a true friendship. But not everyone falls for the ploy. Kathryn hires a private investigator to tail them. Culture clash comedy ensues, and Rose, Frank, and T.C. debate whether or not this movie is laugh out loud funny or generally sweet.

WATCH HERE

DIRECTED BY: Richard Wong

STARRING: Eugenio Derbez, Samara Weaving, Max Greenfield, Betsy Brandt, Marisol Nichols, Amaury Nolasco, Carmen Salinas, Noemi Gonzalez, Armando Hernández, Carlos Santos, Wilmer Calderon, Ravi Patel, John Pirruccello, Diany Rodriguez, Tiana Okoye, Ji Yong Lee

 

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.

 

 Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive.

GEORGE CARLIN’S AMERICAN DREAM SERIES REVIEW

From directors Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio comes George Carlin’s American Dream, a two part documentary about the legendary stand-up comedian. Clocking in at nearly four hours, this is as definitive a documentary as we’re likely to get on Carlin’s life and career. Made with the participation of Carlin’s family, the filmmakers were given unprecedented access to his personal archives, and interview a who’s who of comedy legends to discuss Carlin’s impact on the field of stand-up comedy. While it’s great to see other comics talk about Carlin’s influence, it’s the personal stories from his brother, his two wives, and his daughter that shed the most light on a man who spent over 40 years evolving himself and his material in order to remain relevant. Without a doubt, a genius like Carlin deserves an epic length documentary, but did this one do justice to its subject? Listen to our reviewers Jena, Eliot, Melina, and Marco as they talk seriously about a very funny man.

WATCH HERE

DIRECTED BY: Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

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!”

 

 

Jena Perry (Screener Squad)

Jena Perry. Aka Luna. Aka Dion. Aka Memori. Aka Dog whisperer. Aka whiskey connoisseur. As you can see, depending on when you met this Oakland, California native, you have experienced a completely different person, each time. After finally deciding on a 13+year career choice as a Videographer and Radio Personality, Jena balances her time between pursuing her Doctorate in Philosophy, providing insightful and funny critiques on films and Television, raising her daughter and dog in Ohio, and constantly fighting off the existential dread that is being a dope black woman in America in the 20th century.

 

 

Eliot Nelson (Screener Squad, Staff Writer)

Soaked in the soggy rains of Seattle, Eliot developed a love of sci-fi, movies, cartoons, heavy metal, and all of geekdom. Pursuing his passion for the written word, he got his BA from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington. He has since worked exclusively in the foodservice industry, like any liberal arts major worth their salt. Eliot wiles away the hours listening to movie reviews, writing his epic sci-fi novel, and consuming as much media as possible. His favorite movies include The Lord of the Rings, City of God, Dawn of the Dead, and Groundhog Day. When not rambling to himself about the ineptness of entertainment executives, Eliot posts infrequently on Twitter and squawks regularly on his podcast The Debasement Tapes.

 

 

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.

 

 

LOVE, DEATH, & ROBOTS SEASON 3 REVIEW

LOVE, DEATH & ROBOTS. Not just a catch phrase I want to cross-stitch and frame in my kitchen. No, I am talking about the third season of the Sci-Fi, animated anthology series created by Tim Miller now streaming on Netflix. Join Jena, Tessa, Marco and Wright as they discuss their favorite episode of the latest season. Nine episodes full of dread, laughter, insight, beauty, and moral quandaries. Nine episodes featuring differing styles of animation and some familiar voices! Nine episodes that were the only ones that Wright has watched so far (He promises he will check out the other seasons.). Find out who the gang thinks is the best robot. Tessa says Johnny Five and everyone else is just plain wrong.

