Cocaine Bear

“Cocaine Bear” is a 2023 horror/dark comedy film directed by Elizabeth Banks starring Kerri Russell (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes), Alden Ehrenreich (Solo: A Star Wars Story), O’ Shea Jackson Jr. (Straight Outta Compton), Ray Liotta (The Many Saints of Newark), Christian Convery (Sweet Tooth), and Margo Martindale (Sneaky Pete).

“Cocaine Bear” is based on the true story about a sky diver who in the 80’s was found dead in a driveway in Knoxville, TN with a duffel bag full of cocaine. Before his plane went down, he dumped several bags of cocaine out of the plane across the Chattahoochee National Forest. A mother trying to find her daughter and friend, a cop trying to track down the cocaine, a group of teenage thugs, a park ranger, and two men who the cocaine belongs to are all in the woods for different reasons. Unbeknownst to them so is a big black bear who ingested a lot of the cocaine. Now high on cocaine the big black bear goes on a murderous rampage.

I had a special interest in this movie just because I live near the location the story takes place. It’s cool to see a place you live as a main setting in a major movie. It is a true story that has been highly embellished. A bear did ingest a lot of the cocaine in real life, but instead of going on a murderous rampage it died. However, that wouldn’t make for much of a movie.

“Cocaine Bear” is a wild ride that doesn’t slowdown from start to finish. I figured it would be just a rampage style movie where the bear runs around killing people the entire time. However, it has the perfect amount of gore mixed in with humor. There are several laugh out loud moments throughout the movie. I’m also a fan of unique death scenes in movies, that make your eyes pop, and grab onto the edge of your seat, they mix a few of these in here as well. Also, it’s bittersweet being Ray Liotta’s final film. I highly recommend checking this one out. I give it an 8/10.

Blow the Man Down

‘Blow the Man Down’ is a 2019 drama/mystery starring Sophie Lowe (The Slap), Morgan Saylor (White Girl), June Squibb (Hubie Halloween), Margo Martindale (Sneaky Pete), Will Brittain (Kong: Skull Island), and Gayle Rankin (Perry Mason). Two sisters cover up a grizzly murder when one of the sisters accidently murders a man in self defense. They quickly learn there’s more to their sleepy seaside fishing village than meets the eye.

If you watch the trailer for ‘Blow the Man Down’ it looks really good. It’s intriguing, full of suspense, and mystery. Unfortunately, the trailer is the best part of this movie. It has an odd artsy feel to it, with singing fisherman throughout, and I get it, they’re hammering in the history of the village even with the underbelly. But this movie is slow, very slow. The story is there, but there’s no action to it, about ten minuets in when they kill the guy but that’s it. This movie is a let down, if you want you can watch it on Amazon Prime, but I would say give it a pass. It’s easily forgettable, I give it a 5/10.

Uncle Frank

‘Uncle Frank’ is a 2020 Amazon prime original drama/comedy. It has a stellar cast starring Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind), Sophia Lillis (IT), Peter Macdissi (The Losers), Steve Zahn (Saving Silverman), Judy Greer (Ant-Man), Margo Martindale (Sneaky Pete), and Stephen Root (Office Space). ‘Uncle Frank’ follows the story of Frank (Bettany), and his 18 year old niece Beth (Lillis). Frank is an English professor at a University in New York City and his niece is a new student there. She’s always looked up to, and admired her Uncle, but there is parts of his life he’s kept hidden from his family. Once Frank’s father and Beth’s grandfather dies, they must travel to their small, redneck, town for his funeral. Frank must find a way to come out of the closet to his close minded family while struggling with his alcoholism.

The trailer I saw didn’t really give much info on what it was about, so I went into it blind. This is a pretty heavy movie, it takes place in 1973 when the world wasn’t as open to the gay community, and unfortunately they were heavily persecuted. This movie only scratches the surface on what the gay community has had to endure, but it does a good job at it. It’s a great story about love and acceptance. Paul Bettany is a great actor and should be a house hold name, every role he plays he is incredible in. ‘Wimbledon’, ‘A Beautiful Mind’, ‘A Knights Tale’, etc… Sophia Lillis is a great up and coming actress and plays a great part beside Bettany. This movie is worth seeing, I score it a 8.5/10.