Highly Suspect Reviews One Of Us - Everything

POOLMAN MOVIE REVIEW

The Screener Squad has gathered in the One Of Us City Hall to go to the very bottom of the weekly agenda and discover that they have a review collecting dust and algae. Poolman is a “comedy” mystery film starring, produced by, written by ,and directed by one of our many cinematic Chrises, Chris Pine, in his debut in the director’s chair. There are several other famous faces in here that one might speculate showed up in this vanity project because Pine really is the most likable of the Chrises, and they all decided to do him a solid and be in this supposed film. This has earned quite a mixed bag of reactions from critics — and by mixed, we mean a mixed bag of “Bad”, “Awful”, “What is this?” The thing of most note is how many critics walked out of the premiere of Poolman at the 2023 Toronto Film Fest. Pine portrays Darren Barrenman, a pool cleaner residing in a Los Angeles apartment complex owned by parental figures Jack (Danny DeVito) and Diane (Annette Bening). Darren is a vocal advocate, reminiscent of Erin Brockovich, constantly advocating for local improvements, much to the chagrin of Counselor Stephen Toronkowski (Stephen Tobolowsky). Enter femme fatale June Del Rey (DeWanda Wise), who unveils a real estate and water scheme akin to “Chinatown,” implicating Toronkowski and prompting Darren to employ his amateur detective skills. With the help of his diverse group of friends and neighbors, Darren embarks on a mission to expose Toronkowski’s wrongdoing. And while critics, on the whole, have been less than enthusiastic, what’s the Squad’s take? T.C. and Dogget do their best to get through the agenda and not drown in their like of Pine and dislike of this movie.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Chris Pine

STARRING: Chris Pine, Annette Bening, DeWanda Wise, Stephen Tobolowsky, Clancy Brown, John Ortiz, Ray Wise, Juliet Mills, Ariana DeBose, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Danny De Vito

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)

T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.

 

 

Danny Dogget (Screener Squad)

Hey persons, it’s your favorite canine Dogget! As many of you know, I don’t identify as a critic as much as a classy shock jock. That being said, I do my best to give all of you a well-balanced review filled with my true opinions and hopefully a few laughs. You can occasionally find me on other persons podcast like Mission Impodible (that’ll be 10 dollars Nathan). For the most part, you can find me doing reviews on Oneofus.net.

 

 

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes,

STAR TREK DISCOVERY – SEASON 5 REVIEW

These are the voyages of the starship Discovery. Its five-season mission: to set-up spin-off shows; to seek out new fans and new demographics, to boldly go where no Trek series has gone before: the streaming era! While some may prefer the episodic format of Strange New Worlds, the goofy meta-comedy of Lower Decks, or the nostalgia-fest that was Picard Season 3, the truth is that none of those shows would exist were it not for Discovery. The first new Trek show in over a decade, Discovery proved that the franchise could survive both its return to to the small screen, as well as J.J. Abrams. Discovery‘s fifth and final season kicks off with Captain Michael Burnham racing to find a literal mystery box — OK, maybe we haven’t completely shaken J.J.’s influence, yet — which provides the first of many clues leading to an advanced technology belonging to the Progenitors, an extinct race of beings who are the genetic ancestors of virtually all humanoid lifeforms in the universe. That’s right, the Disco crew is off to meet their literal makers. Like the Genesis Device before it, the Progenitor’s tech has the potential to destroy life, as well as to create it. Naturally, there are other parties looking for it, including the warlike Breen Confederacy, and a pair of renegade, star-crossed lovers who have their own motives for getting to the tech first. As usual, Discovery relies on an overly large cast to tell its story. Fortunately, it only took three nerds to record a spoiler-filled One of Us review. Listen to T.C., Jordan, and Marco as they discuss the myriad issues they’ve had with Discovery, while still giving it the respect it deserves for bringing Star Trek back into our living rooms every week.

WATCH HERE

CREATED BY: Bryan Fuller, Michelle Paradise, and Alex Kurtzman

STARRING: Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, Blu de Barrio, Callum Keith Rennie, David Ajala, Tig Notaro, Oded Fehr, David Cronenberg, Annabelle Wallis, Tara Rosling, Eve Harlow, Elias Toufexis, Chelah Horsdal, Ian Alexander, Hannah Cheesman, Rachael Ancheril

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)

T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.

 

 

Jordan Cobb (Screener Squad)

Born with a comic book in one hand, a camera in the other, and in front of the television as WrestleMania played out, Jordan Worth Cobb was thus birthed into this crazy world. A Digital Filmmaking major from the University of Central Arkansas, Jordan has done it all in film from directing, writing, editing, and producing in addition to skills involved in film and TV criticism, journalism, and years of podcasting experience.

