Beastie Boys Story (2020)

Full disclosure: I’ve been a Beastie Boys fan all my life. For a long time they were my favorite band. I’ve seen them live multiple times and listen to their stuff as much now as I did back then. So yeah, I was pumped for this.

Pumped and completely biased, as I believe all critics and journalists should be. Oh, you don’t like your human journalists to have opinions and biases that trickle into their work? That’s too bad, go get your news from a ferret then.

Back to the movie. It’s an absolute thrill listening to Mike and Adam regale a live audience, and us viewers by extension, with stories from their youth; casually name dropping dope ass punk bands they saw in their early teens like Bad Brains, Misfits, and Circle Jerks. Why didn’t I get to grow up in New York City mom? WHY?!?!

The documentary plays in real time, and was filmed on the last night of their Broadway show. Mike and Adam talk to the audience and then Spike Jonze rolls video clips. Did you know Beastie Boys opened for Madonna on her very first tour? Neither did I. There’s some mind blowing stuff in this thing.

They were just some dumb kids who stumbled into fame and went with it. They made mistakes along the way and learned from them. It's a fun two hour ride. I had a smile on my face the whole time. If you are a fan of the B-Boys, you will too.

Rating: B

The Purge: Anarchy (2014)

Don’t watch with your mom. This is some violent stuff. On par with the first Purge.

Rating: C

Assassin's Creed (2016)

A mental time-traveling action flick that’s facilitated by a complicated virtual reality machine. The plot is far too complicated and convoluted to be contained within the confines of a 2 hour movie. The execution was clunky and heavy handed. Also, this all takes place in Plot Hole City.

Rating: F+

Inherent Vice (2014)

A confusing fruit salad of characters who meander and mumble their way through a plot that never quite delivers coherency. And believe me, it pains me to say that, because I’m a huge Paul Thomas Anderson fan. But this effort is a stark turn in the wrong direction.

Rating: D

Kill The Messenger (2014)

Heavy drama based on the story of the CIAs involvement with the drug trade and Nicaraguan Contras. Renner does a fine job as usual. It’s a satisfactory project, but nothing that will get your heart pumping.

Rating: C

12 Years A Slave (2013)

No surprise this was difficult to watch. Very well acted and directed. Not something I could view more than once, but definitely to be seen once.

Rating: B

Robocop (2014)

A fairly entertaining remake, which I have vague memories of seeing it as a kid. Nice job casting the guy from The Killing in a lead role.

Rating: C

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

A well crafted film for Ben's first directorial effort. Part thought-provoking, part thriller. I don't see myself running out to see it again, but it's a decent rental.

Rating: C

Snitch (2013)

There is no way any significant portion of this film could be “inspired by real events”. The way things unraveled, there is only one believable ending: everyone near and dear to this family gets slaughtered by the cartel as payback. Witness protection you say? Are they going to put his entire extended family into witsec? It’s a bit of dramatized fun, but nobody’s buying it.

Rating: C

The Road (2009)

I love love love post apocalyptic films. Unfortunately, most of them are crap. This one is good, but quite dreary. I think I'd rather have the earth covered by zombies than the gray world depicted here. It held my attention, but at a price.

Rating: C