Entertainment
Extreme Post-Apocalyptic Thriller Will Either Cure You Or Break You
By Robert Scucci
| Published
One of the common pitfalls post-apocalyptic thrillers run into is trying to do too much at once, because there are a lot of angles to consider. The Mad Max franchise works because there is dense, folklore-driven worldbuilding that we’re made aware of as a smaller group of people navigate the wasteland looking for answers. The 28 Days Later films handle this well too. We’re briefed on what’s happening globally, and then things are handled locally.
2025’s Uncontained, despite the fact that it has a lot going for it, struggles with this balance. The result is a tonally inconsistent film that I wish stuck the landing better, because the potential is clearly there.
Found Family During End Times
Billed as a zombie horror drama, Uncontained tells a much more personal story through the eyes of Dan (portrayed by writer director Morley Nelson). Dan is a drifter who appears to be immune to the zombie virus that has decimated society, and he eventually happens upon a smart house occupied by two children, Jack (Jack Nelson) and Brooke (Brooke Nelson).
Their mother, simply billed as The Woman (Nicole Nelson), works for Homeland Security and is desperately searching for a cure, because Jack carries a latent version of the infection.
Dan, initially just looking for shelter, slowly becomes a surrogate father figure for Jack and Brooke. The Woman is also glad to have him around, mostly because he’s able to clock an intimidating amount of time on the treadmill that doubles as a power source for the house.
Jack handcuffs himself to the bed before going to bed, because he occasionally turns into a bloodthirsty zombie in his sleep and needs to wait out his episodes so he doesn’t harm his family. He also sets elaborate snare traps in the backyard and spends his time studying captured zombies, which initially disgusts Dan, who doesn’t yet realize that he and Jack have more in common than either of them would like to admit.
The B Story
Meanwhile, Uncontained introduces additional conflict in the form of militia leader Brett Carson (Peter O’Meara), who refuses to leave the property because he’s searching for his missing daughter, Melanie (Courtney Blythe Turk). This entire plot line feels largely unnecessary, as it neither helps nor meaningfully disrupts the dynamic inside the house that Dan and the family are occupying.
The limited value these scenes provide comes mostly from comic relief, particularly when Brett talks shop with a police officer who grows more visibly concerned with each passing exchange, as if silently thinking, “dude, you need to go home before you get killed.”
Speaking of comic relief, Uncontained earns genuine points for the dynamic it establishes between Dan, Jack, and Brooke, and The Woman. Dan has a gruff exterior and doesn’t look like the kind of guy who enjoys screwing around. But the moment Brooke offers him her hair clips, he immediately takes her up on it just to be kind. These subtle moments are both funny and disarming, and they say a lot about Dan’s character. The world is effectively ending, and nobody is obligated to be pleasant if they don’t want to be.
Uncontained ultimately leaves a lot on the table, and it’s because it tries to think globally and locally at the same time. Had the film committed to being a bottle story focused on the house and its occupants, I think it would have landed more cleanly. It simply tries to do too much at once, when the initial survival story is already compelling on its own. The moments I enjoyed most came directly from this central dynamic. The idea that an infected child could be the key to a cure while the family battens down the hatches and rides out the proverbial storm is strong enough without a side story pulling attention away from it.
Uncontained is streaming for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
The Raunchy, R-Rated 2000s Comedy That Won Acclaim By Being Over The Top
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Every now and then, there are movies that bomb at the box office but are still considered absolute masterpieces. One such film is Almost Famous (2000), which impressed every major critic (including Roger Ebert, the original film GOAT) and earned two Golden Globe awards and four Academy Award nominations. The success of the film is as ironic as it is startling: after all, it’s not every day that movies about sex, drugs, and rock and roll bring home the gold.
The secret to this film’s unexpected success is Cameron Crowe, the ambitious director who created what might be the most personal film ever made. The director channeled his own experiences as a Rolling Stone journalist into this movie, including some unforgettable tours with bands like the Allman Brothers. The result is a movie whose nostalgia for a bygone day is impossibly infectious. To see what the hype is about, you don’t need a VIP ticket or backstage pass. All you have to do is stream Almost Famous for free on Tubi!
On The Road Again
The premise of Almost Famous is that a brilliant 15-year-old boy falls in love with rock music, and he ends up interviewing Black Sabbath for Rolling Stone. Impressed by his work, his editor hires him to write a review of Stillwater, the band that was opening for Sabbath. This means hitting the road with the band, where the young writer learns more about these louder-than-life musicians and Penny Lane, the captivating leader of their groupies (though she prefers the term “band-aides”). Along the way, he learns that meeting your heroes can be painful, but not nearly as heartwrenching as falling in love.
The cast of Almost Famous is a veritable “who’s who” of Millennials’ favorite actors, including Zooey Deschanel, Jason Lee, Anna Paquin, and even Jimmy Fallon. There are also some real heavy hitters in the leading roles, including Billy Crudup (otherwise best known for Watchmen) as a tempestuous lead guitarist and Kate Hudson (otherwise best known for How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days) as his adoring groupie. But the biggest revelation of the film is Patrick Fugit (otherwise best known for Gone Girl), making his feature film debut as a young man who’s trying to find himself but keeps getting lost in the music.
