Sicario: Day Of The Soldado
Directed by Stefano Sollima
Written by Tyler Sheridan
Starring: Josh Brolin, Benecio Del Toro, Isabela Moner, Catherine Keener, Matthew Modine, Elijah Rodriguez, Jeffrey Donovan
Theatrical Release Date: June 29, 2018

“Adios,” a hitman ruthlessly tells a helpless man on the ground just before he’s about to unload a ton of shells into him. But before this, the hitman tells the man to put on his glasses so he can see who’s going to kill him. And this is the core of the Sicario films, wanting us to see clearly the violence encompassing us.

The enticing trait that the Sicario films (the first film was in 2015) maintain is their menacing sense of dread and impending doom that looms over them. Steady by steady the films tighten, introducing new dangers that squash previous ones, immediately fascinating its viewers with chaos and acquainting them with a sliver of hell while analyzing the War on Drugs.

A teaser trailer for the long-awaited Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado is finally here. After months of hype following the first film and expressed interest in expanding the world, the sequel to the Academy Award-winning film will be hitting theaters in summer 2018.

However, the sequel is moving on without one of the brightest stars of the first film, Emily Blunt. Instead, we will get to see Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro carry on the story. Check out the trailer below.

47 Meters Down
Blu-ray | DVD | Digital
Directed by Johannes Roberts
Written by Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Starring Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Matthew Modine, Chris Johnson, Yani Gellman, Santiago Segura
Lionsgate
PG-13 | 89 minutes
Release date: September 26, 2017

47 Meters Down is a shark movie starring Mandy Moore (This is Us) and Claire Holt (The Originals) as sisters on vacation in Mexico, who decide to go cage diving with Great Whites. That turns out to be a bad decision as their cage plummets to the titular depth, and soon the women are fighting for survival from both the sharks above and the impending loss of oxygen. I’ll be honest, this movie had me at “shark.” I am an unabashed shark movie enthusiast. Spielberg’s JAWS is one of my favorite films ever, and I started writing for Geeks of Doom by covering the Sharknado franchise. So suffice to say, if you put sharks in a movie, I’ll be there to watch it. Unfortunately, sharks are about the only thing 47 Meters Down has going for it.

47 Meters Down
Director: Johannes Roberts
Screenwriter: Johannes Roberts, Ernest Riera
Cast: Mandy Moore, Claire Holt, Matthew Modine, Chris J. Johnson, Yani Gellman, Santiago Segura
Distributor: Entertainment Studios
Rated PG-13 | 85 Minutes
Release Date: June 16, 2017

The late Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert once said, “No good movie is too long, just as no bad movie is short enough.” By that measure, 47 Meters Down was the longest 85 minutes of my life. It’s precious time that I’ll never get back. It’s time I would have gladly spent stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or at the dentist’s office getting holes drilled into every tooth in my head.

Co-written and directed by Johannes Roberts (Storage 24, The Other Side of the Door), 47 Meters Down is a horror-thriller starring Mandy Moore (This Is Us) and Claire Holt (The Vampire Diaries) as sisters who go looking for adventure and find it in a shark-diving excursion that goes horribly wrong.

The biggest pop culture phenomenon of 2016 may be Netflix’s Stranger Things. The 8-episode miniseries debuted in July and immediately became the talk of social media, instantly replacing House of Cards as TV’s most binge-worthy show. The show, created by twins Matt and Ross Duffer tells the story of a small Indiana town of Hawkins in the early 1980s, beset by a series of… well… strange things. A young boy disappears, and his friends believe it the work of a D&D style monster. His mom and brother grow more and more frazzled searching for him. All the while, a mysterious young girl is on the run from a government research lab. Fans immediately picked up on the numerous homages to classics from the late 70s and early ’80s, like ET, Alien, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Goonies and Stand By Me as well as other work by Stephen King. The good news for everyone captivated by the series, which should come as no shock is that Stranger Things has been renewed for a second season.

More below.

Stranger Things has captivated audiences all over, and is receiving rave reviews from fans and critics alike. It’s hard not to watch Netflix’s new series without noticing the countless references to films of the late 70s and early 80s, as well as connections to a certain “KING” of horror fiction. There are so many spot-on homages paid to the classics that amongst friends, a drinking game was discussed and concocted… shots when you spot them! The creators of the show, twins Matt and Ross Duffer, said they referenced the movies they grew up watching on VHS. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for a YouTuber to create the perfect and concise video utilizing split screens of scenes from Stranger Things Season 1 along with scenes from its influences.

Watch the video here below.

