Ant-Man

Review by Ric Nimrod

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been around exactly as long as my son, well... two month longer than my son. The first Iron Man movie came out 2 months before his birth and it kickstarted a seemingly unstoppable film franchise. Together my son and I have discussed possibilities, great scenes and pure superhero joy; these films mean something to us. His first big movie experience was the first Avengers movie and he has seen every one of them in the theater since, and he has loved them... but with the exception of the non-stop pace and space adventure that is Guardians Of The Galaxy he has not had to sit through an origin story. Ant-Man is an origin story.

As my son and I walked out of the theater after seeing Ant-Man I asked him how he felt and he replied with 'I thought it was boring'. I was taken aback as I found the film to be another solid home run for Marvel. Then I realized why my 6 year old didn't love the movie like I did, there was not as much action as he is used to in these type of movies.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Review by Ric Nimrod

The first thing to cross my mind when I left the theater after watching Marvels AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON was ‘I cannot wait to watch this again’, but then again, I am that kind of nerd. I then looked at my 6-year-old son who had accompanied me and asked him how he liked it, and he replied with a smile and the word ‘awesome’. But after a moment of consideration he finished with ‘but it is not better than GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvels last big screen adventure). Out of the mouths of babes, the kid is right… but not by much.

Filmage: the Story of Descendents/All (December 12th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[FILMAGE: THE STORY OF DESCENDENTS/ALL screens Friday December 12th at 9:25 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Ric Nimrod

FILMAGE: THE STORY OF DESCENDENTS/ALL is a documentary about pop-punk and nerd-rock forefather Bill Stevenson and his life as a punk rock musician and producer. As a lifetime band guy in the same genre, I approached this film with glee and it did not disappoint.

There really is nothing to distinguish this Deedle Lacour & Matt Riggle directed documentary from any other documentary as the first time directors follow all the steps. It starts at the childhood, goes to the first band and onto the rises and falls most bands face all the while cutting to bandmate’s current and past, as well as a few more famous folks. Interviewees include Milo Auckerman, Karl Alvarez, Keith Morris, Chuck Dukowski, Mike Watt of the Minutemen, Mark Hoppus from Blink 182, NOFX front man Fat Mike, and the great white hope of rock-n-roll himself, Dave Grohl, as well as several friends and management figures.

Rocks in My Pockets (December 6th and 7th at the Cleveland Cinematheque)

[ROCKS IN MY POCKETS screens Saturday December 6 th at 7:00 pm and Sunday December 7 th at 4:30 pm at the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

Review by Ric Nimrod

ROCKS IN MY POCKETS is the kind of film that reminds you that award season is right around the corner. It is sure to be nominated for a few categories including Best Animated Feature and Best Foreign Language Film, and if you are like me it is sure to bore the daylights out of you.

Written, directed and starring Signe Baumane, ROCKS IN MY POCKETS tells the tale of several generations of women in Baumane’s family (including herself) who suffered from depression. The depression often leads to suicide or being locked up, and the ultimate meaning of the movie is how our narrator deals with the depression in modern times. Of course Baumane lives in modern day New York City and not a war torn Latvia, so it is a little easier for her to deal with her demons by making an animated piece of pretentious soul searching than it was for her ancestors.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Review by Ric Nimrod with an introduction by Bob Ignizio

I went to see TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION this past Friday at the drive-in with the intention of reviewing it. It was not to be. The film beat me down. After two hours of mind numbing noise, hackneyed cliches, and general stupidity, I had enough. There was still 45 minutes of this crap left to go, and I just couldn't take it any more. And with that decision, I lost all right to give a full review with a star rating and everything. I figure it was worth it.

Thankfully, my friend Ric Nimrod (not his real name, obviously), guitarist/vocalist for Akron area rock band The Giggitys, had more stamina than I did. He recognizes the movie for the crap that it is, too, but was somehow able to get enough enjoyment out of watching it with his 5 year old son to make it through to the end. Although he describes the film as “unreviewable”, I think he does a pretty good job of conveying what the experience was like (at least as far as I got with it) and pointing out the reasons why, although it's crap, some people still like it. So here's Ric's review, taken from his facebook post with his permission: