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February 10, 2025 • 15 mins

This episode will cover what I will be doing with this platform and I review movies in 2025 I have seen so far.

Movies Reviewed:

Back in Action

Wolfman

You're Cordially Invited

Companion

Follow along on the various social networks:

X/Twitter: darich06

Letterboxd: @darich06

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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Hello and welcome. My name is Derek Richards and I love movies. I love talking about

(00:05):
movies. I love watching movies. I love learning about movies and I'm hoping that this platform
is something that can encourage more people to watch more movies have more conversation
around movies and maybe learn some more movies. I'm hoping that I can give the opportunity
to some people to watch movies that never heard of before or maybe they wanted to check
out and decide it not to because they didn't want to or something was put online about

(00:30):
it that was negative. I really wanted to start something like this again. I had been
talking to friends for the last couple weeks about it and they've all been very encouraging.
So I had a few ideas come up. The first idea was doing five to ten minute conversation

(00:50):
in pieces on new release movies because I see a lot of those. I see anywhere between
eighteen or one hundred a year. That sounds like a whole lot. It is but I love it. I think that
if you're passionate about something you find the time for it and that's what I do.
I mean I have a family. I work a full-time job but I still make time to go see the

(01:13):
movies I want to see. Those short conversations will be anywhere between five to ten
minutes long on new release movies. I don't feel like doing a whole hour long episode
on one single new release is really worth the time and nobody really wants to sit and listen
to an hour long piece on something like that. Some people do. It's not really my thing.

(01:35):
If I want to listen to somebody review a movie I wanted to be with N5 to 10 minutes
and I feel like that is the sweet spot for this. But I also would like to have more in-depth
conversation about other movies. So I came up with a second idea and that idea is where I
ask a friend of mine and luckily I have been very very lucky to have a lot of friends who

(01:56):
like to watch movies. I asked that person to tell me a movie that they consider to be a five-star
classic. That could be anything. Could be something new. Could be something old. Could be something
foreign language. I don't really care. I'm going to ask that person to send me a movie. I'm
going to watch that movie and then we're going to sit down and talk about it. After I came

(02:19):
up with that idea I reached out to some people that I knew that would be interested in doing
this possible. I'm very happy that everybody I sent the text to was on board. So I started
asking about movies and I got back a list of movies that honestly surprised me and I'm like
while these are all great movies to talk about. Some of them I'd seen, some of them I love,

(02:42):
some of them I'd never seen before. So I think that is going to be the fun with it because
everybody is a opinions different. Maybe you watch the movie and you think that movie is a
five-star movie and I don't. That's the fun and conversation. And I haven't had one of those
sent to me yet but I'm really looking forward to the day that one happens because I feel like
that conversation is going to be a whole lot of fun. So the first episode of the more in-depth conversation

(03:09):
show is going to start on February 20th. My very good friend, almost life-long
best friend Zach Otey is going to hop on here and we are going to talk about the movie Parasite
Bong Joon-Ho. It is a honestly incredible movie. I just watched it the other night and I

(03:31):
blown away by this movie every time I watched it. I honestly think in the last five years there
hasn't been a better movie made so I can't think of a more perfect movie to start this whole thing
off than with that. As soon as he sent me the text that said I want to watch Parasite again so
that's probably what we're going to do. I almost instantly jumped off my couch grabbed a notebook

(03:52):
and then just started writing notes from that movie off the top of my head. I recently just
watched it the other night with my wife and one of my friends who had never seen it before and they
were equally as blown away by it as I was the first time I saw it. So I hope you stick around and
I hope you listen and I hope you give me feedback. Honestly that's what I want and this whole thing

(04:17):
doesn't have to just be the people I asked to come on. If someone's listening to this and they want to
talk about a movie as well. It's in me a message like hey I watched this movie a while ago and I thought
it was one of the best movies I've ever seen and I want to talk about it. That's what this is here
for. This is what I want to do. I really just wanted to do something to get my passion, my love

