Posts by Gino Sassani

“You should be so proud of her.”

Shelby Oaks is something special when you look at it objectively; it’s a film that was crowd funded by the YouTuber Chris Stuckmann, who wanted to take a shot at making a movie of his very own. The original goal was to raise $600,000, but by the time his Kickstarter was closed, he was able to raise over 1.4 million to make his film. Before he’d even begun filming, this is already an impressive achievement considering how many established filmmakers struggle to get funds together to make their own films. For Shelby Oaks, over 14,000 people contributed to funding the dream for this directorial debut, so again, in my book Chris Stuckmann already won for being able to pull this off. Now the film has a producing credit from Mike Flanagam attached as an executive producer and Neon in charge of the films distribution … so needless to say, there is a great deal of hype around this film. Two films immediately come to mind when I think about this kind of hype before a film even reaches audiences, The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity … both films that innovated the found-footage genre but also had some clever marketing once acquired for distribution.  Does Shelby Oaks live up to the hype? Well, from my experience, this is a pretty divisive film.

“Because they need someone to be wicked -- so you can be good.”

I’d say this is one of those times when dividing the project into two parts did more harm than good. No one can discount the impact of the first film, where Cynthia Ervio and Ariana Grande gave us phenomenal and complimentary duets, as well as excellent acting performances. Also, no one can discount the impact of the musical that has dominated the theater for more than twenty years. However, I’d say the good thing about the theater version is that you get all of that at once. In the case of this film and its predecessor, the films are divided into acts, and in my humble opinion, Act 1 is the stronger of the acts, which is also the case with the two films. Wicked set a very high bar by empowering Ervio’s character to stand up for injustice and against Jeff Goldblum as the fraudulent Wizard of Oz. Also, there is certainly a difference in songs. Specifically, in Wicked For Good, there isn’t a song to match the dominance of Defying Gravity.

“Stop filming me!”

Interestingly enough, this 2025 remake/adaptation is a more faithful reproduction of its source material than the 1987 version. The 1987 adaptation, while popular, took liberties when it came to the main character’s backstory and motivations, such as him being a wrongfully accused and convicted policeman getting his shot at freedom by participating in a TV game show where convicts called Runners must battle killers for their freedom. In the 2025 remake, Ben Richards, now played by Glen Powell, is a blacklisted blue-collar worker living in dystopian anarchistic police state with his wife and infant Cathy. Unable to afford medicine for Cathy's influenza, Ben attends tryouts for the network's game shows, where his anger, misanthropy, and physical fitness see him selected for "The Running Man", their most popular and dangerous show. That backstory is much more in line with the 1982 Stephen King novel. Rounding out the cast are Josh Brolin, William H Macy, Lee Pace, Michael Cera, and Colman Domingo. Arnold Schwarzeneggar even makes a surprise appearance. It’s quick, though. Blink and you could miss it.