And in a shocking display of productivity, the November roundup arrives right around the proper end of the month. I’m as stunned as the next person. Tackling a backlog on reviews, transcribing an interview, and getting lyrics together left me desirous of something that didn’t feel like heavy lifting. Yet, it’s always the things that seem the easiest which can prove the hardest. Suffice it to say, I just wanted to do some fun writing. As such, let’s dive into the pile.
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Heretic kicked off the month with a press viewing at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Chicago. It’s always a mixed bag attending screenings there. The theater is fine, and although the concessions can be a tad pricey, press often get a few freebies. When I saw Maxxxine, for instance, they gave us complimentary cocktails, a signature concoction composed for the occasion. Heretic involved similar perks. They even pumped in the aroma of blueberry pie during one particular scene. My problem with the venue is the location. 

Smack dab in the heart of Wrigleyville, the Alamo Drafthouse is situated in the one of the worst neighborhoods in all of Chicagoland. That is, depending on what doings are ah-transpirin’ at nearby Wrigley Field. If the Cubs are playing or a concert is going down, well, Chicago police decided long ago to just shutdown roads for blocks in all directions. Wrigleyville essentially becomes an open-air mall for falling down drunks, many of whom are looking to beatdown, bang, or barf. Sometimes all three (i.e. slap, fuck, vomit). Traffic becomes a molasses slow nightmare, parking nonexistent, and the pedestrians are walking examples for any argument against human existence. But that night, with Wrigley Field quiet, so was the neighborhood.

Heretic is an excellent thriller. The primary draw is Hugh Grant as a loquacious villain. The film is great at leaning into his disarming charm despite the increasing obviousness that something is amiss. Yet, the moviemakers behind this fright flick hold the pace, never rushing as the tension builds. Amazing cinematography combines with excellent camera work to enhance the atmosphere. However, it might all fall to pieces if the two leading ladies didn’t provide astonishingly subtle performances. The exact details are in a longer, spoiler free review over at Film Obsessive.

Heretic Conjures a Special Dread | Film Obsessive

After that I saw Maria. This is a tricky film to criticize. On the one hand, this fictionalized biopic contains an award-worthy performance by Angelina Jolie. I have no doubt she’ll receive numerous nominations and possibly several prestigious wins. She provides a raw emotional portrayal of legendary opera star Maria Callas that is captivating in its tragedy as well as endearing in its vulnerability. It’s one of the greatest displays of acting all year. Unfortunately, this remarkable accomplishment is in service of a film so astonishingly mediocre it almost put me to sleep.

Maria is a film that aims to have operatic qualities alongside poetic surrealistic visuals. It never captures those qualities, and the ho-hum ways it endeavors to do so are pathetic at worst, pretentious at best. The movie never does anything deserving of Jolie’s performance, yet it benefits entirely from her, riding her acting into the appearance of heights the filmmakers never earn.

I recently received a for-your-consideration package for this film. It included Maria on disc as well as the script. The amount of awards the people behind this picture think they deserve recognition for is laughable. And I say that because I literally laughed out loud reading the list. For more on the one thing which worked and the great many bits that don’t, check out my detailed spoiler free review by clicking the link below. 

Maria Is Nothing Without Angelina Jolie | Film Obsessive

As is often the way, November didn’t have things scheduled until the end of the month. I went from doing little to being booked solid all day every day for two weeks. Live shows intermingled with personal responsibilities alongside work. However, it’s hard to complain about being busy when a lot of that work is simply watching shows, especially the good ones.

Full discloser, I wasn’t really looking forward to seeing Wicked. Granted, critics are supposed to review things objectively, but I’ve found objectivity to be a bit mythical. I can’t recount how many times, before a flick started, I’ve heard the press pool already talking about what they think of a film, positively and negatively. Yet, I try to review things with as open a mind as possible. If nothing else, I will attempt to figure out who the film is for then if that audience would enjoy it. Sometimes I am that audience which makes it easier. Another thing which makes things easy is actually having a good time.

Wicked caught me entirely off guard. To a certain extent, I think it helped that I’d already read Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Though that said, it’s a marvelous movie from start to finish. That’s especially important because the flick is dreadfully long. Just as it starts to become intolerably lengthy the whole thing wraps up on a rousing rendition of “Defying Gravity”. Still, I couldn’t believe how hooked I was from the opening number.

