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Multipotentiality •

'Tron: Ares' Doesn't Know Whether To Denounce AI or Crown It As A Savior

Go on any of the various social media platforms and send out a random public message that you are not a fan of the current AI modern society incursion. There's a pretty high chance that you will be bombarded with replies ranging from “get with the times” to “AI is inevitable, so we'd better learn to live with it.” “Tron: Ares,” the second legacy sequel to the 1982 original, makes these points at two distinct junctures. It coincides with a rash of recent sci-fi films that are either trying to rat...
Multipotentiality •

'Good Boy' Will Make You Want To Give Your Pup An Extra Treat

I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir, but pets are great to have. Not only from the standpoints of love, companionship, and affection, but they also serve as protectors from things that escape the naked eye. How many times have you watched a horror film and wished a particular character didn’t walk down a dark hallway? If they had a dog, they would have warned them in advance. Ben Leonberg’s “Good Boy” takes the anxiousness we feel when going through a haunted house and amplifies it by placing an...
Substream Magazine •

'California Schemin' Provides Just Enough Sincerity To Elevate This Underdog Hip-Hop Story - Substream Magazine

Who here has heard the story of rap duo Billy Boyd and Gavin Bain, otherwise known as Silibil N’ Brains? It’s not quite on the level of Milli Vanilli, which included a Best New Artist Grammy giveth, then taken away. Everything was real, from their passion and Rhymesayers-like cadence. Well, except for a couple of things. The duo from Scotland was able to capitalize on a faux Californian identity and secure a record deal. In an early 2000s landscape where every label was looking for the next Emin...
Multipotentiality •

"If I Had Legs I’d Kick You" Is A Gut-Punch of a Drama With A Career Best Performance From Rose Byrne

In the opening scene of writer/director Mary Bronstein’s exquisitely executed second feature, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Linda (Rose Byrne) sits in a family doctor’s office as her daughter (Delaney Quinn) says she’s “stretchable.” Before she goes into her sadness, Linda tears up and changes the subject - instead electing to focus on how to cure her daughter’s illness (if there’s any cure at all). A voiceover from Linda proclaims in the next scene that “time is a series of things to get throug...
Substream Magazine •

'The Smashing Machine' Pulls Back When It Should Have Landed A Knockout Blow - Substream Magazine

Benny Safdie knows exactly the cadence you’re expecting when walking into a sports biopic. To his credit, he at least tries to disrupt the formula and compose something fresh in “The Smashing Machine,” based on the life of former mixed martial arts titan Mark Kerr. Even with the unconventional storytelling method and the quadrants it looks to place its hallmarks in, there are still benchmarks you’d recognize. There’s the rise of the superstar and soon after, the dizzying fall. After the taste of...
Substream Magazine •

'Him' Loses It's Way Around It's Own Imagery Stuffed Playbook - Substream Magazine

Long before the Roy family battled and schemed for control of Waystar RoyCo on Sunday nights, succession has been a consistent occurrence in sports. More specifically, with the quarterback position in football. The tension between Joe Montana and Steve Young’s San Francisco 49ers in the 1990s and Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers’ stop-and-start fiasco with the Green Bay Packers in the mid-2000s are examples of the tension between old and new. Careers don’t last forever, but the intoxication of powe...
Substream Magazine •

'Charlie Harper's' Non-Linear Approach Clouds A Love Story We've Seen Before - Substream Magazine

While told in a non-linear fashion, the passionate and troubled love story within “Charlie Harper” is one that fans of romantic dramas would be familiar with. It’s one of two people who have different struggles and thoughts on what they want out of life, but manage to fall for each other despite those differences. The film’s entry point shows Charlie (Nick Robinson) seeing Harper (Emilia Jones), presumably years after an intense breakup. Early on, Harper recounts knowing the beginning and end of...
Substream Magazine •

'The Long Walk' Runs Comradery Up Against A Dark Competition

A palpable and perpetual state of societal bleakness resides within the first stories of Stephen King’s extensive writing career. Amidst the classics of “Carrie” (1974), “Salem’s Lot” (1975), and “The Shining” (1977) (a hell of a beginning three-peat if I do say so), there were the tales written under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. Rather than chronicle the psychological effects of a family of three coming apart while caring for a haunted mansion, some of the “Bachman” novels spoke to societal d...
Substream Magazine •