WATCH HERE

CREATED BY: Tim Miller

STARRING: Josh Brener, Gary Anthony Williams, Katie Lowes, Chris Parnell, Troy Baker, Kevin Jackson, Anthony Mark Barrow, Chantelle Barry, Parry Shen, Time Winters, James Preston Rogers, Jason Flemyng, Elodie Yung, Max Fowler, Mackenzie Davis, Holly Jade, David Shatraw, Joel McHale, Seth Green, Gabriel Luna, Steve Blum, Andrew Kishino, Rosario Dawson, Jason Winston George, Craig Ferguson, Dan Stevens, Joe Manganiello, Christian Serratos, Jai Courtney, Debra Wilson, Fred Tatasciore, Noshir Dalal, Stanton Lee, Jeff Schine, Girvan ‘Swirv’ Bramble

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Wright Sulek (Screener Squad, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Trash in the Can, Audio Editor)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox.

 

 

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.

 

 

Jena Perry (Screener Squad)

Jena Perry. Aka Luna. Aka Dion. Aka Memori. Aka Dog whisperer. Aka whiskey connoisseur. As you can see, depending on when you met this Oakland, California native, you have experienced a completely different person, each time. After finally deciding on a 13+year career choice as a Videographer and Radio Personality, Jena balances her time between pursuing her Doctorate in Philosophy,

WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY SERIES REVIEW

Have you ever wondered how the Los Angeles Lakers became the basketball institution they are today? Adam McKay, HBO, and their creative team are here to teach you all about it in Winning Time. Adapted from the book by Jeff Pearlman, this first season follows the first year of the team’s ‘Showtime’ era after Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) buys the franchise. Seeing that the team needed to boost their profile, Jerry assembles a powerhouse managing and coaching team to assemble a dream team of players. Among that dream team are veteran players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) and Norm Nixon (DeVaughn Nixon), along with a certain rookie named Earvin “Magic” Johnson (Quincy Isaiah). Will this team rise up to…no, let’s not kid ourselves. We already know that the Lakers become one of the best teams in the league following this. That said, does the show still keep our attention in explaining how that all happened? Justin, Melina, Frank, and Bradly decided to pass the ball to each other and give their thoughts on a show that, while sometimes factually inaccurate, still entertains and informs!

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

CREATED BY: Max Borenstein and Jim Hecht

STARRING: John C. Reilly, Quincy Isaiah, Jason Clarke, Sally Field, Adrien Brody, Gaby Hoffmann, Jason Segel, Hadley Robinson, DeVaughn Nixon, Tracy Letts, Solomon Hughes, Tamera Tomakili, Brett Cullen, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Spencer Garrett, Sarah Ramos, Molly Gordon, Rob Morgan, Delante Desouza, Austin Aaron, Jimel Atkins, Rachel Hilson, Gillian Jacobs, Wood Harris, LisaGay Hamilton, Michael Chiklis, David Purdham, Rory Cochrane, Mike Epps, Orlando Jones, Julianne Nicholson

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Justin Zarian (Screener Squad, Eye on the Prize, Breakfast Pub, Assistant Site Manager)

Justin’s fate as a movie fanatic was written in the stars when his birth forced his parents to cancel their planned Oscar viewing party. While growing up in California, he was often seen in front of the television watching and re-watching Star Wars, Jurassic Park, classic Disney movies and a steady stream of animated shows. This eventually led to a B.A. in Film at Brigham Young University and an Outstanding Student Teacher Award for displaying a level of film knowledge so insane that even his fellow film students couldn’t compete. He received his M.A. from Syracuse University and is currently pursuing a teaching certificate, but still volunteers at One of Us every so often for the fun of it. His hobbies include non-stop film conversations, wondering how Mass Effect 3’s ending went so wrong, espousing the joys of shooting guns (but not hunting, as he’s quick to note), writing the next great American television show in his head, and anything else entertainment related. You can find him on Facebook once in a blue moon.

 

 

Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive. His ultimate goal is to write a script for his boyhood crush, Michelle Pfeiffer.

 

 

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 N...

