Author Archives: casewright

On Strike for Christmas (Dir Robert Iscove), Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

On Strike for Christmas was fun because I got to live tweet it with Lisa and that’s always a blast. The story is straight forward- Joy (Daphne Zuniga), a SAHM, is fed up with being unappreciated for her hard work in prepping for Christmas; so, she goes full-commie and strikes/organizes the other moms to fall into the perils of communism by unionizing the moms to stop all Christmas prep! Honestly, I could’ve reviewed this film for Horrorthon based upon the Marxist plot line!

I want to stay as positive as I can because it’s Christmastime but the film took a WEIRD left turn! First, the grandmother, the mom, the dad, AND the two sons were really close in age; so, you had serious teen mom vibe. Second, it was obvious that ALL of the actors had the hots for each other! It was like infamous Folgers ad (see below ).

If you are unfamiliar with the Folgers ad above, the plot is that a brother returns from Africa and the actors couldn’t help but show their attraction for one another. The same distracting event happened in this film too and not just once or twice – no no no – the sexual tension in this film was like Madmen season 1 levels and in nearly every scene.

There was one scene where the mom dressed up and the son gushed on how hot she was and it was very uncomfortable. I swear, find someone who looks at you like these actors looked at each other!!!

There were some funny parts to the film; such as, the obligatory trope that the boys and dad tried to make cookies and it’s a disaster. However, it really felt like the family had a lot of problems before this because the mom proceeded to not only go on strike, but to talk to journalists about all of her family were just POSs. I mean really if you’re already at the point where you feel comfortable going to the press about what garbage people your husband is and your son’s, the marriage is already over. And in her case, it certainly was awkward at Valentine’s Day when her dad and sons/boyfriends gave her chocolate all at the same time!!! I can only imagine what the hallmark card would look like!!!

Lisa noticed that the mom wasn’t just going on strike herself, but she proceeded to break up every family in the town. Joy needs to be stopped! I mean, it’s bad enough that she’s led all these poor people down the path of socialism and communism, which is just painful for me, but she’s also splitting up all these families!

Maybe that’s what happened in Russia? It was all just a big kerfuffle over cookies and icing and the next thing you know – nukes are pointed right at the good old US of A!!!

It should be noted that eventually the strike does end and the families try to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. I think that was very insensitive of Joy because she always had her son/boyfriend’s number to fall back on during those cold winter nights!!!

“Christmas Caper”, Review by Case Wright (Dir. David Winkler, Writers: April Blair & Brian Gunn)

Posted on by casewright

I watched Christmas Caper with Lisa and, as always, it was a wonderful time. It’s weird to have a friend who is way cooler than you, but I’ll take it! “Christmas Caper” had some great lines and a clear story arc, but was what really stands is its similarity to “Dazed and Confused” in this way: it was a springboard for many careers attached to it. April Blair, the writer, went on to write for… everything and the actors all had bright careers for decades. I’m used to Hallmark, which is A LOT more strict. I was in talks to have script made for Hallmark, but it was funny and had Mrs. Claus as the heroine and they just couldn’t wrap their heads around a female lead like that. Here, we have Cate Dove (Shannen Doherty), a gentlewoman thief, who is the heroine- Hallmark would say – BLASPHEMY!!!! Needless to say, I was primed to enjoy this movie.

The film opens with Cate and Clive (Conrad Coates) who are doing a “Mission Impossible” style heist at a home that has A LOT of security. For a plot device, both Cate and Clive remove their masks for the security cameras. (Note: To the homeowner, maybe you should move? I get that you have this fancy pants gem in your house and the schools are a 10/10 on “SchoolDigger,” but if you have this many problems with crime, have you considered another neighborhood or starting a neighborhood watch? I understand it’s hard to move, but I had to pull the trigger on that and leave my beloved Seattle. It’s ok bro, let’s hug it out and call Remax.) They steal a precious gem, but Clive runs off with the gem, leaving Cate to escape as best she can, but there’s a APB out for her with a picture of her everywhere.

Cate flees to NYC to go to her fence Duffy (Michael Northey) to figure out her next move. The inciting incident is that Cate has a goody too shoes sister Savannah (Sonya Salomaa) who is trapped in the Caribbean with her husband Brian and they need child care. Cate is Savannah’s last choice because she’s a degenerate, but Cate decides to watch her niece and nephew because she needs to lay low. Cate goes to Comfort, USA and watches the kids. She rekindles a relationship with her ex who is Sheriff Harrison (Ty Olsson). The mixture of family time, romance, and Christmas puts her on a good character arc.