'Eleanor The Great's Moral Quandary Intrudes Upon It's Overall Lesson - Substream Magazine

We indeed have to keep the stories of the past alive to learn from them truly. But what happens if that same story is a little too complex and much too heavy for us to tell alone after someone is gone? Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, “Eleanor The Great,” strives to make an earnest bridge between a sweet generational comedy while tackling a heavy subject. While the film means well in its exploration of the importance of history, the premise proves to be a bit too weighty for the great per...
Substream Magazine •

'Exit 8' Mixes The Right Amount of Gamer Homage and Originality

If there’s a central issue in translating modern-day video games to the big screen, it’s that the medium has already transcended into full-fledged productions in its own right. As series such as “Resident Evil” and “The Last of Us” have shown, you can build out different characters nestled in lore and plot that make one feel as if they are playing a living, breathing film. Horror game adaptations face an additional degree of difficulty because there’s a difference between attachments to protagon...
Substream Magazine •

'Weapons' Presents It's Purpose Early. That's Why The Mystery Works - Substream Magazine

When I was a kid, I was an avid watcher of the series Unsolved Mysteries (which has since found new life on Netflix). The late Robert Stack narrating a series of cold cases, ranging from abductions, UFOs, and conspiracy theories, all set against a backdrop of thick fog, sporting a trenchcoat. It’s amazing how the combination of the frightening and unexplainable serves as a form of mental catnip for human curiosity. Much remains to be said about the economy of grief and the rabbit holes of possib...
Substream Magazine •

'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Fights To Be Remembered

How does a slasher film build upon its legacy if it’s attached to a more iconic sibling franchise? The 1997 original, “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” was written by Kevin Williamson, who also penned 1996’s “Scream.” While the film is somewhat based on the 1973 novel of the same name written by Lois Duncan, the similarities between IKWYDLS with a mysterious antagonist with an identifiable weapon and method of communication, a cast full of up-and-coming young stars, and, lest we forget, a notab...
Substream Magazine •

'Brick' Miscalculates Where It's Strengths Actually Are - Substream Magazine

The pastiche of the enclosed German sci-fi thriller “Brick” would work best as a tight, 30-minute episode of an anthology series. Just imagine waking up one day to find that a large set of magnetized metal bricks had taken over all the exit points of your apartment.  No cell service, no internet, and no way out. That’s a well-stocked amount of nightmare fuel. While writer/director Philip Koch puts forth an intriguing premise with a creative use of set design. However, the overall story mechanics...
Substream Magazine •

'Superman' Is James Gunn's Frankenstein of Hope, Tones, Modernism, and Habits - Substream Magazine

For almost 40 years, Warner Bros has been trying to crack the “how do you make a Superman film for the modern era” puzzle, to the point where they’ve been figuratively chasing a ghost. Christopher Reeve passed away in 2004, but his undeniable mark on the Man of Steel and his secret identity remain synonymous with how fans view the character. There was 2006’s “Superman Returns,” which was supposed to double as a tribute to the Richard Donner films and Reeve, but was more aesthetic than a course c...
Substream Magazine •

'Elio' Shows Pixar Is In Creative Cruise Control. The Movie Suffers Because Of This. - Substream Magazine

I would be remiss to say tears forming in the eyes is an involuntary response when anybody hears the gentle piano keys of Michael Giacchino’s “Married Life” from 2009’s “Up.” That’s just one of the countless ways Pixar has broached human emotions in what is considered a “kids” medium in animated films. Whenever it is the “Toy Story” franchise and dealing with growing up and how tastes and trends factor into the state of how a figurine defines itself, workers’ rights in 1998’s “A Bug’s Life,” or...
Substream Magazine •

M3GAN 2.0 Is All Live, Laugh, and Love AI - Substream Magazine

Most of the charm that resonated with 2022’s horror comedy “M3GAN” is the natural flow of memes that originated from it. Even with the unrated cut, which added a hint of an “R-rated” feel to the kills, the film committed to the bit, considering the humor. A sarcastic talking, murderous robot who does dance routines before wreaking havoc on humankind is a modern dream only SKYNET could have thought of. 
Like the “Barbenheimer” craze of 2023, it came from fans and was then uplifted by the corporat...
Substream Magazine •