Curiously, perhaps because of that unexpected enjoyment, I’ve become somewhat sharply aware of negative reviews. Glancing around social media, I see a lot of folks having enjoyed the movie. But a few critics caught my eye. Now, people are free to disagree with me. I mainly read the first negative review curious to see what soured their viewing. This particular critic complained that the film featured production design that was too fantasy based. In other words, the merry old land of Oz seemed set too much in a fantasy realm. They also complained how Wicked is an origin story for a villain – wailing something like, “Why, oh why, can’t evil just be evil‽” – which is odd since Elphaba isn’t ever a villain.
Essentially, I found negative reviews seemed stuck on nitpicking details or gave telltale signs the critics weren’t really paying attention to the film. At best, they appeared to have stopped watching once they made up their minds. At worst, they went in to cherry pick things to detest. Like the one who sneered at the way the colors were too balanced, insisting some of them should have stood out. Apparently, Elphaba being the only green person in all of Oz didn’t make her stand out enough. She should have been a blazing neon while Glinda’s pink should have stabbed the eyes as well.

Frankly, the reek of contrarianism came off most sentences, writers refusing to like something guaranteed to be popular. It’s a pity really. They went in expecting the worst, and they got it. I didn’t go in anticipating anything fun, but I stayed open to the possibility. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed the movie as much as I did. 

Wicked is Over-the-Rainbow Excellence | Film Obsessive

After Wicked, I buckled down on an article about Young Frankenstein. The fifty-year-old film is a comedy classic. Its golden reputation is well-earned. However, in the decades since its release there’s little left to say. And I didn’t want to simply rehash the gags everyone loves. Too many anniversary articles seem to go that route. They recount the film everyone already knows then, if lucky, add one sidewise detail that’ve never been known. The downside with most Mel Brooks movies is that he’s been very generous with interviews, especially lately, and his commentary tracks on discs are equally full of anecdotes, details, and elaborations. The point being there isn’t much to say that hasn’t already been said. Plus, it’s more enjoyable hearing a lot of this from Mel Brooks directly.

Still, I’d made the pit I was in by pitching the article. Getting out meant going into the purpose of parody. Basically, the article is a retrospective that looks at how the film is lovingly composed by fans of the 1931 James Whale classic but also how, as is the case with most of Mel Brooks best comedies, Young Frankenstein skewers human behavior more than the genre. In recent years, that’s been the failing of so many attempts at cinematic satire. Instead of poking fun at the human condition, comedians mock the genre.

The article explains it better in more detail, so if interested please click the link below. 

Young Frankenstein and the Depth of Parody | Film Obsessive

Moana 2 was not a flick I expected to put on the chopping block. This family friendly flick from Disney seemed like it would be a homerun. At worst, an inside the park triple. So little in this sequel came together and none of it got near the high bar set by the first film.

It was a real shame. I remember telling the PR person on my way out, “It wasn’t terrible. I’ll give it a goodish review, but it wasn’t great.” And it is a movie that parents in need of something to distract their kids will be happy to have. However, it’s incredibly forgettable. Though Moana 2 never sinks, it barely treads water, and there are better ways to kill time. For more on what worked and what didn’t, check out the spoiler free review I’ve got at Film Obsessive. 

Moana 2 Treads Water Instead of Sailing | Film Obsessive

Finally, I closed the month with a look at Heavier Trip. This joins the group of heavy metal inspired cult classics like Metal Lords, This is Spinal Tap, and Deathgasm. Films that lovingly poke fun at the metalhead community.

This is a sequel to the 2018 Finnish flick Heavy Trip. Both are essentially black metal Blues Brother movies about the band Impaled Rektum on a road trip full of absurd adventures. This time the musicians must break out of a prison to perform at Wacken to earn the money they need to save their guitarist’s family farm. Simple and to the point, the plot allows the comedy wheels to keep rolling without getting sidetracked. Along the way, the various band members encounter their own hilarious trials and tribulations.

A fan of the first film, I was thrilled to not only get to see this, but I also managed to land a chance to chat with the filmmakers. That interview is coming next week so will be a part of the December roundup. Otherwise, for all the details on why Heavier Trip is an absurd metal cult classic, check out the spoiler free review linked below.

Heavier Trip Brings Back Black Metal Absurdity | Film Obsessive

I saw a few other movies over the course of November. However, press embargoes prevent any comments about them until particular dates. Suffice it to say, there are some real treasures on the way. So, stay tuned, at the very least for the December roundup. Either which way, consider following me at Blue Sky. Then you can get the reviews as they come out.
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Otherwise, I have to get back to fiction projects. Then tackling lyrics for the Beerfinger E.P. which I really hope to have out before year’s end. In the meanwhile, stay safe, keep weird, and always remember that seeing it all is a shame if you keep the details to yourself. 

Normally, I’d want to offer some excuse as to why October’s roundup got a delayed release. I always seem to conjure something. However, maybe it’s time to simply embrace the fact the roundup release happens when it does. They do have a pattern of coming out mid- to late month anyhow.

