SXSW Reviews: Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Recovery and Our Father (2021)


In the late 90s, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.

I feel like what kills Broadcast Signal Intrusion as movie is that it feels like it goes on for way too long, Harry Shum Jr gives a solid performance. He works with what he’s given which is a very safe script that really is nothing to write home about, the movie ultimately becomes a slow burn that is not very interesting which is the worst possible combination you can get in a movie. Combine that with a convoluted plot and pacing that really feels off and you get yourself a movie that’s a huge missed opportunity. Very disappointing..

5/10 C


Two directionless sisters brave a cross-country road trip to rescue their grandmother from a COVID outbreak at her nursing home.


I’ll give Recovery this..it’s far better than The End Of Us when it comes to movies about the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery does has it’s flaws but it also does has it’s good moments. For starters Mallory Everston and Whitney Call have great chemistry between one another, you feel their friendship and when they share a laugh together. Something a lot of these COVID-19 movies seem to be missing is a more human factor and Recovery does have that at times…keywords being “at times” because the humor in this movie is a huge hit or miss and does come off as very eye rolling. Which is very unfortunate because Recovery did have it’s moments of being very genuine like it had something to say but then quickly went back to making jokes that weren’t funny. Despite that I did have some fun with this movie and I don’t definitely don’t think it’s a bad movie by any means. It’s just not one that I’m going to ever watch again.


Two estranged sisters go in search of their uncle, a mysterious figure who may hold the key to their father’s suicide and their family’s unhappiness.


Our Father is a movie that definitely had good intentions but completely ended up being a very forgettable movie. There’s some sweet moments that feel genuine but it never gets any stronger mainly due to flat and underbaked characters who the audience truly doesn’t get to know very well at all. Our Father goes for this dreary feel to it and adds dark humor as well, neither of which work well at all which is a huge shame. There definitely is a good story somewhere in Our Father but it’s refusing to happen mainly due to how much of a chore this movie is when sitting throughout it. The acting and writing really don’t have much to them and the rest of the movie is very forgettable, not worth checking out unfortunately.

4/10 D+

SXSW Review: Demi Lovato Dancing With The Devil (2021)


Documentary series, explores aspects that led to Demi Lovato’s nearly fatal overdose in 2018, and her awakenings in the aftermath.


I have always liked Demi Lovato’s music, she has a very strong voice granted I’m not that huge of fan as I once was. In 2018 Demi Lovato had a overdose I knew it was bad but the documentary only reveals things were a lot more than that. The documentary is also another honest look at a celebrity kind of like how I mentioned Billie Eilish The World’s A Little Blurry was a honest and raw look at Billie. Well in this case the same can be said about Demi Lovato, there’s also a number of very surprising topics that come up in this documentary such as showing once again how child stars are taken advantage of and how horribly treated they are. Demi Lovato reveals that she was raped as a teenager, she says it occurred when she was in with the Disney crowd and that she had to see this person on a “regular basis”. Demi did not name the person but that’s probably due to her not feeling read quite yet which is very understandable. Demi also reveals she was sexually assaulted on the night of her overdose… As the documentary goes on you begin to realize how bad this situation was and how normally an overdose of this level ends up in death, you also begin to feel like you know her more as a person. The documentary can be very hard to watch at times but it is very important for Demi Lovato’s story, as a film it was very neatly done! I’m sure some of the editing was flawed because of the documentary actually being a 4 part series that’s going to be released on YouTube so I don’t think it’s the documentary’s fault. The ending leaves the audience with a hopeful feeling that Demi will win her battle as she is doing better, this is very educational when it comes to drug addiction you can’t just wake up one day and say “I’m going to stop taking drugs” that’s not how it works at the slightest. The Documentary explains that very well and shows you have no idea what anyone is going through, here’s to hoping Demi Lovato is on a better path now! I highly recommend checking this out when it releases March 23rd 2021!

10/10 A+

SXSW Review: Gaia (2021)

On a surveillance mission in a primordial forest, a park ranger encounters two survivalists following a post-apocalyptic lifestyle. The boy and his philosophical father seem to have their own religion, and a mysterious relationship to nature. There are many suspicious aspects to their existence, but when the cabin is attacked by strange, post-human beings one night, she learns that there is a greater threat in this emergent wilderness.

I liked Gaia quite a lot, it felt like a huge mix of The Last Of Us (the video game), The Blair Witch Project, In The Earth and parts of The Green Inferno all mixed into a very interesting movie! It’s use of body horror was really great and slowly gets under your skin as the film progresses. The acting from Monique Rockman was really great and the writing gives this creepy feel as well. Combine that with the atmosphere and you have yourself a genuinely haunting movie that is very effective, especially when the writing is cleverly written! The location and the filming is also another one of this film’s strong points, combing them both gives beautifully haunting results that end up being intimidating and creepy as well! Gaia is most definitely not going to be for everyone and it’s very easy to see why, but for fans who have been dying for an actual really good recent body horror movie I highly recommend to check this one out when it releases over the summer!

