Matt Shiverdecker, Author at MendoWerks

‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ is Filled With Candy-Colored Carnage (Review)

13Aug

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Reviews

‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ is Filled With Candy-Colored Carnage (Review)

Director Navot Papushado made a splash at genre festivals worldwide when he co-directed his first movie "Rabies" in 2010, which was pushed as the "first feature-length Israeli horror film." His third feature also marks his English-language debut and he rounded up an incredible cast of kick-ass women for an ultraviolent tale of revenge. "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Jumanji" star Karen Gillan takes the lead as Sam, a top-notch assassin who has followed in her mother's footsteps. She works for "The Firm" (led by a wonderfully grumpy Paul Giamatti) and is hired to kill a man who has stolen from them. Shortly after shooting him in the stomach, she discovers he has an 8-year-old daughter named Emily who has been kidnapped (hence, the stolen goods to get her back). This gives Sam a ...

Young Poets Shine in “Summertime” (Review)

9Jul

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Art, Film, Reviews

Young Poets Shine in “Summertime” (Review)

In the spring of 2019, Carlos López Estrada ("Blindspotting") attended a poetry showcase hosted by a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization called Get Lit: Words Ignite. He was so inspired by the young poets who performed that he rounded up all of them and worked with some of his closest filmmaking friends to put to a project together that would incorporate their words into a functional feature film to serve as a love letter to the city. The end result effortlessly manages to merge spoken word poetry with occasionally bombastic musical numbers featuring a host of intersecting characters into a cohesive timeline over the course of one summer day. I can't say enough good things about these performances, all from high school poets who were not professional actors. You would nev...

Take a Wild “First Date” This Holiday Weekend (Review)

2Jul

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Reviews

Take a Wild “First Date” This Holiday Weekend (Review)

A debut film can often act as a calling card in the industry. Even if it doesn't find a huge audience, the right buzz can earn enough of a following to become a cult classic and lay the groundwork for bigger things. That, in a nutshell, is exactly what I anticipate will happen for Manuel Crosby and Darren Knapp, who wrote and directed "First Date," an incredibly fun and totally bonkers movie that premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. https://youtu.be/EDNarSyQEcc Tyson Brown plays Mike, a shy high-schooler who has had a crush on a girl at school named Kelsey (Shelby Duclos) for a long time and finally decides to work up the nerve to ask her out. The only problem? He doesn't have a car. All he needs to do is get a decent ride and pick her up for a date. If it...

Questlove Takes Us Back to the “Summer Of Soul” (Review)

29Jun

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Music, Reviews

Questlove Takes Us Back to the “Summer Of Soul” (Review)

Winner of the U.S. Documentary Competition's Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at this year's Sundance Film Festival, "Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)" is the filmmaking debut from Roots drummer extraordinaire Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and one of the year's most exhilarating films. https://youtu.be/k99XO-UE5AQ In the summer of 1969, over 400,000 attended the Woodstock festival in New York State. That event is well documented in every respect, with a legendary film, album releases, and books to dissect every aspect of the cultural revolution. But that same summer, a series of music concerts were held in Mount Morris Park in Harlem, New York, that became known as "Black Woodstock." The Harlem Cultural Festival occurred every Sunday from late Ju...

25Jun

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Reviews

Tribeca 2021: “Wolfgang” (Review)

The launch of Spago in 1982 put Wolfgang Puck on the map and, next to perhaps only Julia Child a few decades prior, he became one of the first celebrity chefs to fully integrate into popular culture. His life from growing up in an abusive household in Austria to the commercialization of "California Cuisine" is the subject of this new documentary from David Gelb ("Jiro Dreams of Sushi"). Still hard at work at the age of 71, Puck's story is inspirational and aspirational. This may explain how the movie was picked up by Disney. It really tells the story of a person who fought against the odds and was consistently told they couldn't make it, but kept fighting for something he was passionate about. It paid off in spades. The man has two Michelin stars, over 20 fine dining restaurant...

Tribeca 2021: “Werewolves Within” (Review)

22Jun

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Reviews

Tribeca 2021: “Werewolves Within” (Review)

It takes a very careful balance to create a successful horror comedy film. If you want to expand beyond genre lovers, you need a strong cast of characters and a way to still have some impactful scares and enough laughter to lighten the mood along the way. Mishna Wolff (with her first screenplay) and director Josh Ruben have very loosely adapted a multiplayer Ubisoft VR game from 2016 where a town is being attacked by a werewolf and the players have to figure out if one of their own is the culprit. The residents of Beaverfield are a motley crew and they don't seem to get along too well. A proposed gas pipeline coming through town is only dividing them further. Enter Finn (Sam Richardson, "Veep," "Detroiters") - a forest ranger who is brand new to the community. He is a genuinel...

Edgar Wright’s Fandom Pays Off in “The Sparks Brothers” (Review)

18Jun

By Matt ShiverdeckerNo Comments

Film, Music, Reviews

Edgar Wright’s Fandom Pays Off in “The Sparks Brothers” (Review)

First things first: you don't need to be familiar with the band Sparks to have a great time with Edgar Wright's fantastic new documentary. Before watching it, the extent of my musical knowledge about them came from enjoying their 1983 single "Cool Places," a duet with Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's. Hell, I didn't even know they were brothers or from America. https://youtu.be/WNKIba_yZJo Ron and Russell Mael have been making music together since the late 1960s and have bounced around to so many different record labels over the decades, but never found much chart success here in the U.S. They have been decidedly more successful in Europe, although still experienced a wide range of highs and lows when it has come to critical reception and sales. British filmmaker Edgar Wright (...