(04:42):
of movies and talking about movies out in the world and I feel like this is the best thing
that I can do currently to do that. So with that being said let's talk about some new movies.
20-25s kind of started off slow for me. I've only watched four new releases so far this year
and that's mainly because there's nothing in theaters that I have really had interest in going

(05:07):
to see in the movie theater. A lot of those titles I would just rather watch at home instead of
spending the money to go there. Denotheves too I really wanted to see but I didn't get a chance to and
I'm probably going to try to watch that one tomorrow. So the first movie I'd like to talk about is
the Netflix release, the first Netflix release of the year back in action. The movie is directed

(05:31):
by Seth Gordon who also did Baywatch four Christmas's identity theft and horrible bosses.
Just looking at this guy's filmography the only movie he's really done that I have just been
at least entertained by was horrible bosses. So I go into this I wasn't very

(05:52):
excited I guess you could say I literally just watched it so I could say that hey I watched a new
release this year. This movie stars Cameron Diaz and Jamie Fox. This is Cameron Diaz returned
acting after taking almost 10 years off and Jamie Fox is someone who I love the movie collateral
is probably in my top 10 list ever incredible movie who'd ever seen it. So the plot to back to

(06:18):
action is 15 years after vanishing from the CIA to start a family elite spy or Matt and Emily jump
back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown. My biggest issue here with straight to
Netflix releases is that most of these scripts feel like they're written by a uh you have your

(06:41):
rare gems every now and then I say rebel rage carry on from last year that were absolutely incredible
movies but most of these movies suck and I've really made it a point to myself this year to not
watch every single one of these that come out because most of them aren't good and I feel like this
movie really confirmed that for me. I understand that straight to Netflix movies are probably the

(07:06):
biggest payday you can get in Hollywood right now but at the same time what are you doing to your
career? I mean Jamie Fox is a guy who hasn't been in a very good movie in a while. I don't think I can
honestly name you a movie from Jamie Fox has come out in a while that I've been blowing away by
maybe since Django maybe baby driver but that's still been five or six years maybe seven

(07:33):
and camera DS somebody who is known for being a great comedy actress this is her first movie
in 10 years she hasn't done a movie since sex drive in 2014 so I think I expected more out of this
just giving the star power involved and what I got was just a big old piece of crap so I wouldn't

(07:56):
recommend this to any of my friends I wouldn't recommend this to a stranger on the street if I'm
being honest with you I did not like this movie and I can go ahead and say I feel like it's going
to be in the running for my worst movie of the year but let's talk about a good movie and that
good movie is Lee one elves Wolfman a family at a remote farmhouse is attacked by an unseen animal

(08:16):
but as the night stretches on the father begins to transform into something unrecognizable
I feel like the story of Wolfman is one that has been told a couple of times there is the
30s version of it that is still far superior than anything that can be made today but I feel like
Lee won the other of a very good job with practical effects in this one to make it look as authentic as

(08:40):
possible you really had the opportunity here to use a lot of CGI a lot of special effects and he
went away from doing that Lee one is a director slash writer who I pretty much have grown up loving
he did the first saw movie he wrote the script for that and for in Sidious and then he started

(09:01):
directing a couple years back and I think he did in Sidious 3 which was okay but never really
lived up to the hype of the first two and then he did this movie called Upgrade which was incredible
I think it is a great under scene movie that more people need to watch I think I saw it on Netflix
not long ago it may still be there it's definitely one you should check out in 2020 he did the

(09:24):
movie the invisible man with Elizabeth Moss and that movie was in my top five movies of that year
Elizabeth Moss and that movie is so good and the restaurant scene for anybody who's seen the
movie you know what I'm talking about but that scene had my jaw on the floor and I think honestly
that's what Wolfman was missing there was nothing in the movie that really shocked me surprised me

(09:49):
had me on the edge of my seat it was all extremely predictable I feel like and that sometimes
can take the enjoyment out of it I think I figured out the twist maybe 10 minutes into the movie
and I sat through it hoping I was wrong and then when the reveal happens I was very disappointed

(10:10):
that I figured it out that quick as far as acting goes I thought Christopher Abbott was very good
in this movie that guy is good and everything he's in and Julia Gardner also someone who's very
good and everything she's in was great in the movie the young young actress I'm not sure what
her name is but she was also very solid for me this movie is one that I think you can just watch