9/10 A

SXSW Review: The End Of Us (2021)


After a savage breakup, two exes must continue living together when California issues its stay-at-home order for COVID-19. Now they’ll try to move on without moving out.


A movie about the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s made by Buzzfeed Studios what could possibly go wrong? In fact a lot can go wrong, The End Of Us is one of the most dull and uninteresting movies I have watched so far this year, this feels exactly like something Buzzfeed would put in one of their videos. All of that “look at this I’m so relatable!!” Humor is in the movie, along with painfully unfunny humor that will make you want to hit your head against the nearest wall. The acting is terrible as well as the writing, there’s one or two moments that have some genuine emotion but nothing else stands out. The movie reminded me a lot of How It Ends where it has the same plastic look to it like it’s from a bubble gum commercial. Only that How It Ends while not a good movie at least had some ideas to it and it wasn’t a terrible movie, The End Of Us was just painful movie that is basically cashing in on the pandemic. It’s not a smart pandemic movie like The Pink Cloud, it’s below the bare minimum humor that Buzzfeed seems to think is funny and “relatable” but none of it feels relatable, it’s garbage writing that feels like it was written in less then an hour. Give this one a skip..

1/10 F

SXSW Review: Ninjababy (2021)


Astronaut, forest-keeper, cartoonist. Young Rakel has a whole lot of other plans than becoming a mother. She would rather party, get drunk or stoned instead of sitting hours on the toilet. But she can’t ignore it. Is it her or the baby?


So the first film of SXSW how is it? Well Ninjababy I went in completely blind, there is a lot to like about the film but it does have it’s missteps. Kristine Kujath Thorp easily steals the show with her performance that’s just beautifully done. She gives such a raw performance that really makes you care about her character, the writing is overall pretty good and the filming has a very clean look to it. What drags this movie down for me at least is the segments with the cartoon baby, I completely understand what Ninjababy was trying to do but it took me out of the movie which is a huge shame. Whenever the cartoon baby showed up it felt like I was watching an entirely different movie, with that said I thought the last 20 minutes were some of the major strong points of the film. Combined with the song that was used it made an emotional 20 minutes, absolutely beautiful stuff! The other characters while not bad I really didn’t care for that much to be quite honest, this really felt like one of those movies where the main character is the only one who truly shines. But overall Ninjababy is not a bad movie at all, it’s well directed, well written and very well acted. It’s just not something I think I’ll ever watch again, if it sounds like your thing check it out when it releases. I will say that it does feel like a gendered swap Knocked Up, so if you liked Knocked Up you will probably like this one! Solid start to the festival!

7/10 B

Slaxx and Koko-Di, Koko-Da (2021) Movie Reviews!


When a possessed pair of jeans begins to kill the staff of a trendy clothing store, it is up to Libby, an idealistic young salesclerk, to stop its bloody rampage.

Who knew a film about a killer pair of jeans would be better than some other films so far this year that want to be taken seriously. I feel like what makes Slaxx work is the movie knows it’s stupid and actually has fun with the premise. I will say the movie takes a bit to get going, the pacing is ridiculously slow at the beginning and made the first act incredibly pointless. However once the killer jeans come in that’s when it gets good, some of the kills are actually quite good (although it does get annoying with some off screen deaths). The movie is also a social commentary which is not what I expected. The acting is bad but at least it’s a lot of fun, the same can be said with the writing. It knows what it wants to be and for the most part it succeeds, overall this is something that could have easily been a whole lot worse. So after several weeks of very bad movies Shudder gives something quite okay! if you know what your getting into you will most definitely enjoy this movie! I say give this one a watch.

6/10 C+


As a couple goes on a trip to find their way back to each other, a sideshow artist and his shady entourage emerge from the woods, terrorizing them, luring them deeper into a maelstrom of psychological terror and humiliating slapstick.

I heard about this one quite a lot before watching it, so when I saw it was coming to Shudder I was very interested and the end result is actually quite great. The best way to describe this movie is it’s a dark fairytale with a ton of slow burn horror movie elements. The several shots in this movie when the characters are in the car are compelling and quite beautiful, there’s this organic atmosphere to the movie that adds so much to the film and really brings out so much rich dark atmosphere. It does take a bit to get going and to get the plot in order but once the film does that it truly shines, by the end of the movie it’s all worth it mostly due to the atmosphere and acting! Overall it’s a very solid horror movie that I recommend giving a go!

7/10 B

Cherry (2021) Movie Review!


Cherry drifts from college dropout to army medic in Iraq – anchored only by his true love, Emily. But after returning from the war with PTSD, his life spirals into drugs and crime as he struggles to find his place in the world.

