Joe George

Greensboro

He/Him. 🍅-approved critic Book: The Superpowers and the Glory Co-Host: @goodbadmoviesho Substack: JoeWritesWords Website: JoeWritesWords

Articles

Sinners and the Power of Cinema for Good or Evil

4 days ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

“There are legends of people born with the gift of making music so true, it can pierce the veil between life and death, conjuring spirits from the past and the future.” So declares the opening narration of Ryan Coogler‘s triumphant blockbuster Sinners. “This gift can bring healing to their communities, but it also attracts evil.”The narration establishes the rules of Sinners‘ world, in which vampires lay siege upon a juke joint in 1932 Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Jaws and a Mayor Who Has Been Misunderstood for 50 Years

4 days ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

On a lovely day on a lovely beach on Amity Island, Mayor Larry Vaughn stands in front of the cameras to kick off the Fourth of July festivities. Just days ago, a woman was killed by a shark off the coast of the tourist spot, making many consider avoiding the sandy beaches this year. But Vaughn assures his viewers that everything is fine.
Joe Don Baker’s Great James Bond Sidekick Represents a Simpler Time for 007

1 week ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond is on a mission. He has no time for games. So when his contact in St. Petersburg fails to complete a secret passphrase, Bond’s suspicions are up. 007 follows the man to a car and as soon as the man lets down his guard, Bond springs into action. Bond steals the stranger’s gun and points it at his face, demanding that the phrase be completed.
Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning: Shea Whigham's Character Is a Missed Opportunity

1 week ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

This article contains spoilers for Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning. “Good evening, Jim. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is…” Long before Tom Cruise became a Hollywood icon, these words would open many episodes of the television series Mission: Impossible. They were addressed to Jim Phelps, one of the show’s two main protagonists, alongside Steven Hill as Dan Briggs, who would receive his orders and gather a crack team to do the impossible.
Mission: Impossible Villians, Ranked

1 week ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

The Mission: Impossible franchise is built on intense Tom Cruise stares, convoluted plot twists and reveals, and incredible stunts. It is not, however, built on compelling stories. Most of the Mission movies are about rogue agents and ill-defined MacGuffins, a repetition that would be annoying if anyone cared about the plots. However, lack of plot clarity does not equate to lack of tension.
Marvel's Avengers Release Date Shift Is a Smart Move

2 weeks ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

Two months ago, Marvel announced the cast for the highly-anticipate Avengers: Doomsday in a, let’s call it “unique,” manner. On social media, the studio streamed video of cast chairs with a particular actor’s name on it. The camera would hold for twelve minutes or so, and then Alan Silvestri’s Avengers theme would play and the camera would pan to the right for the next reveal. Odd as it was, the gamble mostly worked, as we nerds spend all day talking about the names on the internet.
Fear Street: Prom Queen Improves Netflix’s YA Horror Series

2 weeks ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

This article contains spoilers for Fear Street: Prom QueenRight before the first kill of Fear Street: Prom Queen, viewers get a montage of sounds and images appropriate to the movie’s 1988 setting. Accompanied by Billy Idol’s “White Wedding,” we see mean girl Tiffany Falconer (Fina Strazza) prepping for prom, cool girl Christy Renault (Ariana Greenblatt) buying drugs, and protagonist Lori Granger (India Fowler) trying on her dress.
Fear Street: Prom Queen Director Sees Franchise as the Next Halloween

2 weeks ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

Anyone who has seen the first three movies in theFear Street series knows that they’re indebted to horror of the past. Fear Street: 1994 borrowed from Scream‘s self-awareness. Fear Street: 1978 had a masked killer stalking a campground, just like Friday the 13th: Part II. The folk horror films from the 1960s and ’70s provided a model for Fear Street: 1666. Fear Street: Prom Queen breaks from the original trilogy though by telling a standalone story.
Neal McDonough on Playing Tough Guys in The Last Rodeo, Star Trek, and Captain America

2 weeks ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

To hear him tell it, veteran character actor Neal McDonough shocked his writing partners when he showed them the initial draft for his latest movie, The Last Rodeo. Where did this come from? his friends would ask. You write about Lee Marvin and tough guys. Those are your heroes! As much as it surprised the folks he knew, The Last Rodeo will feel quite familiar to anyone who knows McDonough from his many supporting roles.
New Jurassic World Rebirth Trailer Features Star Wars-Inspired Mutant Dino

2 weeks ago | denofgeek.com | Joe George

The upcoming movie Jurassic World Rebirth knows that we’ve seen it all before. As the seventh entry in a franchise that stretches back more than 30 years, the film makes no apologies for its place in cinema history. Like the first trailer released months ago, the newest Rebirth teaser features plenty of call-backs to the Steven Spielberg movie and the Michael Crichton book that inspired it, including waving red flares and a raft scene excised from Spielberg’s 1993 adaptation of Jurassic Park.