No Huddle Reviews

There are definitely notes of the bard in this film. Adopting the star-crossed lovers’ motif, Lovelines hinges on the rivalry that peaked at an annual Battle of the Bands contest, where Rick (Greg Bradford), the lead singer of the rock band Racer, fell for Piper (Mary Beth Evans), the frontwoman for the rival group The Firecats. To keep their forbidden romance alive against the wishes of friends, rival musicians, and Piper's massive, protective brother, the pair relied on "Lovelines". This specialized local dial-in telephone party line served as a 1980s analog precursor to modern internet dating. As I met my wife via modern internet dating, I was intrigued by the premise, which highlighted this old school predecessor, and its use as a covert communication mechanism for the lead characters. There weren’t a lot of recognizable faces for me in this one or remarkable performances, outside of Miguel Ferrer who played a punk rocker named Dragon. However, on the plus side, the film does feature a prank war, and I do love a good prank war.

“They're the two hottest tickets in a red-hot Battle of the Bands ... and now they've got the hots for each other.”

“I'll drink to that.”

Directed by the legendary Sidney Poitier, Fast Forward was part of a cycle of mid-late 1980s dance movies which included Fame, Flashdance, Footloose, Dirty Dancing, Breakin' aka Breakdance, Electric Boogaloo: Breakdance 2, Salsa, Beat Street, Heavenly Bodies, Rappin.'  In this addition to the mid-1980s dance movie craze, a tight-knit group of eight high school students from a small town in Ohio form a dance troupe called "The Adventurers". Driven by pure ambition, they pack their bags and head to New York City to chase their big break. The film served as the debut theatrical feature film for most of the cast members, though there were a few recognizable faces. Such as Debra Varnado (All the Right Moves), who played Debbie Hughes, and Don Franklin, who played Michael, who I recognize for a host of tv show appearances. The movie wasn’t really the breakout film it was hoped to be, particularly given the stiff competition during its era. And unfortunately, while I did find it intriguing at times, I’m skeptical that the film will find new life amongst this newer generation.

"And that's the way it happened. Give or take a lie or two."

That oft-used phrase in the film Sunset is a pretty good way to describe the entire production. Blake Edwards  had a pretty good run with his Pink Panther franchise until Peter Sellers died and the franchise became somewhat of a spoof of itself after his death. That might have worked, except the franchise was already pretty much a spoof. But Blake Edwards has also had some luck with more serious subjects, and Sunset is likely the best example of such an attempt. That doesn't mean the film doesn't deliver plenty of humor and light moments. But for Blake Edwards, this was as serious as it gets. He bought the rights to an unpublished novel by Rod Amateau, who had mostly written for television. The film was set to star James Garner as Wyatt Earp and Robert Duvall as Tom Mix. The production budget couldn't handle the demands of both stars, and Garner was retained while Edwards would pass on Duvall. Bruce Willis was mostly a television star at the time and could be had on the cheap. Of course, that soon changed, but Edwards didn't get a bounty here, because Willis wasn't quite as good as he would become. In fact, James Garner went on record that he would never work with Willis again because he treated his job like he was in high school. And he never did. Julie Andrews was also once signed, but skipped because she didn't want to play the mother of a grown son. The film was also going to showcase a new kind of cinematography called the Introvision system. The idea was that you could insert your iconic locations into the background, but it ended up costing more than going to the real locations, and no one was ever really happy with the results. The system has faded into memory, but unfortunately Sunset has not. Thanks to Mill Creek's Retro-VHS releases, this film gets another chance for you to catch it. Trust me when I say it's worth the effort.

On and on goes the debate. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? I have always come down on the no side. It appears like such an odd thing, but there have literally been books about the subject, and Bruce Willis himself has gone from no to yes over the years. If that kind of debate is of interest to you, then you should enjoy playing the same game with Cold Steel. It's a bloody action movie that also takes place at that jolly time of the year. Of course, not so jolly for the characters in the film. The original story for Cold Steel was developed and written by Dorothy Ann Puzo. You might not recognize her, but I'm sure you are familiar with the last name. Her father is the celebrated author and screenwriter for The Godfather movies. And if the Godfather movies have taught me anything (I mean, beyond not letting anyone outside the family know what you're thinking), it's that daughters don't necessarily inherit the abilities of the father.The casting of Sofia Coppola by her father in that franchise's third film made that very point. But Dorothy Ann Puzo isn't quite the dramatic drop in talent that Coppola was, and the film certainly has its moments. Coppola also directs, and this is her first and last feature film as either writer or director, so I think we can safely say this film didn't set any box office records, and this is actually the first time I've seen it.