'28 Years Later' Subverts Expectations With The Best Intentions

“Don’t, let, your, eyes, drop they will get atop of you,” a line contained within Rudyard Kipling’s 1903 poem, “Boots,” which was intelligently chosen as a linchpin for “28 Years Later.” The original poem (given life by the 1915 recital of American actor Taylor Holmes) chronicled the monotonous and hellacious march soldiers endured on the battlefield, paired with the mental trauma of returning home. Danny Boyle’s film, which comes 17 years after “28 Weeks Later,” is being released in a world eme...
Substream Magazine •

'F1' Reaches Just Enough Top Speed To Reach Checked Flag - Substream Magazine

The best example of the aura that Joseph Kosinski’s high-octane sports drama “F1” is going for is Oliver Stone’s “Any Given Sunday” (1999). A franchise is in peril with a legendary coach at the end of his rope and impatient ownership ready to make a move. At the center is an old stalwart athlete whose best days may be behind him and a young up-and-comer who has the juice to turn things around. Alas, they must learn how to work together for everything to work. It’ll take some hard realizations, s...
Substream Magazine •

'The Ritual' Adds Little To The Exorcism Rolodex - Substream Magazine

The real-life exorcism of Emma Schmidt in 1928, which lasted over four months in Iowa, has been the unholy gift that keeps on giving to horror fans throughout the years. You may recall the classic, award-winning film “The Exorcist” (1973) and the thematic tropes it established from that point forward. Having an evil spirit inhabit a person continues to challenge our concepts of faith, perhaps even making us cover our eyes and rinse our hands in holy water.  David Midell’s “The Ritual,” which ser...
Substream Magazine •

'Oh, Hi' Will Have You Wondering Why This Love Is Worth It

Dating would be a lot less stressful if people just came out and said what they wanted. A revelatory point, I know. In the age of gamified apps, stress testing an algorithm – honesty would do a whole world of good. Writer-director Sophie Brooks, “Oh, Hi,” puts a relationship (or situationship) at the forefront of a (what was hoped to be) beautiful weekend getaway. From the beginning the film begins on a rather urgent note. Max (Geraldine Viswanathan) meets her best friend Iris (Molly Gordon) at...
Substream Magazine •

The Day In The Life Premise of 'The Scout' Offers Much More - Substream Magazine

When we think of film and television productions and how they come together, our minds immediately go to the top of the chain. Directors, producers, writers, and cinematographers are all integral to bringing our favorite forms of art to life. However, someone has to determine where these stories will take place. Paula Andrea González-Nasser, a former location scout, brings the methods to life in her first film, aptly named “The Scout.” It’s a mixture of tranquil repetition of New York, moving th...
Substream Magazine •

'A Tree Fell In The Woods' Couple Dramedy is Messy and True

Unrealized dreams, hidden personalities, and incapability through time are some of the ways a relationship can become undone. It’s often the routine of life and just overall familiarity that keeps any possible fissures at bay. Nora Kirkpatrick’s debut feature, “A Tree Fell In The Woods,”  places two couples in a lovely cabin in the woods to celebrate the Christmas and New Year’s Eve holidays together. However, a lot can change in a weekend, and an accidental discovery of infidelity shakes up the...
Substream Magazine •

'Man Finds Tape' Bends Found Footage Horror In A Modern Way - Substream Magazine

Horror is such an enduring and exciting genre because it pairs our fears with a suspension of disbelief. We all have a collective aversion to walking down a dark alley. Now, pair that with being in a dream and having a demon like Freddy Krueger be able to take over the places we all go when we fall asleep. It’s terrifying, but far enough to know this isn’t feasible. The found footage films further broke down the veil between what we perceive as supernatural and our world. Films such as “The Blai...
Substream Magazine •

'Our Hero, Balthazar' Bristles With Incel and Social Critique

“Our Hero, Balthazar” contains many topical themes of the current cultural zeitgeist that could each command (and have already) their own separate narrative features. There’s America’s continued fascination with gun culture and how a collective of representatives and companies profit off of school readiness instead of endorsing prohibitive measures. The incentivization of social media to participate in a movement or evoke sympathy, despite not having a genuine connection to the event. Finally, t...
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