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Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about how the recent run of excellent films has come to an end — or, perhaps, sputtered to a temporary stop, awaiting fresh refills of petrol distillate. Schulz can’t give his heart to Renfield, ultimately, in spite of a top-notch performance by Nicolas Cage as Dracula, because of a stupid subplot, involving the New Orleans Mafia and a horribly-miscast Awkwafina as a straight-shooting cop, which manages to suck dry a rich and vital premise with such sitcom schlockola. Continue reading April 20, 2023 Movie Mike on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Renfield,” “Nefarious,” “Sweetwater,” “The Pope’s Exorcist,” and “Mafia Mamma” →

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Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about how Schulz really likes the Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls biopic Air — the acting, the writing — in spite of (or, perhaps, because of) Ben Affleck’s participation (“he’s got a lot of turkeys to live down,” Schulz writes); Paint, the bizarre not-Bob Ross trip starring Owen Wilson, whose character paints the same mountain on his PBS program and who has a devoted senior audience, is described tonally by Schulz as “Wes Anderson meets Christopher Guest meets Errol Morris meets Napoleon Dynamite,” and doesn’t quite come together satisfactorily, but was enjoyable nonetheless; and everyone marvels at the first-weekend gross of The Super Mario Bros Movie — $146 million domestically — which manages to shock Schulz at how “nakedly what it is”: An extended product-push with some fun voice cameos (Jack Black unleashes his Tenacious D) and a plot that “doesn’t make a lick of sense.” The three also anticipate Nicolas Cage’s turn in the forthcoming Renfield — Cage, having portrayed a deluded yuppie who thinks he’s a bloodsucker in 1988’s Vampire’s Kiss, has come full circle; Mafia Mama, with Toni Collette as an American mother who inherits her grandfather’s mobster enterprise in Italy (“cornball, but sounds like fun”); and Russell Crowe in The Pope’s Exorcist (“Crowe has gotten so fun now that he’s become full Brando, y’know, where he’s three hundred pounds and could give a damn now, [he’s] gonna emote [his] heart out”).

“Air,” “Paint,” and “The Super Mario Bros Movie”

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Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about how Schulz, contrary to Dave and Darren (D&D), thought Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves “fine, with really good jokes in it,” but, overall, a bland outing, hobbled somewhat by the screenwriters’ ambition to show that their characters have FEELINGS to go along with the action. Also, Schulz was never a D&D fan like D&D. Nevertheless, the jokes do land, so it’s got that going for it. . . About A Thousand & One, about characters living under the foster-care radar in lower-middle-class Nineties-era Harlem, Schulz declares it his favorite film of the year so far, “so moving and surprising and caring. . . a knockout.” A Good Person, directed by Zach Braff, is good, not great, but has strong acting, with Florence Pugh as an opioid addict making horrible choices left and right and Morgan Freeman as one of her victims. The film reminded Schulz that Freeman was once an actor — was there ever a time when he wasn’t? — and, at eighty-five years old, he’s once again Oscar-worthy. . .

“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” “A Thousand & One,” and “A Good Person”

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Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about how a certain filmgoer should get over his hesitance about watching John Wick: Chapter Four — not to mention One through Three — which Schulz sums up as “Buster Keaton, but with a lot of bullets”: “You could put [the plots and dialogue from all four movies, running approx seven hours] on a cocktail napkin.” In the Wick world, everyone is an assassin Continue reading March 30, 2023 Movie Mike on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “The Lost King” →

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Mike Schulz celebrates Dave Levora and Darren Pitra with his sixteen Oscar predictions coming through, except for the Best Actor and Actress awards (didn’t see Brendan Fraser and Michelle Yeoh coming). Still, he originally predicted fifteen, so he’s going great guns in the prognostication racket. They also talked about Woody Harrelson’s latest, Champions, which, despite having Bobby Farrelly directing, allays any fears of the subject matter Continue reading March 23, 2023 Movie Mike on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” “Champions,” “65,” and the 95th Oscars →

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Mike Schulz talks with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra about the preview for Scream VI, featuring Jenny Ortega, Courtney Cox, Skeet Ulrich (incredibly enough, considering Scream I) and a change of scenery from Woodsborough, California (not many hiding places left for potential victims) for New York City (multi-story buildings, subways). “It [plays] to your memory, but in fun ways,” says Schulz. Continue reading March 10, 2023 Movie Mike on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Creed III” and “Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre” →

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Mike Schulz talks with Dave and Darren about Cocaine Bear (“really delightful”. . . “it’s really hard to intentionally make a cult movie”. . . “the people were very entertaining, which I did not see coming”. . . “Judd Hirsch and Hal Linden do not show up in it”), featuring twelve-year-old kids eating cocaine (“Well done, Elizabeth Banks, the director!”), heaping amounts of gore, Ray Liotta in one of his final film appearances, and, most importantly, a coke-enraged bear; and Jesus Revolution, the two-hour story of the Jesus Freak uprising in late-Sixties southern California (“solid”. . . “really sincere, as you would expect; funnier than you would expect, which is nice”. . .). Also, for what it’s worth, Jeff Loveness, the screenwriter for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, expressed depression over the negative criticial reviews his film received, but a visit to his local Cineplex, and the rapturous noise he beheld, alleviated him of his condition. Message for critics: Your judgments have consequences, be it in the form of depressed screenwriters or coked-up carnivoran mammals; so be mindful of the feelings of your fellow domesticated primates, and try to avoid incursions by stimulant-riddled caniforms. . .

”Cocaine Bear” and “Jesus Revolution”

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Mike talks with Dave and Darren about how Mike was underwhelmed by Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, even by the low bar the franchise sets: Though Michelle Pfeiffer was better used this time around, and Jonathan Majors kills as Kang the Conqueror, Paul Rudd as a presence remains as light as a soufflé, overshadowed even by Corey Stoll as Modok; and, as for Marlowe, the less said, the better. (Even less than was discussed the last time.) Meanwhile, everyone is excited about Cocaine Bear, a concept so rich that even drug-free viewers might want to roll around in baby powder beforehand — and (get this) it features stars Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, and Margo Martindale; practically the whole cast of The Americans, reunited (and it feels so good). . .

“Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania” and “Marlowe”

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Mike talks with Dave and Darren about how disappointing Magic Mike’s Last Dance was (“a Muppet movie, but with gyrating torsos”); Consecration (“a horror film in a convent. . . the devil has to show up at some point”); and the Netflix rom-coms Your Place or Mine (“crushing exposition” and Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon, who seem to have made the same film on their own at least once) and You People (a funny first hour of an hour-and-fifty-minute film, with Eddie Murphy and Jonah Hill doing a variation on that old “Will these polar opposites ever get along?” theme). Mike also previews Marlowe, which “looks ago,” though the “story drags” — not so promising, given we’re talking about Raymond Chandler material. . .

“Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” “Consecration,” “Your Place or Mine,” and “You People”