TheRetroCritic

I talk about American Made in a live vlog.

Written and directed by Noah Baumbach, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)  was released on Netflix this month after a respectable performance at the Cannes Film Festival. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as Harold Meyerowitz, an ageing sculptor whose children have grown up resenting him somewhat based on their divisive upbringing. Harold constantly confuses his own sons' childhoods since his art was and still is always at the forefront of his mind with his daughter Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) trailing far behind. Danny (Adam Sandler) and Matthew (Ben Stiller) are very different from each other as a result of Harold's lack of interest: the former is a down-and-out musician with a limp, the latter is a successful yet high-strung private wealth expert. The film follows this family as they are forced to reconnect when Harold suffers a significant health scare. These are "New and Selected" stories in that, while the film is mostly linear, it skips through portions of

I talk a bit about Netflix's new anime series Neo Yokio .

I talk a bit about Netflix's new show Ozark .

Some thoughts on Netflix's new Death Note movie.

I talk a bit about Marvel's latest crossover: The Defenders .

Happy Madison returns with Sandy Wexler , another Netflix-exclusive release starring Adam Sandler. This time, it's a biopic of the titular talent manager, who managed Sandler among many others. The film focuses on Wexler's discovery of a talented unknown singer he also falls in love with. While this is a rare genre for Sandler to tackle, we're very much in familiar territory here between his usual team's countless cameos (Schneider, Vanilla Ice, Lovitz etc.), the actor himself doing a silly voice and reliably goofy humour throughout. Essentially, this is your typical agent-finds-talent/talent-outgrows-agent story in the vein of Broadway Danny Rose , except with a corny love story at its heart and a cartoonish tone. Jennifer Hudson portrays Courtney Clarke, the singer Sandy first meets performing in a duck costume for kids in a Six Flags amusement park and she's easily the most likeable aspect of this movie. She's obviously talented and never becomes the div

I talk about the first season of Castlevania  on Netflix.

After getting some positive buzz in festivals, South Korean and American co-production Okja finally got a Netflix release last month. The cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Steven Yeun, Paul Dano and, so far, the film has received praise from critics and audiences alike. You wouldn't necessarily think that a Korean film about a giant CGI pig would gather this much interest yet director Joon-ho Bong ( Snowpiercer , The Host ) turned an odd concept into an unlikely hit and it's quite probable we'll see him tackle a major Hollywood film very soon. On paper, Okja sounds like little more than a Pete's Dragon -style kids' movie where a cute, oversized, weird-looking animal befriends a youngster and they both get into goofy adventures as others try and break them apart. Indeed, this is very much a Pete's Dragon for this generation, much more so even than the actual Disney remake from 2016, but there is an edge to this one that you might not be expectin

New trailer for The Defenders is finally up! What do you guys think?

I talk at length about Marvel's Jessica Jones Netflix series.

I finally review Marvel's Luke Cage Netflix series.

I briefly talk about Marvel's latest Netflix series Iron Fist .

Another year, another Nicolas Cage film you never knew existed but which somehow got made and was released when you weren't looking. Dog Eat Dog can now be found on Netflix, it co-stars Willem Dafoe and it is, believe it not, pretty good. The opening sequence of the film is arguably one of last year's most brutal scenes, which sets the tone for Dafoe's character, a pathetic yet psychopathic ex-con nicknamed "Mad Dog" who joins his partners in crime Troy (Nicolas Cage) and Diesel (Christopher Matthew Cook) for one last job. Directed by veteran filmmaker Paul Schrader, known for co-writing some of Martin Scorsese's very best films and for making off-beat thrillers himself, Dog Eat Dog definitely has a quirky plot that feels like something the Coen Brothers would tackle or have tackled since one of the scenes even involves Cage stealing a baby à la Raising Arizona . There is humour in the film but the several funny lines or moments you'll find are super

10 years after his last feature film For Your Consideration , Christopher Guest is finally back with a new zany mockumentary, this time for Netflix. Packed with some of his regular cast members, Mascots follows the build-up to a contest where the "best" mascots battle it out. This is a such an obviously funny concept that the jokes write themselves so it's not exactly a big risk for the filmmaker as Mascots is essentially Best In Show crossed with Waiting For Guffman . Guest even reprises his role from the latter as camp musical director Corky St. Clair in an amusing cameo. With the likes of Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley Jr, Fred Willard and others, this is familiar territory for sure so don't expect too many big surprises. That said, it's hard to make a bad film when this many funny people are in it so Mascots is just as enjoyable as you'd expect with plenty of goofy lines and gags to keep you entertained throughout. Seeing all t

Here's the video version of my The Do-Over review.

Here's the video version of my The Little Prince review.

Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken star in Nick Of Time , a thriller from 1995 in which a man's daughter is kidnapped and he is then forced to assassinate a politician. The film was a flop upon its release despite the lead's star power and it remains one of Depp's most forgotten efforts. The central premise is an intriguing one as we follow everyman accountant Gene (Depp) in real time as he attempts to get out of his predicament within the hour and a half time limit he's been assigned to do the job. Throughout the film, Christopher Walken's mysterious villain taunts him and watches his every move and he is genuinely intimidating. Unfortunately, this whole real time concept has been done before and since much better going as far back as Alfred Hitchcock's Rope to more recent examples including the 24 series and Phone Booth . This might explain why Nick Of Time evaporated pretty quickly as it comes off less like a theatrical blockbuster and more like a TV m

In France, The Little Prince is a true children's classic, one of those iconic fairy tales that's so perfect as it is that every adaptation since has paled in comparison. This month, Netflix brings us this animated film loosely based on Antoine de Saint-Exupery's novella. Bizarrely pulled from theaters a week before its 3D cinema release, the film was instead distributed on the popular streaming network and it's done well with critics and audiences alike. A very loose adaptation of the book, the film focuses on the story of a little girl and her mother as they move into a new house and the latter plans her daughter's entire life before she enrolls into a prestigious school. The little girl befriends an old man who lives next door as he introduces her to the story of The Little Prince. The parts of the movie that tell the classic story, I must admit, look beautiful: the stop-motion work is impressive and the paper-themed visual style proves to be a perfect matc

Some time before the Beethoven movies took the whole slobbering dog movie concept to mindless levels while, at the same time, making an immortal musical icon synonymous with drool, we got both K-9 and Turner & Hooch  the same year. Produced by Disney, the 1989 film starred Tom Hanks as a neat police investigator stuck with taking care of rambunctious dog Hooch after its owner is suddenly murdered. Turner (Hanks) sets off on a search for the culprits but, first, he has to turn his life upside-down looking after his new slobbering pet. Of course, this leads to several scenes in which the dog destroys every inch of Turner's house much to the cop's horror. Hanks is reliably good as Turner and he elevates a role that, in lesser hands, could have easily fallen flat. Hooch (real name Beasley) is every bit as destructive and messy as you'd expect but the titular characters still bond and the movie makes that relationship convincing. In fact, we spend probably a bit too mu