Brad Davis plays Johnny Modine. He's a cop who plays it a little loose with the rules, and we discover that right out of the gate when he's flying in his police cruiser with sirens and lights and even jumping over a moving train. Just what kind of bad guys was he chasing? He wasn't. He was trying to set a record delivering quality booze to the police Christmas Eve party at their favorite watering hole. So we know exactly the kind of cop Johnny happens to be. Jay Acovone plays his suffering partner Cookie. After all of the cheers for his death-defying stunt to deliver the goods, he begs off early to go to his parents' house for a Christmas Eve meal. What he doesn't know yet, but we know, is that his father Sam (Lanteau) was shot and killed at his store by a ruthless killer with an English accent and "charm" who calls himself Mick, played by music's Adam Ant. Mick is part of a gang of bad guys that is led by a guy they call Iceman, played by Jonathan Banks. This wasn't his first shot at an iconic bad guy. He went up against Eddie Murphy three years earlier in Beverly Hills Cop, and that same year he would be a regular on the television series Wiseguy by Stephen J. Cannell, best known for The Rockford Files. When Johnny finds out about his father he goes a little crazy, and so much so that he gets suspended. We've heard that tune enough times before to know that isn't going to stop him from tracking down the gang.

"It's funny how much training I've had in taking a life. Years with the 3rd Calvary, the Regiment, Special Ops. A lifetime of experience. I can tell you to the exact second how long it will take you to bleed out if I make an inch-long incision in your carotid artery. Tactics. Weapons. Munitions. Covert ops. Black ops. Battlefield triage. The logistics of death. I've studied it all in great depth and detail. I've been taught all there is to know about taking a life."

If any of this sounds like something you've heard before, you're not too far off. It calls back to Liam Neeson talking to the guys who are in the process of kidnapping his daughter. He's telling him all about that "specific" set of skills he happens to have to make their brief remaining lives pretty brutal. That's what we get from Milla Jovovich. She's a highly trained killer, and now some bad guys have kidnapped her daughter. She gets there almost in time to stop it, but just not quick enough, and you don't have to read this or any film synopsis. You don't need to read any spoilers to know you're about to go through 90 minutes of this one-woman army trying to save her daughter and leaving a lot of gory destruction in her wake. That's what we get from director Adrian Grunburg's Protector. But haven't we seen all of this before?

"Jack Shindo has made it back alive from Mars. but his reappearance will raise more questions than it answers. He has a secret that cannot be shared. He can tell no one that he is Ultraman, a savior from the stars."

Ultraman is a huge part of Japanese culture and pretty much has been since the original live-action show in 1966. Perhaps Godzilla started the ball rolling, but Ultraman brought us these monsters on a regular basis. In Japan, Ultraman is like our Superman. He’s an iconic hero and a huge part of the pop culture. Since the 60’s he has appeared in many forms, most of them animated. But it is this 1966 series that made a ton of us kids fall in love with him and an entire genre. Yes, there were many from the era: Space Giants featured a giant fighting robot who fought monsters and sometimes converted into a spaceship (yes, before transformers were ever thought of); Johnny Socko had his giant robot; and the list goes on. But it was Ultraman who started it. Eiji Tsuburaya, who created the original Godzilla, formed a new company outside of Toho Pictures. Ultraman was pretty much the first thing out of the new shop.

"Welcome to Derry, home of Paul Bunyan."

I can still remember the It miniseries from a few decades ago. I thought Gary Oldman was just wonderful as Pennywise the clown at the center of Stephen King's novel of the same name. What I really never took into account was that being wonderful really wasn't the point of the character at all. With much love to Oldman and the many characters he's brought to life over the years, I never realized until 2017 was who Pennywise the clown was truly meant to be. Andy Muschietti and his sister Barbara went to work on a two-film attempt to bring It back to life, this time on the big screen. Like most people I was pretty skeptical of the whole thing, and a lifetime of failed Stephen King films that never lived up to his written word was the evidence I cited. Can't be done, I said. They'll only run it into the ground to be resurrected badly as if it had been buried in King's Pet Semetary. But I was wrong. While Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption might still be some of the best adaptations of King's work, I think the 2017 It and It: Chapter Two are the best one-two punch in the frightening world of Stephen King. What I didn't know was this wasn't a two-film deal at all. It was intended to be three films, with the third being a prequel. Something happened along the way, and the project finally got greenlit, and the Muschietti family brought along all of their scary friends including Bill Skarsgard, who taught me who Pennywise really was, and the lesson has been unforgettable. Now Warner Brothers is releasing the first eight episodes that make up the first season of It: Welcome To Derry, and it's available on UHD Blu-ray in 4K. Snatch it up before Pennywise snatches you.

