Tag: Zach Woods

REVIEW: Spin Me Round [2022]

Jared Mobarak

You seem so open-minded. The last thing Amber (Alison Brie) expected when coming into work as manager of Bakersfield, CA’s popular Tuscan Grove, an Olive Garden-esque shingle of minimum wage employees squeezing microwaved alfredo sauce onto linguine, was an all-expenses paid “retreat” to Italy. It’s what she got, though, courtesy of her location’s owner (Lil Rel Howery‘s Paul) submitting her name to the exclusive managerial team building week annually held by TG’s charismatic CEO and face of the franchise, Nick Martucci (Alessandro Nivola). Having just broken up with a toxic…

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REVIEW: The Post [2017]

Jared Mobarak

Quality drives profitability. Let’s be real: every Steven Spielberg film is a must-see, hype-driving machine. He’s a cinematic giant who rarely chooses a project to direct without extreme enthusiasm and artistic purpose (whether the result proves timeless or not). But no one could be blamed for letting excitement crescendo higher than usual upon hearing about his latest, The Post. Still in the midst of post-production on Ready Player One, Spielberg chose to drop everything while the visual effects artists did their thing to put Liz Hannah‘s script in front of…

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REVIEW: Ghostbusters [2016]

Jared Mobarak

“Ain’t no bitches gonna bust no ghosts” They lied. I walked out of Paul Feig‘s Ghostbusters reboot to find my childhood intact. Memories didn’t disappear as the run-time progressed with cooties-infested women replacing the nerdy, elitist dickheads in jumpsuits who ran amok in New York City years ago. In fact, these 21st century scientists actually know more science than blind comedic references about proton-packs being compact nuclear reactors strapped to their backs. Who knew women could be nerdy dickheads too? Who knew they weren’t simply vessels to breath heavy and…

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REVIEW: Damsels in Distress [2012]

Jared Mobarak

“I’d like to thank you for that chastisement” Leave it to Whit Stillman to ensure decadence never dies. The king of creating a haughty air onscreen during the 90s returns after a prolonged absence with Damsels in Distress, a film existing in the present but populated with a wealth of characters keeping one colloquial foot in the past. Interjecting an outsider unfamiliar with the pretention cultivated by those she is joining—much like Tom into the auteur’s debut feature Metropolitan‘s debutante gala season—we are allowed to see behind the curtain of…

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REVIEW: In the Loop [2009]

Jared Mobarak

“An anti-war shag?” There is something about British comedy that resonates with me. I don’t know if it is because we in the States experience so little of it, or maybe because Hollywood rapes and pillages the material for their own water-downed versions, but the humor just seems fresh, uncensored, and hilarious. When I first came across the new political black comedy In the Loop, I will admit to being less than interested. The marketing materials were using the whole Obama silkscreen poster look and I really wasn’t interested in…

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