Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about the perils of being a movie critic: Namely, holding opinions that run contrary to the popular taste. While he’s a big fan of 1976’s Murder by Death (directed by Robert Moore from a script by Neil Simon and starring Eileen Brennan, James Coco, Peter Falk, Alec Guinness, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, Maggie Smith, Nancy Walker, Estelle Winwood, and Truman Capote), critics remain largely dismissive of what they regard as cornball material — even though a case can be made that there are different levels of cornball, and Continue reading October 19, 2023, on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — Wes Anderson’s Roald Dahl Shorts, “Fair Play,” and “The Burial”→
Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about how Taylor Swift’s forthcoming concert film Eras Tour will not only benefit fans of Swift (Schulz mentions they’ll be getting better seating), but the AMC theatre-chain, given how the Hollywood actors’ strike knocked the Fall film schedule for six. The upshot of Swift’s having bypassed the major studios to work directly with AMC is that AMC stands to get 43% of every ticket sold (rather than the usual 20% starting-point, escalating every subsequent by 5% — and now you know why theater-chains are eager to hold films over for as long as they can; Continue reading October 12, 2023, on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Stop Making Sense,” “The Exorcist: Believer,” “No One Will Save You,” and “Flora and Son”→
Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra beforehand about how Linda Blair has separated herself from her former profession — and, given the reviews of The Exorcist: Believer, that can’t be anything other than a good thing for all concerned — before getting into The Creator, directed by Gareth Edwards of Rogue One fame (or infamy, depending on your feelings about it). This is a film that neither man in our trio had heard of before; you may recall that The Creator didn’t surface in their discussion of previews last week. Budgeted at $80 million, The Creator took Schulz completely by surprise Continue reading October 5, 2023, on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “The Creator” and “Saw X”→
Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about how Martin Scorsese bummed out his producers when he didn’t just make plain his disinclination to make sequels of any of his original works (which rules his 1986 The Color of Money, which continued the story of Paul Newman’s pool-shark character “Fast Eddie” Felson from Robert Rossen’s 1961 classic The Hustler), but, worse yet, directed 2006’s The Departed to be specifically sequel-proof. (Aside from “Marky” Mark Wahlberg and Vera Farmiga, everyone of consequence in that film dies.) Scorsese’s point was that he was dealing with a changing of the guard Continue reading September 28, 2023 on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Expend4bles,” “Dumb Money,” “Cassandro,” and “It Lives Inside”→
Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about how spectacular A Haunting in Venice was to watch, Levora’s personal disdain for Kenneth Branagh notwithstanding. Directed by Branagh from Agatha Christie’s 1969 novel Hallowe’en Party, it is the only work of hers starring her Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (played by Branagh) that hasn’t been adapted for cinema. Part of what made this third outing enjoyable, in contrast to the first two, was that Branagh chose not to employ so many stars for every conceivable role, and thus he was free to scale down the production to something quieter, smarter, spookier, more suspenseful, and thus more effective a film. Continue reading September 21, 2023 on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “A Haunting in Venice,” “The Inventor,” and “El Conde”→
Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about “the laugh-riot, feel good movie of 2023,” The Nun II, directed by Michael Chaves and starring Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet, Bonnie Aarons, Storm Reid, and Anna Popplewell. Given that the film was not a comedy, one can presume that it failed as a horror movie, and in dubious fashion, too. Schulz also confesses to a bit of Conjuring fatigue (“What are we? Nine films in?”) thanks to its precise placement within that shared universe (“It’s the sequel to a prequel to a prequel to a prequel. . . we’re going backwards here. Conceivably, it will be, like, the invention of God within fifty years”). Continue reading September 14, 2023 on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “The Nun II” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”→
Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra discuss at length the perilous state of super-hero films — and, moreover, movies with numbers in their titles — before getting down to discuss the merits of, funnily enough, The Equalizer 3, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Denzel Washington as retired Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall. This is supposedly the final film in a trilogy that neither Mike, Darren, nor David thought even existed; they weren’t aware that The Equalizer 3 was a thing until they saw the previews. They knew that it’s an adaptation of the TV series of the same name, starring Edward Woodward as McCall in the first run (1985-89) and rebooted for Queen Latifah, Continue reading September 7, 2023 on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “The Equalizer 3,” “Bottoms,” and “Zombie Town”→
Mike Schulz and Dave Levora tell Darren Pitra that Retribution was just as bad as they hoped it would be: Liam Neeson commits too much emotion on behalf of Matt Turner, a character trapped in an absurd premise; and his two bairns, Emily (Lilly Aspell) and Zach (Jack Champion), have the audience — well, two of them at least — actively rooting against their continued existence. Schulz deplores the film’s bad plotting, for which director Nimród Antal deserves obloquy, and excessive overwriting, which dings Chris Salmanpour. Unfortunately, Salmanpour’s commitment to detail does not preclude him from allowing logical plot howlers to pass along unacknowledged. Continue reading August 31, 2023 on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Retribution,” “Golda,” and “The Hill”→
Mike Schulz, Dave Levora, and Darren Pitra point out that, traditionally, no good movies have been released in the last week of August. This fact suggests the forthcoming Liam Neeson action/road-thriller Retribution may be an even bigger box-office crash than the three of them anticipate. Still, they’re going to see it this Friday, and they expect the resulting wreckage to provide a schadenfreude-provoking good time. They’re inviting their listeners to take in the spectacle as well — and, possibly, inadvertently convince the local cinema, based on opening-night attendance, to hold it over an extra week. Continue reading August 24, 2023 on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Gran Turismo,” “Blue Beetle,” “Strays,” “Red, White, and Royal Blue,” “Of an Age,” and “Close”→
Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about The Last Voyage of the Demeter, director André Øvredal’s adaptation of the “Captain’s Log” chapter from Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula — ever heard of it? Schulz assures us that “the only thing wrong” with The Last Voyage is that “it’s not scary and it’s repetitive” — usually the sign of death for a movie critic, but for Schulz, ‘tis but a flesh wound, as it’s “surprisingly easy to sit through and it looks great.” He also praises the cast for providing characters in whom one can invest one’s feelings, so Continue reading August 17, 2023 Movie Mike on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” and “Jules”→
