​In a world devastated by acid rain and a nuclear winter, a movie is born to leadoff 80's-90's nostalgia flicks. What I think the makers of Turbo Kid are trying to do is create some 1990s nostalgia with tons of gore to make that good-bad movie. For a while, they were succeeding, I appreciate that Turbo Kid got straight to the point, there wasn't a lot of lolly gagging. Grown men in a bar with their BMX bikes parked out front is funny. When The Kid gives Apple a ride on the pegs of his bicycle, that's classic 90's. I can relate to the bikes, the Viewmaster, and the distractingly bad SNES music. 

But Turbo Kid never does anything. There is no story, there is no apex, and there are no on the edge of your seat action moments. My generation (born circa 1984) seems to love 80s nostalgia movies, maybe they're living vicariously through their older siblings, but I find them mostly lame. And unfortunately Turbo Kid can't survive on nostalgia alone. The gore is absurd and the soundtrack, even while reminding me of playing Super Nintendo, is atrocious.

I glanced at some of the Rotten Tomatoes (89% score) and they talk 80's retro for this movie, but I think it bridges the gap to the 90's as well. Turbo Kid looks retro and is mocking of 80's/90's action movies, so of course condescending critics are going to like it. Chop this movie into a series of it's bike chases and I'm down for 5 minutes of Youtube glory. Otherwise this is bad. C-

The first thing that jumps out to me about Brooklyn is the lack of famous movie stars. This makes for a better movie because the characters don't appear to be acting. The second thing that jumped out to me was how clean the Brooklyn streets were, that's bullshit.  New York City and its surroundings have dirty streets. They are way worse than any other large city in the United States. 

Brooklyn fits into the Mediocre Movie Club's 'Best Actress' theme for Round 4.2. Saoirse Ronan has three vowels in a row in her first name, and did a splendid job playing Eilis in Brooklyn.  Her range of facial expressions and general look made the movie feel like something actually happening, not a movie star portraying an actual person.  The next best character was Julie Walters playing Miss Kehoe, the old cranky-hilarious-honest lady at the boarding house.  Her comedic lines helped lift the spirits of the movie.

I felt for Eilis through her highs, lows, and tough decisions throughout the movie.  Anyone who has left their hometown in spite of a parental guilt trip will love this movie.  Side tangent brought up in our most recent podcast - we need more immigration movies from white characters if we want to expose "middle America" to an immigrant tale to which they can truly relate.  Empathy is hard, but it's important. It's the most important moral quality in a person. Brooklyn helps us all with empathy.  Great show.

A-

​I have no recollection of The Jungle Book books nor the animated movie from the 90s other than Baloo nearly dies. I wish I knew how true to the original this story was compared to the animated version.
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The Jungle Book does a lot of things well. Once you get past the first scene, the CGI is nearly flawless. I’m not sure if my brain needed time to adjust or the CGI legitimately improved, but I was worried for my senses after Mowgli’s first sprint through the jungle. By the end, I hadn’t given the CGI another thought – it was spot on. 

Anti Surveillance! 

My obsession with Drafthouse movies continues with Four Lions. Drafthouse films have a high production quality, but are off the radar enough to rarely be mainstream. Four Lions is a movie about five jihadi terrorists in London and their hijinx. Four Lions is satire to a T. It uses humor to expose contemporary issues.

Comedy is tough to review and even tougher to agree upon, but I think Four Lions has enough humor to entertain most viewers. Its largest obstacles being British-English and how many quick jabs are quite hilarious.