Meanderings #306: "The Little Mermaid" and Big Complications

Millions were captivated a few years ago when a group of Reddit users managed to push GameStop stock to incredible levels, making millions for themselves and taking billions from some hedge funds.  As a movie, "Dumb Money" purports to give an inside look at what happened and who was involved.  The reality of the work, however, is something rather different.

Gareth Edwards "The Creator" is now out on blu-ray and it's a swell movie, one with a great lead performance and some excellent visuals.  It is truly smart in the way a lot of it is put together.  It doesn't make a difference, we're still going to create AI that kills us all.

Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" is a brilliant movie.  It is a movie that we love.  It is a movie filled with excellence.  It also has this one thing about it that we simply do not understand, and we've tried.  We have really and truly tried.  Take a listen and tell us if we're viewing it wrong.

With the third entry in Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot series, "A Haunting in Venice," the director and star of the franchise has put out his best effort.  Slimmed down, darker, and oh so moody, it is the work of someone who is clearly feeling more comfortable with the role(s).  Let's discuss...

The newest entries for both the "Mission:  Impossible" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" franchises are both available on blu-ray and digital now.  With one of these ongoing series we see a reinvention and desire to put new things out there.  With the other... maybe not.  Let's discuss where one succeeds and the other falters.

Happy Halloween to you!  What better day than this is there to discuss Disney's 2023 live action "Haunted Mansion."  None.  There isn't a better one, so let's jump right in.

"Strays" is one of those movies where you're going to know well in advance if you're going to enjoy it.  All you have to do is ask yourself one question:  do you want to see dogs get high and tell sex jokes?  If the answer is yes, "Strays" is the movie for you.  If not... it's best you steer clear.

There is a great idea at the core of "Theater Camp," a clever notion that gets muddled with too many storylines and a lack of depth to the characters.  It is a case where more is less and where the whole may have benefited from trimming one area in order to extend another.  It is not bad, it just isn't what it so very clearly could be.

So many horror movies offer up people in crisis as the victims.  No, not all horror movies, just many.  On today's episodes we look at one movie from this year, "The Boogeyman," that does just that and cogitate the reasons why the trope works.

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," the fifth entry in the franchise, is now out on digital.  The big question with this film, at least the one asked by audiences, seems to be "is it better than the last one?"  That is the exact thing we're examining today and what we have to say about it all is... rather disappointing.