​Honestly, I thought I would get October done during the first few days of November. Then election madness boiled over, scalding the United States with its results. It seemed to be the only thing those of us living here could think about, and then the outcome knocked a lot of people into the sewers of depression. I can’t say I’m thrilled by who won, or the implications of the election autopsy. Still, as is often the case, life goes on with or without us. I’d rather be trudging along than left behind. After all, the future doesn’t have to look bright for it to end up being brilliant.

November has been a wonderfully productive time, though October wasn’t without its gems. That month’s first press screener, I got stuck in abominable traffic. Despite battling traffic to the best of my ability, hampered by complications from car trouble—almost two hours on what should have been a thirty-minute drive—I ended up missing the first half hour of the flick. No sense jumping in that late, I got in contact with the PR people, who were kind enough to inform me I wasn’t shit out of luck. Fortunately, the film distributors scheduled two screenings that day. I suspect they anticipated a blockbuster. So, I spent the day killing time around Chicagoland until I could plunk down and watch Joker: Folie à Deux. 

Calling this movie a disappointment would be an understatement. I’m mixed on the first flick. Parts of it I enjoyed, while other aspects disappointed. It was like a delicious chunky soup where some of the ingredients didn’t taste right. Still, I remained curious how the sequel would continue the story. And though I can applaud some of the risks, the film never really came together.

​The review can speak for itself. That said, more than anything, I’m opposed to this circulating idea Todd Phillips made this movie a dud specifically to piss off the incel losers who embraced Joker (2019). He has a track record of complaining about wokeness ruining comedy, and his history of films about overgrown man-children tend to lean towards edgelord adjacent themes. I think with Folie à Deux, he set out to rewrite history but wasn’t clever enough to retroactively change the meaning of the first film. In other words, even if he wanted to distance himself from the edgelord audience Joker acquired, he didn’t mean to make a bad movie. He simply failed to be as brilliant as box office success mislead him into believing he was.

Spoiler Warning: I say that because the end of the film holds a last message for the incel/edgelord audience. When Arthur Fleck is killed by another inmate of Arkham, essentially for not living up to the Joker persona, his killer then slices his face open into a smile, laughing as the screen fades to black. It leaves the distinct impression another, if not the real Joker, killed a poser. Because Arthur didn’t embrace his madness, he couldn’t be the real clown prince of crime; he denied his delusions were a road map he could follow. However, a true Joker never flinches—once you go over the line, keep going—embrace insanity all the way down.

Granted, films are art, and all art is open to interpretation. Folks may disagree with me. That’s fine. Whatever you think this movie is trying to say, I think we can all agree, it’s just boring which is the greatest sin any entertainment can commit. 

Joker: Folie à Deux Is a Bit Off Key | Film Obsessive

Although I saw the next flick a little before September ended, the review didn’t post until October. Nevertheless, that doesn’t change how much I loved Kneecap. This is a rousing comedy from Ireland that features everything from laughter to social commentary. And the latter is the best kind because it isn’t preachy so much as inspiring. Kneecap is essentially an origin story regarding a real-life hip-hop group who rap in the Irish language. This put them at the center of controversy because the British government had basically made the native tongue illegal.

What really makes this movie shine is its smooth narrative. Several themes combine to tell an energetic tale that makes a person want to start a revolution. Music hasn’t seemed this rebellious in too long. All in all, Kneecap is a movie that has something to say, selling its point with charm and comedy alongside block rocking beats, all spiced up with just the right amount of drama. For more on what makes it a wonderful watch, follow the link below.

Kneecap Is a Mirthful, Mad Irish Rebellion | Film Obsessive

I want to begin by saying I enjoy the Terrifier franchise. It’s a gruesome, gory good time which is something only horror fans will understand. And though I don’t think Terrifier 3 is a bad entry, it isn’t the best either. Portions of it actually put me to sleep. There was a pack of edgelords who got pissed off by my genuine snoring inadvertently upstaging their exaggerated laughter. Fortunately, such fools are often loudmouth cowards. In any event, it is what it is:  a gory dark comedy designed for a very specific audience. How satisfying it is in that respect… is just a click away.

Terrifier 3 Loses a Tick | Film Obsessive

Around about the middle of the month I wrote a retrospective about a little-known indie horror flick called Ice from the Sun. That title is gold, and I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise. However, that said, I will similarly slaughter anyone who claims Ice from the Sun is a good movie.