However, when she tries to get the gem back from Clive, she involves her niece and nephew. I didn’t really that for stranger danger issues, but it added some good comic relief and key plot point. When Cate thinks she has no money to escape and avoid arrest, she steals everyone’s Christmas presents like the Grinch, BUT her heart grows three sizes that day and she returns them all – sort of.

The movie has a nice ending and I liked the act breaks a lot. The movie had clear plot points and that makes sense because the writer, April Blair, had a HUGE career writing for television. I absolutely recommend watching this film on Tubi. It really is a lot of fun!

The Killing Joke, Book Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

This was a hard book to review. I had avoided reading it for years because there’s an SA, but also- A CLOWN! Look, clowns are out to murder you! I mean for real they are clowns – see below

Why would you think these creatures would not want to murder your face?! Yes, they have balloon animals, but that that’s just to lure you into for their feeding!
“The Killing Joke” is a Joker origin story and how he was born out of one bad day. We begin with Joker as a struggling comedian with a child on the way. He is desperate for cash and decides to participate in a heist to get out of poverty. The crooks that he teamed up with to do the heist target the Joker’s former job at a chemical plant had always planned on making him the fall guy for the heist. His wife dies by a product malfunction, sending Joker spiraling. Technically, Joker is not born until after he falls into the chemicals, but we see his name pre-Joker; so, maybe he was always Joker? I’m not sure.

The origin story is interwoven with the Joker shooting and SAing Commissioner Gordan’s daughter and generally driving him insane. There is also A LOT of nudity that I wasn’t prepared for with a fair amount of leather. Joker kidnaps Gordan, strips him nude, puts some leather on him, and then makes him look at horrify images of the SA. Honestly, why not just kill Joker? Of course, we would. We’d shoot him on sight as a terrorist. Instead of doing the normal choice and having Joker killed, Gordan wants him taken alive. WHY? Really, why? What more does he have to do? They make a point that Joker wants to show that anyone could be driven insane by one bad day, but the real insanity is not shooting all of these super villains on sight!

The book ends with a joke with the symbolism that life itself and all of the evil he committed was also a joke. It was purposefully ambiguous, but it did scare me- BECAUSE CLOWNS!



Did You Remember the Cat, Short Film Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

Happy Halloween! I see A LOT of terrible movies for your pleasure. It’s a really weird relationship we have. However, I am glad to do it because there are some gems, not from AI because that’s pretty much the worst. “The Mountains of Madness” AI short wasn’t terrible, but maybe I have trouble seeing it now because I have been so mentally hurt….for you. I have seen so many ham-fisted AI slops this month that you’d think that I worked in a deli! Unlike the usual dreck I watch for you, this short is a treasure and I am almost thinking I won’t review any other shorts because I want to end on a high note or maybe I’ll go all in and end on a very low note.

A couple escaped their home where a demon they summoned called “The Choir” has killed all of their friends. One problem: they forgot the cat- Mr Whiskers; so, they have to re-enter the house of horrors to save their pet. There is a recurring song the couple wrote to get the cat to play: “Littlest Man” … it’s cute. As they struggle to rescue their cat, we learn that they are an unhappy couple.

The unhappy duo must fight “The Choir” demon to get the cat. The demon’s only weakness is loud noises and being stabbed. The couple’s relationship is like The Choir demon because they have endless awkward silences, which has destroyed their relationship. The cat was used by the couple to avoid their awkward silences; in fact, the cat was the only glue in their relationship.

By fighting the demon and rescuing their cat, they healed their relationship… a little. I still think that they will break up, but it is ok because the cat is safe and I got to review something good! It’s weird to be able to look a film up on IMDB again because AI films are excluded as far as I am able to ascertain. I recommend this short and I really do believe that you will like it! Enjoy the rest of Halloween!

The Book Chose Him, AI Short Film Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

Happy Halloween! This is the end to an awesome horrorthon! I will have some more posts today. I will try to find at least one good thing to review for Halloween. It’s not easy and will likely NOT be done by AI because they’re terrible.

The Book Chose Him answers the question: What if Harry Potter sucked and was ninety seconds long?

The film opens with a realistic teenager in a library and magical glowing book starts to open in front of him. I suppose this is the whole “choosing him thing.” Why though? Why stick around to look at a radioactive book? Then, the main character becomes a cartoon, but race swaps from Indian teenager to a eight year old white kid. Why couldn’t he have been Indian the time? It’s confusing and unnecessary.