“You are a pig!” / “I’m a rural farm boy. It’s part of my charm.”

The quote above really sets the tone of The History of Sound (2025). It is a charming movie, a cinematographically soft motion picture, subtle and intimate in execution. It was directed by Oliver Hermanus and written by Ben Shattuck, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21, 2025. The movie has since won three awards and been nominated nine times. After watching it, I can see why, and I immediately knew I wanted to write an affectionate review for such an affectionate film. That said, I could write what the movie was about, and I could write what the movie was really about. The nuance in interpretation may sound minute, but worth exploring to understand in depth. The film is a soft gay romance, showing how two men fall in love. It centers around these two men, Lionel (Paul Mescal) and David (Josh O’Connor), although the story is essentially told from Lionel’s point of view. It is set at the brink of World War I in 1917 when David is drafted into the military. Just before being drafted, David and Lionel meet in a bar when Lionel noticed David playing an old folksong from his home in Kentucky. It sparked an instant connection sealed by their shared love of music. They were both gifted in music, with Lionel described as having synesthesia, seeing colors in sound, and David having a photographic memory with sound, being able to play or sing to music he’s only heard once. Upon David’s return from being stationed in Europe, the two instantly reconnect and set upon a field research journey to collect and archive regional folk music, hence the name The History of Sound. In their quest, their love is allowed to blossom, and all is well until David decides to part ways after they finish their quest.

Lurker (2025), written and directed by Alex Russell, presents itself as a subliminal film that examines the toxicity of pop culture through an allegory of parasitism in the emergence of fame. At its core, it leans into themes of parasocial obsession, identity construction, and celebrity as a kind of social system. Rather than relying on spectacle, the film grounds itself in perception and lived experience. This comes through most clearly in its use of diegetic characterization, where elements within the film are not just stylistic choices but extensions of the story itself. One of the more interesting ways it does this is through its soundtrack. The film features a bi-layered original score by Kenny Beats, made up of both non-diegetic music and diegetic tracks performed in-character by Archie Madekwe as the pop star Oliver. At first, the songs can come off a bit corny, but they start to click as the film unfolds. “Sweet Talk” plays into charisma and appeal, “Snakes in the Garden” taps into paranoia within the entourage, “Domicile” reflects in-group dynamics, and “Love and Obsession” leans directly into parasocial tension. By the end, the songs feel less like additions and more like a story running alongside the main narrative, quietly reinforcing what the film is trying to say.

At the center of the film are Matthew (Théodore Pellerin) and Oliver, whose personalities operate in tension rather than opposition. Matthew begins as observant and socially aware, positioning himself as nonchalant when meeting Oliver for the first time. He is performative enough to impress Oliver to invite him to hang out at an upcoming show. As his connection to Oliver grows, that observational stance becomes more coercive and manipulative. He does not simply document the environment but begins to shape it, subtly directing outcomes in ways that secure his position. Oliver, by contrast, embodies a form of charisma that feels effortless yet dependent on those around him. He is magnetic and socially fluent; he is not passive in how he holds power, either. He may come off as effortless, almost whimsical, but there is intention behind who he keeps around and how he lives his life. He chooses his circle, and he is fully capable of exerting control when he wants to. When he decides to distance himself from Matthew, it is deliberate, and it shows just how he controls his life. Consequently, Oliver’s entourage feels less like a group of friends and more like a system where everyone is trying to hold their place. Oliver’s friend, Noah (Daniel Zolghadri), is one of the first places where you can see a shift in dynamics. As Matthew gets closer to Oliver, Noah starts to feel less like a friend and more like something that is being left behind. There is a quiet tension there, not because Matthew initially does anything wrong, but because he begins to see him as a replacement. He immediately views Matthew as a threat and acts with jealousy. That same tension plays out in reverse with his work friend, Jamie (Sunny Suljic), growing closer to Oliver as the movie progresses. Same as with Noah, Matthew views Jamie as a threat and does his best to manipulate their growing connection from happening. Not only were the characterizations rich in the film, but the dynamics between them were constructed in a way that landed the allegory of pop culture as a lived experience perfectly. In this way, you see an engulfment of envy and jealousy as a collective driver for behavior.