Disc Type

It was October 8, 1989 at the USF Sun Dome where I first saw The Beach Boys live with Chicago as their opening act. It was my first concert experience, and in my household The Beach Boys were pretty much royalty. Any time the band was on the radio the volume was cranked up and my mom and I would sing along, causing those in neighboring cars to quickly roll up their windows in an attempt to tune out our terrible voices. My parents collected the albums on vinyl, and later I’d get them on cassette and bop my head listening to the surf tunes fantasizing about the beach or staring out at the pool thinking about bikini-clad girls. The Beach Boys will forever have a nostalgic place in my heart. Even as my taste in music has evolved, I still will listen to their albums time to time. Their feel-good music is perfect for a summer afternoon; they’re timeless, and that’s why I’m not surprised that Disney has put out a new documentary about the band that got its start in the early 60s, and you can still see them touring still (at least with some of the surviving members). I was excited about this documentary, though I’ve learned to be a little cautious; after all, it is sometimes good to not know all the dirty little secrets about the artists and sports figures we idolized in our past. But then I remembered this is Disney, so I doubt we’ll be getting anything too scandalous here, and I was right.

There should be very little surprise that this documentary starts off with how the band first came together. We get the photos from when the members were all younger, and their influences, no surprise that they were fans of surf music legends like Dick Dale and The Ventures. What is a bit of surprise is hearing how little the members of the band actually surfed. They were more about the music and mastering their harmonies, which is what not only launched their careers but has become a part of their legacy. We get interviews with some of the surviving members as well as clips from archived interviews, and this is not just expected but welcomed in this type of documentary.

"A Haunting is a lonely thing. No one else can see what you see. Even the people you love would call you crazy."

We all have our fears, and that's a good thing for the folks in the movie-making business. Fright sells, and we all like to be afraid ... at least a little bit. From rollercoasters to movies, fear is a business, and going by box office receipts and streaming numbers, business has been good. The nice thing about movies that deal with fears is that they make excellent independent film fodder, because it's something everyone relates to, and you can do it on a pretty modest budget. But the writing has to be good, and the performances must be compelling, particularly when you don't have the cash to dazzle them with computer-generated delight. You might not get that box office jackpot, but with streaming and home video, a good movie does indeed have an afterlife. Writers/directors Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton have just that with the Lightyear Entertainment release of their 2015 horror film We Go On. It's a barebones release that just might be worth a spin after all.

The story for The Jester got its start through a trio of short films that were put on YouTube. The shorts had found success, and fans were rewarded with a feature length film. Shudder grabbed the streaming rights for the film, and now here we are …When it comes to Shudder, I have no shame in admitting it is my favorite of all the streaming services. Not only does it have a solid selection of horror films, but it also has The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs, and that alone makes it worth the monthly fee. Now, as a horror service, it is no surprise that they buy a bunch of titles to release over the course of the year, and in the past they’ve put out greats like The Innocents, The Sadness, and Deadstream to name a few. But of course they are going to have some misses, and The Jester is one of those confident purchases that I feel ended up a big miss.

To put it in simple terms, The Jester is a bad knockoff of the Terrifier films. Sure, the horror genre is filled with knockoff films, and some are better than the previous film they ripped the plot from, but in the case of Terrifier, I feel that film is sort of like magic in a gore-filled bottle that just came along at the perfect time, and The Jester, despite having its heart in the right place, just doesn’t have what it takes to compete. Now, before I really get started, where The Jester does succeed, it captures the Halloween atmosphere beautifully from the set design to the color palette throughout, so even though it is summer, if you are craving a film that has all the autumn vibes you can ask for, for this alone, The Jester may be worth taking a gander at.

“When you take on the responsibility, great power will come.”

In my opinion, Madame Web is a victim of its own marketing. Based on the trailers, the audience members, such as myself, geared up for an expansion of the spider-verse featuring several notable characters who donned the spider mantle. As such, I expected to see Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, and Celeste O’Connor showcasing their skills as their respective characters. And while we are partially treated to this, it essentially amounts to an appetizer, as these scenes make up less than five minutes of the film's run time. For me, that made the film basically a 116-minute trailer for larger story that I am skeptical that we will ever get. While I applaud the attempt to build a larger universe, the foundation needs to be established first, and sadly I don’t think it was adequately done here in Madame Web. This is disappointing given the talent pool of the aforementioned up-and-coming stars, as well as established actors such Dakota Johnson, Adam Scott, and Emma Roberts.