Cherry is one of those movies that I seriously wanted to like, from what the plot sounded like it sounded pretty interesting. I was willing to give the Russos a chance to impress along with Tom Holland as the leading the role. Cherry not only disappoints but manages to be extremely painful as well, while it might not be one of the absolute worst of the year it’s still quite appalling. Tom Holland does the best he can with a very surface level script that goes into almost no detail at all, what ultimately kills Cherry is a mixture of a lot of things. First off the writing is all over the place, it feels like a bunch of ideas that felt like they were their own movies but for some reason got mixed together in the middle of development. Ciara Bravo’s performance is just horrendous and quite honestly painful to watch, sure everyone else isn’t good either but her performance in particular felt like she wasn’t even trying. As much as I hate to use this word in my movie reviews or just in general but Cherry felt pretentious, it felt like it was trying to be way more than it really is. Between the music and the cinematography it really made itself sound like it was talking about something that hasn’t been talked about before which is utterly ridiculous. The running time of 142 minutes was painful, this is the type of movie where you feel each and every minute of the running time. Cherry fails to draw your attention and instead wastes time by dragging each and every scene, then there’s the direction which I have no idea what either of the Russos were doing I definitely feel there could have been potential here if it was better directed. Plus if the movie itself actually had a plan, as it goes on you start to see how Cherry goes nowhere and really shows it doesn’t evolve as a film. Overall Cherry is terrible and forgettable which is very unfortunate, Tom Holland will definitely go on to do better things which is the good side to all of this if you want to look at things positively.

3/10 D-

Stay Out Of The Attic (2021) Movie Review!


A group of ex-cons-turned-movers are convinced by their creepy client to pull an all-nighter. As the night progresses, they uncover the horrors that exist inside his old Victorian mansion.


So far 2021 is not Shudder’s year and Stay Out Of The Attic is further proof of that. This movie feels like it tries to be Don’t Breathe but miserably fails at it. The acting is complete garbage as well as the writing, the performances here are a mess and fail to grab the viewer’s attention. The story is predictable and not the least bit surprising, the characters have little to no personality and the script feels like it was written in less then 2 seconds long. It’s a shame because there is a decent idea somewhere in this movie but it’s crowded by all the bad parts about it. Really not much else to say here.

1/10 F

Yes Day (2021) Movie Review!


A mom and dad who usually say no decide to say yes to their kids’ wildest requests with a few ground rules on a whirlwind day of fun and adventure.


Yes Day is pretty much another example of a family movie that felt like it came out in the wrong year. A lot of it feels like something straight out of the early 2000s family movie era, there’s one scene in particular that has The Gummy Bear song which hasn’t been a thing for at least 9 years now. Which leads to something that completely kills some movies is adding memes into their movies, no matter what meme it is it’s going to age like milk, memes for the most part are very short lived and people move on from them. The Gummy Bear song was funny maybe the first time you heard it but then got old after every other time you heard it. As for the rest of the movie it really does not have a whole lot going for it, the acting from Jennifer Garner is passable as well as Jenna Ortega but everyone else completely falls flat. The direction is about as interesting as looking at a white wall, the direction is from Miguel Areta who previously did Boss Level (which was garbage) and did Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Which despite the movie having no relation to Alexander they feel like almost identical movies. The best way to sum up this movie is if you have seen Alexander Very Bad Day then you have already seen Yes Day. Sure the plot is tweaked a bit but there is really nothing new here. Yes Day might entertain kids but with very below average writing it’s not going to keep the interest for that long.

3/10 D-

Come True and Cosmic Sin (2021) Movie Reviews!


A teenage runaway takes part in a sleep study that becomes a nightmarish descent into the depths of her mind and a frightening examination of the power of dreams.


Come True is definitely an interesting movie, that has a lot going for it. The visuals and score are both haunting especially when you combine them both with the atmosphere the movie gives off. It’s quite effective although the film’s narrative is very messy and what the film is ultimately building up to is very disappointing. The ending stops Come True from being anything other then decent, which is unfortunate because the build up was very interesting and had a lot of potential to do something completely different. It does become basic towards the end but I will applaud the movie for trying, it isn’t a bad watch just not something incredible.

6/10 C+


Seven rogue soldiers launch a preemptive strike against a newly discovered alien civilization in the hopes of ending an interstellar war before it starts.


What do you even want me to say anymore about these Bruce Willis Lionsgate and Saban Films movies? There’s been a series of these awful action, thriller and sometimes sci-fi movies with Bruce Willis being the leading role. Each one of them gets progressively worse and worse most of them come from Lionsgate but some people seem to forget that Saban Films is also responsible with some of them as well. Cosmic Sin being one of these movies, I’ve said this each and every time I review one of these movies but what do you expect me to say? Cosmic Sin is the same old garbage except that the plot is changed a little bit and the cast is different. The only positive I can say about this movie is Frank Grillo, Bruce Willis is phoning it in as usual, the special effects are terrible, the writing and acting are completely worthless and feel like nobody except Grillo gave a crap. It’s baffling how these movies are still being made, Cosmic Sin might be better than a few of these movies but trust me when I say that is not saying much at all, this almost bottom of the barrel when it comes to low budget sci-fi movies as you can get. Skip this one..

1/10 F