The protagonist is walking around a fancy library library with glowing candles that are an obvious fire hazard and he switches nationalities 6 more times from white to Indian and back again. It’s super weird. Was there another kid in the library? The protagonist goes to another world where gravity is just not “in” anymore. This is just horrible in every way. This creator should go to the sharks!
This is the worst. Don’t even bother.

Cave, AI Short Film Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

The intro looks terrible. It’s bad even for anything I have seen up to this point. We open with a meteor heading towards earth.

A bear watches the impact and goes to investigate because why not? The meteor was hiding a spaceship. Later, there is a cute couple taking a selfie during their camping trip. I wonder what will happen?

They enter a cave and hear growling. They are confronted by a MONSTER BEAR. A huge huge bear. I’m guessing the bear is part alien now. The monster bear attacks and kills the husband, but the wife escapes and has PTSD hallucinations.

The ending was not great. I would have ended in the cave rather than tack on this boring segment. So, when the angry mobs come to feed the AI creators to sharks, I would just let the sharks gnaw on this creator, but nothing terrible. It was bad though; so, know that and if the creator reads this, please stop doing this.

Alone in the Bathroom, AI Short Film Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

No title card; so, I used this as the title card. *sigh*
This AI short gave me a little jump. It did have some suspense; so, I won’t feed the creator to the sharks. Sorry Sharks.

Woman alone brushing her teeth, but there is a malevolent force in there with her. The bathroom is by definition private and you’re almost always vulnerable. The film has some suspense and payoff.
It is worth watching.

Whisper in the Woods, AI Short Review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

There’s the Summer of the Shark; so, this is the Horrorthon of the Terrible AI shorts. Technically, I don’t need to review these things, BUT I feel like we at the beginning of a new way to tell stories and if the technology gets better and it will, maybe it will attract some people who are good at things? Maybe?

I’m not saying that the people who create these films should be parachuted into an actively shark-infested section of the ocean wearing a meat-based wetsuit and slathered in a blood-based suntan oil, but if you’ve already left with these people and you had parachutes, the suits, and lotion ready; then, I’m not getting in your way. Who knows? Maybe stopping bad AI art could bring us together? Also, the market share for meat wetsuits is wide open for the taking!

So, let’s determine if “Whisper in the Woods” is cause for shark-time!

There is a car driving in a haunted forest. A woman sees a spooky woman standing in the road. The driver investigates. Then, a hooded figures presumably kill her. Technically, it had a beginning, middle, and an end. So, it’s as good as anything Alex Magana ever made, but I’m Team Shark!

No Title (how cute), AI short film review by Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

Ok, no title, but in the description it is In The Mountains of Madness. We are going to see some Cthulhu? Some revelations? Some Necronomicon? I’m not hopeful, but I’m also usually right.
Is it a trailer?

There is a British Person telling us about the expedition to Antarctica. They uncover the structures of the Old Ones. The crew finds a laboratory of weird creatures and then they become one with the gross things. As a trailer, it would’ve been excellent. The imagery is quite good and it does capture what these creatures might look like and how they possess the expedition crew.

Is it a short? There is a beginning a middle, but there is not really a clear ending. It could just be that I’m so used to seeing the absolute worst garbage AI films that I’m unable to tell what is good or bad anymore because nothing matters. However, I think this short might be – ok. Not great, but it is ok and I suppose that you could do worse things with 90 seconds of your life.

Grim Reaper, Scary Ad Review By Case Wright

Posted on by casewright

Case’s Confessions: I am not scared of werewolves, vampires, or climate change. I am scared real things: serial killers, disease, and big government.

This ad for Australian AIDS prevention was before my time, but I saw it in the 90s when it was shown as a compilation of the scariest ads ever. The ad featured a grim reaper knocking people over like pins. The randomness and the victim’s helplessness gave me nightmares for weeks.

The ad’s message was terrifyingly clear: do NOT have sex with Australian women because they will give you AIDS. The ad worked because, TO THIS DAY, I have never slept with an Australian girl. When I went to Australia, I never had even a slight temptation to have any congress with any Australian lady or as they are also called there- Sheila, which I suppose is a common name there like Jenny is in a normal country like America that is not ravaged with disease.

I knew that as long as I avoided those women, I could engage in all kinds of debauchery. Whether I did or not I think I will save for my exclusive patreon blog (if I make one).
You can see the ad and an interview of the creators of the ad below.