TOP GUN: MAVERICK MOVIE REVIEW

Tom Cruise is back as Maverick, the unconventional and appropriately named pilot from 1986’s smash-hit Top Gun. Only now, it’s 30 something years later, he’s still a Captain and flying whenever he can, and for every person in his life that thinks he’s the greatest, there’s someone else who just can’t stand the guy. Usually Admirals in the Navy, unfortunately. Despite that, he has a steadfast supporter in his once enemy, now friend “Iceman” (Val Kilmer) who gives him a ‘last chance’ gig: teaching a group of cocky Top Gun graduate all-stars how to pull off a near-suicidal mission. Maverick isn’t a great teacher but he’s terrific at pissing people off, getting the girl (this time around, Jennifer Connelly as Penny, a character only referred to in passing in the original film), and ultimately, getting to fly like a rockstar. And then there’s Bradley aka “Rooster” (Miles Teller), the son of his late friend “Goose” who now is a pilot on the line for this mission who has nothing but hate for Maverick. How will it all come together? Surprisingly, not that differently from the original. But you knew that. Chris, Frank, Alan, and Ben discuss who this movie is for and how it can be both bad and good at the same time.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Joseph Kosinski

STARRING: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Ed Harris, Val Kilmer, Monica Barbaro, Charles Parnell, Jay Ellis, Danny Ramirez, Greg Tarzan Davis, Manny Jacinto, Jack Schumacher, Bashir Salahuddin, Jack Picking, Raymond Lee, Lyliana Wray, Jean Louisa Kelly, Chelsea Harris

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 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 community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country,

CHIP ‘N DALE: RESCUE RANGERS

Don’t be fooled. This isn’t a reboot. This is a continuation of the characters Chip and Dale from the old Rescue Rangers series, but in this reimagining, those lil’ chipmunks were actors in a Roger Rabbit style world co-populated by humans and toons, Chip (voiced by John Mulaney)and Dale (Andy Samberg) meet in elementary school, become fast friends, move to Hollywood, and break into the world of afternoon cartoons. After a falling out and thirty years later, Chip is a successful insurance salesman while Dale spends most of his time on the fan convention circuit. The two are contacted by their old co-star Monterey Jack (Eric Bana), who owes money to a criminal named Sweet Pete (Will Arnett) due to his stinky cheese addiction. Monty warns the pair of a trafficking operation where toons are kidnapped, have their appearances altered, and are shipped overseas to produce bootlegs of their works for the rest of their lives. After Monty vanishes, Detective Ellie Steckler (KiKi Layne), a diehard Rescue Rangers fan, convinces the old duo to team-up once again and solve this mystery themselves. Chad, Dogget, Spider-Mike, and T.C. declare their love for this nostalgia kicking, genre bending, satirical look at Hollywood, and marvel at the sheer audacity of what this movie pulls off.

WATCH HERE

DIRECTED BY: Akiva Schaffer

STARRING: John Mulaney, Andy Samberg, Juliet Donenfeld, Will Arnett, Mason Blomberg, Eric Bana, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, J.K. Simmons, KiKi Layne, Tim Robinson, Flula Borg, Dennis Haysbert, Tress Macneille, Da’Vone McDonald, Chris Parnell, Corey Burton, Jeff Bennett, Liz Cackowski, Rachel Bloom, Steven Curtis Chapman, Charles Fleischer, David Tennant, Alan Oppenheimer, Jorma Taccone, Jim Cummings, Betty Lou Gerson, Akiva Schaffer, Paula Abdul, Paul Rudd, Vin Diesel, Tad Stones

 

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.

 

 

Chad Halvorsen (Screener Squad)

Chad Halvorsen currently resides in Milwaukee, WI, where he produces and edits commercials, films, and everything in between. He was always a fan of film/television growing up, spending days in the Summer, making (terrible) home movies with his brothers. Little did he know that passion would carry on into adulthood. Since 2006, Chad has worked for several agencies in various departments. Shooting, producing, editing, production management, directing, and when forced to, writing copy. In 2015, Chad decided to take the big leap and become a freelancer. Since then, he’s produced content for Lyft, AT&T, Target, and Discovery Network. His passion lies in entertaining people, making them feel better, even for a moment.