Stranger Things
Episode 1.8 “Chapter Eight: The Upside Down”
Teleplay by The Duffer Brothers, Story by Paul Dichter
Directed by The Duffer Brothers
Created by The Duffer Brothers
Starring Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, David Harbour, Natalia Dyer, Cara Buono, Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, Charlie Heaton, Matthew Modine, Joe Keery, John Reynolds, Joe Chrest
Netflix
Air date: Friday, July 15, 2016

If you’ve followed my reviews of this series so far, you know I am in love with it. So this review is bittersweet. To most in Hawkins, Indiana, Will Byers drowned in a quarry. He had to – they had a funeral and everything. To those who know him best, they have spent days piecing together the truth. There is some sort of monster lurking in Hawkins, that has taken Will to the Upside Down, a parallel dimension to our own. Worse, perhaps is that the government is covering this up, and the monster as well as a powerful but scared little girl, are parts of a Cold War experiment called MK Ultra. Before we get to it, let’s take a minute to review where our essential characters are:

Stranger Things
Episode 1.5 “Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat,” 1.6 “Chapter Six: The Monster,” 1.7 “Chapter Seven: The Bathtub”
Written by Alison Tatlock (1.5), Jesse Nickson-Lopez (1.6), Justin Doble (1.7)
Directed by The Duffer Brothers (1.5, 1.6, 1.7)
Created by The Duffer Brothers
Starring Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, David Harbour, Natalia Dyer, Cara Buono, Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, Charlie Heaton, Matthew Modine, Joe Keery, John Reynolds, Joe Chrest
Netflix
Air date: Friday, July 15, 2016

The first half of Netflix’s new miniseries Stranger Things deals with loss – loss of loved ones, loss of sanity, loss of everything you hold true. The series, created by the Duffer Brothers (Matt & Ross), takes everything we loved about the early 80s work of Spielberg, Stephen King, and others, and puts together a wonderful and mysterious world paying homage to their many inspirations as they go along. Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) disappeared when a monstrous thing followed him home and took him. His mother (Winona Ryder) is beside herself, and mysterious electrical disturbances in her home lead her to believe Will is trying to contact her. Will’s friends, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) are frantic to find their lost friend, but instead find a bizarre young girl, tattooed 011 on her wrist. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is of few words, but possesses a form of telekinesis and has mind control abilities. We see through flashbacks to her in a research facility. This facility, we know is also harboring a Lovecraftian monster with a rift or portal… to where we do not know yet.

Spoilers below.

Stranger Things
Episode 1.2 “Chapter 2: The Weirdo of Maple Street,” 1.3 “Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly,” 1.4 “Chapter 4: The Body”
Written by The Duffer Brothers (1.2), Jessica Mecklenburg (1.3), Justin Doble (1.4)
Directed by The Duffer Brothers (1.2), Shawn Levy (1.3 & 1.4)
Created by The Duffer Brothers
Starring Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, David Harbour, Natalia Dyer, Cara Buono, Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, Charlie Heaton, Matthew Modine, Joe Keery, John Reynolds, Joe Chrest
Netflix
Air date: Friday, July 15, 2016

Stranger Things is the latest binge-worthy effort to hit Netflix, with all 8 episode debuting on July 15th. Check out my review of the first episode here: Chapter 1.

Hitting all the good nostalgia checkmarks, the show lets its audience know who the creators grew up with. Movie posters adorn the kids’ walls showing Jaws, The Thing, Evil Dead, etc. Stranger Things takes place in Hawkins, Indiana in the winter of 1983, where something has escaped from a Department of Energy research facility and a young boy is now missing. At the same time, a strange young girl mysteriously shows up and encounters the boy’s friends who are out desperately searching for him. There are evil government scientists, led by Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) hunting the girl and hiding some giant monster in the facility.

Spoilers below.

Stranger Things
Episode 1.1 “Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers”
Written & Directed by The Duffer Brothers
Created by The Duffer Brothers
Starring Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, David Harbour, Natalia Dyer, Cara Buono, Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder, Charlie Heaton, Matthew Modine, Joe Keery, John Reynolds, Joe Chrest
Netflix
Air date: Friday, July 15, 2016

First off, my Facebook feed is blowing up with rave reviews from friends and critics, and even Stephen King publicly celebrated Netflix’s latest original series, Stranger Things. Before the opening credits even roll, I am totally transfixed, flooded with all the movies it reminds me of already. Goonies, Stand By Me, Explorers, E.T., Stephen King’s IT… the list goes on. In one 8-minute introduction, we know everything we need to know about what is happening and who the characters are.

Spoilers below.