(10:33):
at home catch it on a streaming surface maybe run it it's not something that I would suggest
people go to the theater for making a night of when I got home I told my wife that I probably
should have just waited and ran it when it came out on VOD so I don't know if that's going
to tell you from watching the movie or not I think it was a good movie it's just somewhere in the

(10:58):
middle for me so the next movie is you're quarterly invited that is directed by Nicholas Stuller who
had done get him to the Greek to five year engagement neighbors all very good comedies I think this
movie stars will feral and Reese with her spoon so the plot is when two weddings are double-booked
the same venue the father of one broad and the sister of the other broad try to prevent the wedding

(11:21):
weekend and I think the chaos that ensues between the two families was very entertaining to me like
I said I went into this movie with very low expectations and I was pleasantly surprised by it
will feral is an actor that I love I really do love but there are sometimes where he can make

(11:42):
truly terrible movies and it was very good to see Reese with her spoon in the movie again she had
been doing a lot of TV with the morning show and big little lot so seeing her back in a movie was
was really nice the chemistry between the two is there I think they had done one movie together
prior to this one and I would like to see them do more together honestly as far as critiques go to me

(12:10):
this movie felt like it was two separate ideas for a movie that came together as one and somehow
some way they made it work I felt like this movie was very enjoyable and I was suggested to
anybody wants to just sit down and watch a good comedy it's gonna make you feel good so the last
one I'm gonna talk about is probably my favorite movie I've seen so far this year and that is

(12:33):
companion directed by Drew Hancock a billionaire's death sets off a chain of events for ours and
her friends during a weekend trip to his lakeside estate that's all that needs to be said about
that movie if you've watched the trailer you already know one of the twists and I really disagree
with the marketing of that I do not like it when they put the twists and movies in a trailer

(12:59):
I feel like if you want to draw people in make your trailer mysterious but I get it as well
at the same time like they want people to come out to see this movie this star Sophie Thatcher
who is in the movie Heritage last year was one of the more thought-provoking movies I've seen
it also starts Jack Quaid who does the boys on Amazon Prime and Lucas Gage who was in smile

(13:24):
two last year and was absolutely terrifying in this he plays more of a comic relief character in this one
but he also has some moments where he's pretty scary and I really think that guy's got a good
career ahead of him my hat's off to Drew Hancock who was making his future film debut here I think
he's done some television in the past and I really really really really really really enjoyed this movie and

(13:48):
it's one that I have suggested to many people to go see this group of guys careers are something
that I'm going to keep a close on because between barbarian and companion we've got two very good
very original horror movies and I'm very excited to see what these guys do in the future so that's it

(14:09):
that's the four movies I've watched so far this year like I said didn't it thieves two is one I
really wanted to watch but I couldn't get out to the theater to go see I think I'm going to try to
watch it tomorrow on VOD thank you guys for listening so far I said the the first episode of five
star banger comes out on February 20th and it's going to be about parasite so if you've never seen

(14:33):
parasite now's a great time to go watch it it just got put on that looks and I think it's getting
a theatrical re-release for the five year anniversary so if the theater near you has it and it's showing
it right now go see it right now go in blonde don't watch a trailer don't read a synopsis
just go in enjoy the hell out of one of the best movies made in the past five years as far as

(14:59):
the short reviews go if I do end up watching the nithieves tomorrow I will pair it with Captain America
Brave New World which I am probably going to see on Thursday or Friday I haven't figured that out yet
I'm kind of excited about it I like going to watch Marvel movies all the Marvel movies in the past

(15:19):
five years since in-game comes out I have been very hit or missed for me there's maybe two out of
however many that have come out that I've liked which was Spider-Man and Dr. Strange so I'm
excited to watch Captain America I'm excited to see Anthony Mackie his first solo movie

(15:41):
I feel like it should be pretty good again thank everybody for listening I hope you guys continue to
come along I mean with this journey I want to share my love and my passion of movies with
everybody possible we'll see you guys later
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