SENIOR YEAR MOVIE REVIEW

For some people, high school was the best time of their life. They were queens and/or kings of the world, even though they were in fact underdeveloped children with a very narrow world view. And those people who still cling to the magic of those four awkward and uncomfortable adolescent years are probably living very sad lives. High school ends. We grow up. We move on. Unless of course you’re the unfortunate victim of a failed cheerleading basket toss that puts you into a coma that you come out of 20 years later with the body of a 37 year old and the mind of a teen. Take a little bit of Billy Madison and smash it together with a bit of Mean Girls and come out the other side with Senior Year. This Netflix comedy stars Rebel Wilson as Stephanie, who has been in that proposed coma for two decades, and she’s ready to pick up exactly where she left off. She goes back to her high school and tries to assume her role as the star of her senior class. She reconnects with her two best friends, Martha (Mary Holland), and Seth (Sam Richardson), as well as picking right back up her teenage rivalry with her nemesis Tiffany (Zoë Chao). I mean, the b-word stole Blaine, Steph’s hot boyfriend (Justin Hartley). As rare as it seems these days, this is a straight up comedy without any other genre blends. But did it leave Harmoni, Frank, Chad, and T.C. laughing, disappointed, or dusting off their burned mix CDs and jamming out to some Mandy Moore?

WATCH HERE

DIRECTED BY: Alex Hardcastle

STARRING: Rebel Wilson, Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland, Justin Hartley, Chris Parnell, Angourie Rice, Michael Cimino, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Alicia Silverstone, Zaire Adams, Ana Yi Puig, Molly Brown, Tyler Barnhardt, Lucy Taylor, Brandon Scott Jones, Joshua Colley, Jade Bender, Avantika Vandanapu, Merrick McCartha, Steve Aoki

 

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.

 

 

Harmoni Anderson (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews, Unstabletop Gaming)

Harmoni is a mermaid-haired, millennial, rum drinking, Section 31, Slytherin (who’s divorced J.K. Rowling) preschool/nursery teacher and multi genre geek who also loves all things film, tv, fashion, makeup, and an embarrassingly huge BTS stan. Like really embarrassing. As in, mention them and then sit back and watch the insanity. Harmoni likes being able to game and talk movies/TV with people that aren’t 3 feet tall or all that demanding of her. Plus she can curse at us and not get fired….so bonus!

 

 

Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him s...

MEN MOVIE REVIEW

Writer/Director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) tells this A24 produced tale of Harper (Jessie Buckley). After witnessing her husband’s gruesome death, possibly a suicide, to deal with her grief rents a large manor in the English countryside. The owner Geoffrey is played good-naturedly goofy by Rory Kinnear who introduces her to the home’s features, and then is ushered out as quickly as she can manage to get rid of him. But there’s no getting rid of him. Not Geoffrey, but Rory Kinnear, who in varying degrees of makeup and latex effects (and a few CG ones) is playing practically every man in this film. Harper just wants time alone but there always seems to be a Rory-man there to make her feel bad in one way or another. Ok, so this is a horror film and YES, things go intensely sideways at a point, and viewer beware: with some of the most disturbing effects scenes these critics have seen in a long time. But we’re all horror fans here, so did we dig it? You might be very surprised at some of the disagreements that Chris, Frank, and Wright have over this highly-anticipated bit of madness.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Alex Garland

STARRING: Jessie Buckley, Rory Kinnear, Paapa Essiedu, Gayle Rankin

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 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 community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Frank Calvillo (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad)

Born and raised in South Texas, Frank currently lives in Austin and has been in love with movies ever since his father showed him some Three Stooges shorts when he was five years old. Today he loves all kinds of film, regardless of era, country, budget or genre. He believes every film has an audience and is at least one person’s favorite movie. After writing for Sight & Sound and Slackerwood, he now writes for Cinapse where his increasingly random taste in all flavors of cinema (from Rashomon to Mars Attacks!) continues to thrive.