THE WATCHERS MOVIE REVIEW

Nepotism is alive and well with Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M.Night Shyamalan, in her first feature film, The Watchers. Based on the book by A.M. Shine, the story follows grief stricken Mina, played by Dakota Fanning, as she wastes her days in a pet shop job that she doesn’t care about all the way in Galway, Ireland. As she dodges calls from her twin sister to work through their grief, Mina finds herself on a delivery job that takes her halfway around the country. While lost in a forest, she encounters strange noises and vibes and runs into Madeline, (Olwen Fouéré). Madeline commands her to follow her into the “Coop” before sundown where Mina meets her new roommates: Ciara (Georgina Campbell), and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan). They immediately stress to Mina that they need to stand at attention for the Watchers. They don’t know who or what they are, but they know they can’t leave the safe haven in fear of death. Shyamalan’s approach to this bottleneck horror/thriller is competent enough but doesn’t excite or thrill in all the right places. Listen as Wright, Kim, and Eric discuss the film and if it made them either want to watch The Watchers or just fly the coop.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Ishana Night Shyamalan

STARRING: Dakota Fanning. Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, Olwen Fouéré, Alistair Brammer

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Wright Sulek (Screener Squad, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Trash in the Can, Audio Editor)

Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox.

 

 

Eric Samaniego (Trash in the Can, Highly Suspect Reviews)

Eric is a multi-award show watching, sometimes comedian, sometimes writer that began life as a Muppet and 1930’s screwball comedy obsessed goon and continues to carry a torch for all things felt and funny. With a passion for genre films, poor taste, and whiskey, he and co-conspirator, Wright Sulek, indulge in the best/worst films the world has to offer with One of Us’s podcast, ‘Trash in the Can’. When not podding, Eric works as an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797.

 

 

Kimberly Brown (Highly Suspect Reviews)

Kimberly wants to live in a world filled with blue telephone boxes, speedsters, and ice dragons but through an ironic twist of fate, she’s stuck in this reality where these wondrous things only exist on page or film. Kim’s perpetual desire to consume sci-fi and fantasy media as a teen led her to the study of illustration/design at university to better understand its creation. Currently an Austin transplant, when she’s not wearing her critic hat you can find her pretending to like hiking, fielding questions about her hair or maybe even enjoying a local brew at the nearest dive bar.

 

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: http://oneof...

HIT MAN MOVIE REVIEW

Director Richard Linklater is a director who pretty much always turns out a good film, even if it’s not terribly populist entertainment. Hit Man certainly isn’t for the kids, but it’s surprising that Netflix buried its theatrical run considering how endearing the film really is, not to mention the star vehicle that Glen Powell has been waiting for. He plays Gary Johnson, a nerdy philosophy teacher who moonlights on the side for the police as a tech guy. When their lead undercover operative who does their stings gets suspended, Gary is asked to fill in, playing the part of a prospective hit man interviewing a ‘client’ looking to kill someone. Turns out, he takes to the role with aplomb, researching each new ‘client’ and becoming the hit man caricature he thinks they would expect. When he makes a decision to let one young woman (Adria Arjona) off the hook, convincing her to seek help rather than to kill her abusive husband, it eventually leads to them meeting again, falling hard for each other…only he still has to pretend to be the cool as ice hit man. And things get more complicated from there. Chris, Alan, and Mike really dug the heck out of this new film and since you probably can’t see it at a theater with an appreciative audience the way the film deserves, at least check it out on Netflix.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Richard Linklater

STARRING: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, Sanjay Rao, Evan Holtzman, Molly Bernard

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Nathan Flynn (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)

A recent transplant to Austin originally hailing from the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is the Midwest, Nathan Flynn has been a movie super freak since he saw “An American Werewolf in London” way too young and grew up worshipping the James Bond franchise and all things related to Cold War-era spycraft. When he’s not watching movies and being a constant defender of the T...

BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE MOVIE REVIEW

The bad boys return for this fourth movie (shouldn’t they have saved “for life” for this one) from the same director/writers as the previous entry. This time, Mike (Will Smith) is tying the knot with the beautiful Christine (Melanie Liburd) and it’s a lovely wedding except that Marcus (Martin Lawrence) has cardiac arrest and dies. Now, if that was more permanent we probably would have enjoyed this film more, but no. After a brief ‘it’s not your time yet’ meet with heavenly dead captain Joey Pants, Marcus comes back certain that nothing (yet) can kill him. Meanwhile, Mike is having hesitation problems due to panic attacks. So, the roles are switched, ya see? Sigh. Oh, yeah, there’s a plot too. Baddies make it look like their old captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) was dirty and then that Mike and Marcus were dirty as well, so they gotta be on the run along with Mike’s son (who was one of the bad guys in the last film) to prove their innocence and stop the baddies before they get to their families. There’s a lot of stuff going on in this entry and most of it is REALLY dumb, so let’s hope you enjoy the mugging of Martin Lawrence more that Chris does if you see this film. Chris’s fervent disappointment is only countered by the slightly less cynical thoughts of Wright, and then there’s Alan and Nathan who I guess sorta dug it? No accounting for taste.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE/TRAILER

DIRECTED BY: Adil & Bilall

STARRING: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núñez, Eric Dane, Ioan Gruffudd, Jacob Scipio, Melanie Liburd, Tasha Smith, Tiffany Haddish, Joe Pantoliano, John Salley, DJ Khaled, Rhea Seehorn, Dennis Greene, Joyner Lucas, Quinn Hemphill, Lionel Messi

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss)

Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others). You can also check out Chris in his videocast, along with Martin Thomas and Danni Danger, that One Of Us does with our friends at Bell of Lost Souls: Crossover Event. He also regularly guests on the video game website Rage Select. Follow Chris on Twitter and Facebook and check out his Amazon Wish List.

 

 

Nathan Flynn (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES SERIES REVIEW

This new Netflix series is based on the Neil Gaiman/Matt Wagner comic books, which are themselves spin-offs of The Sandman (and some cameo casting establishes that the same is true of the show). Dead Boy Detectives is the story of Edwin and Charles, two youths cut dead in their prime, stuck between worlds, and their only motivation in (after) life is to solve mysteries for other ghosts. They’re joined by Crystal, who can speak to the dead but has lost all her memories after a demon possession and the demon wants her back. The show plays like a “Monster of the week” while being geared towards young adults/teens. Though at first glance… most of the “teenagers” cast for this show probably are not on their parent’s insurance policies anymore… Besides a few fumbles, the show does a very good job of staying scary for a younger audience. Check out what Lewayne, Dogget, and Chad have to say about Dead Boy Detectives.

WATCH HERE

CREATED BY: Neil Gaiman, Matt Wagner, and Steve Yockey

STARRING: George Rexstrew, Jayden Revri, Kassius Nelson, Briana Cuoco, Ruth Connell, Yuyu Kitamura, Jenn Lyon, David Iacono, Lukas Gage, Michael Beach, Joshua Colley, Max Jenkins, Caitlin Reilly, Lindsey Gort, Sherri Saum, Gabriel Drake, John Brotherton, Tamlyn Tomita, Donna Preston, Kirby Howell-Baptiste

 

YOUR REVIEWERS

 

Chad Halvorsen (Screener Squad)

Chad Halvorsen currently resides in Milwaukee, WI, where he produces and edits commercials, films, and everything in between. He was always a fan of film/television growing up, spending days in the Summer, making (terrible) home movies with his brothers. Little did he know that passion would carry on into adulthood. Since 2006, Chad has worked for several agencies in various departments. Shooting, producing, editing, production management, directing, and when forced to, writing copy. In 2015, Chad decided to take the big leap and become a freelancer. Since then, he’s produced content for Lyft, AT&T, Target, and Discovery Network. His passion lies in entertaining people, making them feel better, even for a moment. All the pain and suffering of this business is worth it, if even just one person views his work. Chad is a frequent podcaster, most notably posing as a co-host for the podcast “The Film Illogical Society.”

 

 

Danny Dogget (Screener Squad)

Hey persons, it’s your favorite canine Dogget! As many of you know, I don’t identify as a critic as much as a classy shock jock. That being said, I do my best to give all of you a well-balanced review filled with my true opinions and hopefully a few laughs. You can occasionally find me on other persons podcast like Mission Impodible (that’ll be 10 dollars Nathan). For the most part, you can find me doing reviews on Oneofus.net.

 

 

 

Lewayne White (Screener Squad)

Lewayne’s earliest memories are of watching movies and reading comics, which instilled in him a sense of wonder, a vivid imagination, and unrealistic expectations. It also means he spends a lot of time watching movies, writing scripts for them, and trying to get them made. He lives in the middle of middle America after landing there as a child, and has remained there mainly because he hates packing.

 

 

 

You can subscribe to the Highly Suspect Reviews and Screener Squad series of podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, and more, or use our RSS feed on whatever podcast service you use: http://oneofus.net/feed/theatrical-movie-review-podcast/ and please leave us a review!