Nerdy Squirrel Reviews by Pasckie Pascua

“A Complete Unknown” (2024, moviehouse) biographical musical drama, directed by James Mangold, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jay Cocks. Based on the 2015 book “Dylan Goes Electric!” by Elijah Wald, the film portrays Bob Dylan through his earliest folk music success until the momentous controversy over his use of electric instruments at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Stars Timothée Chalamet as Bob.          I must say I enjoyed this movie. My utmost motivation for coming out and in a moviehouse after three or 4 years of not avoiding a public theater is this movie. I wanted to see/hear how Mr Chalamet performed all these Dylan songs by himself. And I wasn't disappointed at all though all a singer needs in interpreting Bob's songs is proper phrasing. Timothee nevertheless sang good as is.        The real singer here is Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez. Monica delivered the operatic notes as though those songs were wr...

“Black Crab” (2022, Netflix) Swedish action thriller film directed by Adam Berg , based on the 2002 novel “ Svart Krabba ” by Jerker Virdborg .          Noomi Rapace is Caroline Edh, a speed skater who is conscripted to join a team of soldiers for a dangerous mission to skate across sea ice behind enemy lines. The team is tasked with delivering a secret package to an island research base, which they are told could end the war.         A pacifist journey into the howling Scandinavian winter wind yet the impact is a claustrophobic stab at defeatist nothingness. Meanwhile, the real highlight in this moral tale is the thin ice and the gray surrounding. Jonas Alarik's cinematography cements that dejected terror. Edh is all dead end terror herself. Noomi Rapace channeled her like a cat's blank stare. 🎥💻📽 “Carry-On” (2024, Netflix) action thriller about a young TSA officer who's blackmailed into letting a ne...

“The Long Riders” ( 1980 , Tubi) b iographical Western directed by Walter Hill with original soundtrack by Ry Cooder . The film is notable for having cast four sets of actual brothers to play the four sets of brothers in the James–Younger Gang .        The brothers Keach, James Keach as Jesse James and Stacy Keach as Frank James . The Carradines : David as Cole Younger , Keith as Jim Younger , and Robert Carradine as Bob Younger . The Quaids, Dennis Quaid as Ed Miller and Randy Quaid as Clell Miller . And the Guest siblings: Christopher Guest as Charley Ford and Nicholas Guest as Robert Ford .        I am sure if you are as old as I am, you have already seen dozens of movies about the James–Younger Gang. The 19th-century gang of American outlaws that revolved around Jesse James and his brother Frank James . The gang was based in the state of Missouri , the home of most of the members.   ...

"Lioness" (Paramount+) 2 Seasons, spy thriller created by Taylor Sheridan , currently the genre's golden boy. The series follows Joe, a clandestine intelligence officer in charge of the Lioness program, as she navigates family life and her high-risk professional calling. The Lioness enlists female operatives as significant combatants and military tacticians for CIA operations.         Aside from Joe, Sergeant First Class Cruz Manuelos ( Laysla De Oliveira ), a former Force Recon Marine who turned Delta Force operator after the events of season 1. And Captain Josephina Carrillo ( Genesis Rodriguez ), a US Army Apache pilot recruited into the program due to her family connection to the Mexican cartel that kidnapped an American Congresswoman. Cruz is assigned as shadow Josephina in Season 2. The star of the show, however, is the Lioness team's kickass edge of your seat bang-banger engagements out in the field.       ...

“Take Shelter” (2011, Netflix), psychological thriller , written and directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain . A young husband and father who is plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, and questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself and his increasing worries over having paranoid schizophrenia .        The movie presents a severe mental health condition in a language that is more accessible to average understanding. No wild mischiefs or overblown hysterics. And thank God, no deaths! It is all about Michael Shannon's subtly powerful performance.         Paranoid schizophrenia: Delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking and behavior, and social isolation. Complex to spot due to current sociocultural realities. 🎥👍📽 “Gone in the Night” (2022, Hulu) thriller film, starring Winona Ryder . Story starts: Kath and her slacker boyfriend Ma...

“City of God: The Fight Rages On” (Max) Brazilian crime series, based on the novel by Paulo Lins, and a follow-up to the 2002 film “ City of God ” by Fernando Meirelles. Takes place twenty years after the events of the original film, with Wilson "Rocket" Rodrigues recounting how conflicts between the police, drug dealers and militias affected the community.        I did enjoy this series. Fast-paced, no-frills bravado. Superbly acted, never mind the melodramatic backstories. The movie as a visual art is unrelenting, powerful, and sublime. A fitting TV series sequel to Mr Meirelles’ 2002 film masterpiece.        Two decades hence, Rocket achieves his dreams of becoming a photojournalist . He returns to the favela to document the disputes between drug dealers, police, militiamen, and politicians and how the events impact the lives of its residents.         Nothing much has actually ta...

“A Man on the Inside” (Netflix) comedy, based on Maite Alberdi 's 2020 documentary “ The Mole Agent .” The docu, which was nominated at the 93rd (2021) Academy Awards for Best Documentary Featur e, was about a private investigator who hired an elderly man to go undercover in a nursing home in El Monte, Chil e to investigate alleged mistreatments committed by the staff.        “A Man…” is set in a San Francisco nursing home, Pacific View Retirement Community. Ted Danson is Charles, a widower and retired engineering college professor who takes a job as an investigative assistant for a private detective to go undercover.        The plot doesn't really move me but this is a fine exhale respite from my usual watchlist of political thrillers and police procedurals. And Mr Danson carries the show all throughout, avoiding the melodrama to slip to mawkish sappiness and silly, comedic yarns.      ...

“Platoon” (1986, Tubi) written and directed by Oliver Stone . Willem Dafoe was good, Tom Berenger was bad, and Charlie Sheen before he turned ugly. Johnny Depp was here, too, but more like a bit role or cameo.        The film, based on Mr Stone's experience from the war, follows a new U.S. Army volunteer (Mr Sheen) serving in Vietnam while his Platoon Sergeant and his Squad Leader (Mr Berenger and Mr Dafoe) argue over the morality in the platoon and of the war itself. Oliver wrote the screenplay based upon his experiences as a U.S. infantryman in Vietnam , to counter the vision of the war portrayed in John Wayne 's “ The Green Berets .”        That time, we were used to watching U.S. soldiers as mostly heroic saviors of the universe. This movie shattered that overblown myth. Yet Oliver Stone wasn't finished piercing America's military ego. He followed this up with 1989's “Born on the Fourth of July” and 199...