I admire anybody who can put together a whole motion picture, especially someone who did it in 1999. Nowadays filming is relatively easy. Smart phones and tablets used to advertise they could assist any independent moviemaker by being as good as professional digital cameras. Though that may be a bit of an exaggeration, it isn’t entirely untrue. If nothing else, digital filming has cut out a large expense when it comes to making movies, and there’s no reason someone can’t make something interesting using, for lack of a better term, common cameras. But back in the day, one needed specific equipment not to mention the cost of film (i.e. celluloid to shoot on plus the price of developing it). So, I do have a certain respect for Ice from the Sun.

That’s the point I really wanted to make writing about this movie. Completing the project is more important than the success of the film. Writer-director Eric Stanze dreamed big. It didn’t lead to a blockbuster, but Ice from the Sun opened the door on a 25-year long career. He’s still making movies. That says something. 

Ice from the Sun, Still Melting 25 Years On | Film Obsessive

Then I got back to reviewing feature films. I ended up seeing a flick called Nickel Boys. This was a haunting story about racism told in a way that was deeply effecting. The whole movie is shot so uniquely and the way certain events are presented stirs a person to thoughts they might not want to have. Call this a hot take, but I think films about racism too often tend to be made for white audiences—black people don’t need movies to remind them racism exists. Perhaps that’s why such films typically lack a certain degree of relatability, the point of those pictures is to highlight the problem rather than the people facing it. Nickel Boys has a potent display of humanity only the cold can ignore. For more on why it works so well, please read the review below. 

Nickel Boys Shows How History Is Seen | Film Obsessive

October saw one of my fiction pieces get published. Hats off to Cowboy Jamboree Magazine for posting my crime fiction story “Blame it on the Blue Line”. This was a labor of love.

They put out a call for fiction inspired by the works of one Kinky Friedman. Unfamiliar with the fellow, I hustled over to the local library. There I checked out two books, The Mile High Club and The Prisoner of Vandam Street. Quick reads, I was done with both lickety-split. Kinky Friedman is a comedian, mystery writer, and a satirical country western singer. His music could be called comedy, but it often had a serious point. Now, a word of warning, some of the humor may be behind the times, to put it kindly, yet there’s an interesting mystery in both. The main thing I took away was a wonderful way of describing things alongside a tendency to – ahem – borrow the premise from famous thrillers. These two books for instance owe a heavy debt to Rear Window (1954) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). As such, I took a page from Strangers on a Train (1951).

This was the kind of short story that got me thinking maybe I ought to expand it into a novel. Part of me is still tempted. But we’ll see. For now, enjoy this tale of outlaw ennui and criminal complications only Chicago could tell. 

​Blame It On The Blue Line - COWBOY JAMBOREE MAGAZINE & PRESS

Halloween being right around the corner, I got to take part in another Story Sessions Annual Campfire Tales. I’m always delighted to join the company of storytellers curated by Jill Howe. This year she gathered a wonderful ensemble of performers who brought to life several true stories which left the audience genuinely spooked.
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For my own part, I basically did a presentation on my paranormal investigations. Specifically, I focused on the article I put together for Horror Obsessive about the Congress Plaza Hotel. Revisiting that piece tempted me to start writing about ghost hunting and the supernatural again. However, I don’t know if I can devote the time and resources necessary to do it justice. Still, the future remains too unclear to say it’ll never happen.

I closed the month doing a quick blurb review for a fantastic collection of short stories Saturday Fright at the Movies: 13 Tales from the Multiplex. Written by Amanda Cecelia Lang, these amounted to an excellent assortment of fright fiction inspired by B-movies, VHS era horror, and all the shlock that’s fight to rock. Not only did I enjoy reading this book, but it reminded me why I like doing reviews.

This was another chance to get eyes on something that might be getting the most attention. I say that simply because, especially when it comes to genre fiction, a lot of stuff gets thrown out into the world. Publishing can be a sink or swim situation where the publishers aren’t doing much to help anybody float. If nothing else, the author appreciated it. 
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I Was a Teenage Featured Creature: Midwestern Horror Writers Share Recent Fictional Horrors | Third Coast Review

And that is the roundup for October. Thank you for taking the time. November is almost over, and I’ve got some fiction in the fire. With any luck there will be good news down the line. Meanwhile, I’m trying to wrap up the lyrics on the upcoming Beerfinger E.P. Along the Winter River. I may need to step away from that one in order to come back at the proper angle.
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For now, I wish you the best. National Christmas Kick-off Day is about to ensue. However, too many folks here abouts who celebrate don’t have much reason for joy. Personally, I’m hoping we can be each other’s silver lining this holiday season. The world is only a dark place if we keep the lights off, ya dig? Anyhow, stay safe, keep weird, and remember that too few people ask for kindness which is why you need to give it away constantly.