MONSTROUS MOVIE REVIEW

Directed by Chris Sivertson and written by Carol Chrest, Monstrous follows Laura (Christina Ricci) and her son Cody (Santino Barnard). They recently have fled from her abusive ex husband, and are trying to start a new life. As if dealing with that trauma wasn’t enough, apparently near their new home there’s  some sort of lake monster. It seems no matter how far they go, they’ll never escape what haunts Laura. Does this movie hold up or make any sense? Discussing that today we have Lewayne, Matt, Rose and Chad. Thanks for joining us!

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Chris Sivertson

STARRING: Christina Ricci, Santino Barnard, Colleen Camp, Lew Temple, Nick Vallelonga

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Chad Halvorsen (Screener Squad)

Chad Halvorsen currently resides in Milwaukee, WI, where he produces and edits commercials, films, and everything in between. He was always a fan of film/television growing up, spending days in the Summer, making (terrible) home movies with his brothers. Little did he know that passion would carry on into adulthood. Since 2006, Chad has worked for several agencies in various departments. Shooting, producing, editing, production management, directing, and when forced to, writing copy. In 2015, Chad decided to take the big leap and become a freelancer. Since then, he’s produced content for Lyft, AT&T, Target, and Discovery Network. His passion lies in entertaining people, making them feel better, even for a moment. All the pain and suffering of this business is worth it, if even just one person views his work. Chad is a frequent podcaster, most notably posing as a co-host for the podcast “The Film Illogical Society.”

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

Rose Mattox (Screener Squad, Eye On The Prize)

Originally hailing from Austin then Houston, Rose has been an avid movie and TV fanatic pretty much since birth. She spends spending her days watching Star Trek reruns, 60’s spy fiction, and Audrey Hepburn movies with her beloved minion (see: dog Riley). She also occasionally dabbles in comedy, screenwriting, as well as graphic and interior design. Rose has been contributing to One of Us since 2019 as a member of the Screener Squad, as well as making regular appearances on Eye on the Prize during awards season. She can be found on Twitter at @nightattheopera.

 

 

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STAR TREK: PICARD SEASON 2 REVIEW

Patrick Stewart returns as Jean-Luc Picard in this second season of the Paramount Plus television series. This time, Q (John de Lancie) has shown up to wreak his special brand of mischief and it’s thrust Picard, Jurati (Alison Pill), Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Raffi (Michelle Hurd), Elnor (Evan Evagora), and Rios (Santiago Cabrera) into an alternate timeline where the Federation is the Confederation, a “Mirror Mirror”-like version of the universe where humans are xenophobic and have conquered most of the galaxy. In order to restore the timeline they must travel into the distant past year of 2024 on Earth and figure out where Q has messed with the timeline. Oh, and they have the Borg queen (Annie Wersching) in tow and have to deal with her likely machinations to boot. Along the way they meet old friends, some in different incarnations of themselves, perform musical numbers, deal with ICE, get in car chases, and confront their troubled pasts. Chris, Harmoni, Jordan, and Marco engage with the season and check their tricorder readings to see how it performs.

WATCH HERE

CREATED BY: Akiva Goldsman, Michael Chabon, Kirsten Beyer, and Alex Kurtzman

STARRING: Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Orla Brady, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera, Brent Spiner, John de Lancie, Madeline Wise, Annie Wersching, Sol Rodriguez, Ito Aghayere, Penelope Mitchell, Whoopi Goldberg, April Grace, Kirk Thatcher, James Callis, Jay Karnes, Wil Wheaton

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 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 community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Harmoni Anderson (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews, Unstabletop Gaming)

Harmoni is a mermaid-haired, millennial, rum drinking, Section 31, Slytherin (who’s divorced J.K. Rowling) preschool/nursery teacher and multi genre geek who also loves all things film, tv, fashion, makeup, and an embarrassingly huge BTS stan. Like really embarrassing. As in,