River Cities Reader Podcast

River Cities Reader Podcast


August 1, 2024, on Planet 93.9 with Dave and Darren — “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “The Fabulous Four,” and “Shine On: The Forgotten Shining Location”

August 01, 2024

Mike Schulz discusses cinematic matters with Dave Levora and Darren Pitra. Levora believes Twisters could have used more twisters than it gave its audience. That was last week. This week’s fare pales in comparison:




  • Deadpool and Wolverine (dir Shawn Levy, starr Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Zeb Wells, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford, and Matthew Macfadyen). The film did better than expectations — $590.6 million on a $200 million budget — so there was a thirst here that needs to be quenched. Once again, the concept of the multiverse means there’s no such thing as stakes, and any halfway-alert viewer will realize soon enough that suspense is impossible. If you’re not a fan of comic-book heroes, then you’re going to feel each of your individual brain cells die in real time.
  • The Fabulous Four (dir Jocelyn Moorhouse, starr Susan Sarandon, Bette Midler, Megan Mullally, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Bruce Greenwood, Timothy V Murphy, and Michael Bolton). More fun and hijinks to be had watching septuagenarians get high and believe they can defy gravity. Schulz was bored.
  • On YouTube, you can find Shine On: The Forgotten Shining Location, written and directed by Paul King and narrated by Michael Sheen, takes place on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film, which apparently has stood undisturbed for 45 years, and blends present-day reminiscence with the exact scenes in the exact rooms in which the scenes were shot. Released last Friday, October 27, on what would have been Kubrick’s ninety-sixth birthday. Definitely worth finding.

As for the previews:



  • The live-action/animated fantasy comedy Harold and the Purple Crayon (dir Carlos Saldanha, starr Zachary Levi, Lil Rel Howery, Jemaine Clement, Tanya Reynolds, and Zooey Deschanel). Based on the 1955 children’s book of the same title by Crockett Johnson. Do you remember this story from your pram-days?
  • The Firing Squad (dir Timothy A Chey, starr Kevin Sorbo, Cuba Gooding Jr, James Barrington, and Madeline Anderson). A faith-based film about a forthcoming execution in an Indonesian prison.
  • Trap (dir M Night Shyamalan, starr Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills, and Alison Pill). Sounds like Taylor Swift Visits the Set of The Shining.

“Deadpool & Wolverine,” “The Fabulous Four,” and “Shine On: The Forgotten Shining Location”