More Than A Feeling
Sadly, Almost Famous was a box office bomb when it first premiered. Against a budget of $60 million, the movie earned only $47.4 million. However, it was a critical darling (more on this soon), and the movie soon became a cult hit on home video. While Cameron Crowe never released a follow-up film, he did write the stage musical adaptation of Almost Famous, which premiered in 2018 before later moving to Broadway.
Reviewers took one look at Almost Famous and decided this was one rollicking rockstar of a film. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 91 percent, with critics praising the movie for its easygoing story and ensemble performances from actors such as Kate Hudson and young Patrick Fugit. They also commended the film for its warmth. This is director Cameron Crowe’s love letter to a simpler time, and by the end of this film, you’ll agree with the movie’s implicit argument that it was a far better time.
A Celebration Of A Bygone Era
In many ways, the nostalgia factor is the biggest draw of Almost Famous. As a movie made over a quarter of a century ago, it holds special interest to any film buff wanting to step back into the pre-streaming glory days of ambitious blockbuster dramas. At the same time, the movie is a sloppy love letter to the ‘70s and everything that made that decade so groovy. To his credit, Crowe pulls it off, making this era seem like an impossibly vibrant counterpoint to the dreary drudgeries of the modern world.
Personally, I’m an ‘80s kid who never felt any real desire to live in a different time or place. But the sheer passion behind Almost Famous always makes me wish I could have been like the film’s protagonist: a wunderkind music junkie, coming of age as both a writer and a man on the road trip of a lifetime. He is surrounded by both beauty and fame, tempting him to all manner of sins along the way. However, he is both cleansed and tormented by something far more potent than carnal desire: a profound love of music.
Falling For The American Girl
Needless to say, Almost Famous is particularly perfect for anyone who loves music. If you spend all day with your headphones on, it’s because you understand one of this movie’s most elemental lessons: that nothing captures the beauty and the heartbreak of the human condition quite like a great song. In this film, music becomes a kind of divine force: something that can fill men with inspiration or simply drive them crazy. Either way, they sacrifice themselves on the altar of rock and roll so the rest of us heathens have something to believe in.
Above all else, Almost Famous functions as arguably the best coming-of-age story ever filmed. Our young protagonist experiences what most teenage boys can only dream of: the chance to tour the country in the company of rock stars and the women who love them. Along the way, he gets to make a name for himself by writing for one of the biggest publications in the country. But he soon discovers that what he wants and what he needs are two very different animals and that there is no pain quite as keen as growing up too fast.
Like A Rolling Stone
Too young to be a man and too experienced to be a boy, he finds himself adrift before realizing something profound. Namely, that in writing the story of this up-and-coming band, he is writing his own ticket, crafting a future he is passionate about rather than the one his mother has all planned out. He longs to escape suburban doldrums, transforming himself with a love of writing that will sustain him long after the beer-soaked tour has finally ended. It’s a story of romance, rebellion, and revolution. Honestly, does it get more rock and roll than that?
Almost Famous is offering you a chance to tour with the band, but are you going to take the ride? Even if you don’t have cash, grass, or a$$, this is one occasion when you really can ride for free. All you have to do is snag the remote from your favorite groupie and stream Cameron Crowe’s cinematic masterpiece on Tubi, completely for free!
Entertainment
Unrated Slacker Comedy Is This Generation’s Office Space
By Robert Scucci
| Published
No matter where you’re from, you probably grew up with somebody like Marty (Joshua Burge) from 2014’s Buzzard. While you went to college or joined the workforce, or at the very least tried to make something of yourself, Marty wants nothing to do with the rat race. The problem is he’s not smart enough to scrape by without resorting to criminal activity. He’s the kind of guy who would stage a slip and fall at a fast food restaurant just to get a $500 payout three years later, thinking he stuck it to the man and came out on top.
Buzzard explores this behavior to the extreme, one scam, pizza coupon, and Nintendo controller at a time. It’s the ultimate slacker comedy because Marty cares about self-preservation just enough to stay out of serious trouble, but not enough to stop himself from constantly getting hoisted by his own petard. It’s Office Space for the disenfranchised Millennial. It’s a slacker comedy with a nihilistic bent. It’s the $20 plate of hotel spaghetti that keeps you going until you can find more Mountain Dew to sustain yourself.
It’s Always A Party With Marty
Buzzard, like most films written and directed by Joel Potrykus and starring Joshua Burge, centers on Marty, an office temp at a mortgage company who’s always looking for the next scheme to help him coast through life. He lives off frozen pizzas he gets at a discount by calling customer service to complain after every meal, scoring coupons in return. He steals toner, staplers, telephones, and keyboards from the company dumpster and returns them to office supply stores for cash. He opens bank accounts for the free $50 deposit, withdraws the funds, and then does it again. It’s not beneath him to cut his hand at home, show up to work, and stage an accident with the paper slicer so he can file a worker’s comp claim.
Marty decides to ante up when he realizes he can steal customer refund checks, sign them over to himself, and cash them at the bank. Never thinking about the consequences, he quickly learns the company receives monthly check-cashing reports, complete with images of the checks and the accounts they were deposited into.
Fearing he’s about to get caught red-handed, Marty lays low at his friend and coworker Derek’s (Joel Potrykus) house while trying to figure out his next move. If you haven’t noticed by now, planning ahead is not Marty’s strong suit. For reasons never explained, he modifies an old Nintendo Power Glove with steak knives, a la Freddy Kreuger, and carries it with him everywhere. Just in case.
The rest of the movie plays out exactly how you’d expect. Marty tries cashing checks, but every bank flags his account. He tries breaking into a motel to sleep for free and immediately gets caught. He burns through the last of his money with no backup plan other than continuing to live exactly how he wants. The problem is he’s running out of options, and his increasingly sloppy crimes are catching up to him.
Marty Will Never Learn
What’s most fascinating about Buzzard is how deeply the slacker DNA is embedded in Marty. No matter what happens, he finds a way out of a jam, and he doesn’t care how pathetic it makes him look. When called out for his “worksite injury,” he shrugs and waits for it to blow over while the doctor stares him down, clearly not buying it. When he’s finally backed into a corner where the authorities might get involved, he busts out the Power Glove in a desperate attempt to fend off his problems. When he spends his last $20 on hotel spaghetti, he shovels it down without a single thought about where his next meal will come from.
Marty is every slacker you’ve ever met, all rolled into one composite character. He’s impulsive, repulsive, and never sympathetic. But that’s also what makes Buzzard so much fun to watch, because you end up rooting for him anyway. He’s screwing the system every chance he gets, or so he thinks, and part of you wants to live vicariously through that because he genuinely does not give a single sh*t. It’s almost inspiring how little he cares about anything, whether it’s his friendships, job security, or reputation. None of it matters to Marty.
It’s the kind of personality you envy in small doses, if only because you know you could never carry yourself with that level of nonchalance while still functioning as a productive member of society.
Consequences Be Damned
Half the fun of watching Buzzard is wondering when Marty’s run will finally end, and how many people he’d be willing to drag down with him if it means squeezing out one more free Party Pizza before getting hauled off to jail, flipping his boss the bird on the way out. Even if he does face consequences, you get the sense he’ll find a way to keep scamming his way through life.
That’s what makes Buzzard so compelling. Marty puts more effort into avoiding responsibility than it would take to just show up, do the bare minimum, and live comfortably. That’s the real irony, because everything he does looks exhausting.
As of this writing, Buzzard is streaming for free on Tubi.
Entertainment
The Forgotten Buffy Episode That Secretly Endorsed Communism
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is, for the most part, a generally apolitical show. Obviously, there are embedded messages about the importance of feminism and accepting others who may be different (like being gay, being a witch, or being a gay witch). Some might consider those “woke” messages, but the show was simply emphasizing the importance of treating everyone equally. However, one memorable episode might have taken the idea of equality a little too far. You see, the climax of Season 3’s opening episode, “Anne,” actually endorsed Communism!
For some context, “Anne” was the first Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode of Season 3, and it continued from the previous season’s fairly startling cliffhanger, “Becoming.” In the Season 2 finale, Buffy killed Angel, who had turned evil. In doing so, she managed to save the entire world from getting sucked into Hell. However, at the last minute, Angel’s soul was restored, forcing Buffy to kill the man she loved to save all of humanity. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she previously got an ultimatum from her mother to never return home if she walked out the front door. Accordingly, Buffy packed her things and secretly moved out at the end of the episode.
A New Life In The City Of Angels
“Anne” continues Buffy’s story, revealing that she is now living in Los Angeles and working as a waitress. She just wants to lead a normal life, but she discovers a supernatural plot where a demon is forcing humans into hard labor at his evil factory. Buffy saves the day, of course, killing the demon and helping to free all of his captives. Realizing that she just can’t escape her calling as a Slayer, she returns home to Sunnydale, where she is reunited with her very worried mother.
Generally speaking, fans really like “Anne,” an episode that takes Buffy out of her comfort zone and even plants the seeds for the eventual Angel spinoff. However, most of this episode’s biggest fans miss Buffy’s not-so-subtle endorsement of Communism. You see, when she is fighting some of the demon’s sidekicks, the most prominent weapon she uses is a hammer and sickle!
It’s Hammer Time
The hammer and sickle is, of course, the famous symbol of the Soviet Union. These tools symbolically represent Communism because they show the workers and peasants unifying themselves against common enemies. Those enemies nominally include those who would try to take power and make themselves superior to others. In this way, there is also a threat embedded in this symbol. Namely, that when someone tries to oppress others, workers and peasants will unite to overthrow their usurpers.
Believe it or not, the climax of “Anne” really emphasizes this. On top of Buffy wielding a hammer and sickle (the latter of which she stole from a bad guy), she fights in a factory where a demon has uncharacteristically forced humans into hard labor. It’s not entirely clear what the purpose of the factory is, but it’s very obvious that the demon has tried to seize the means of production from the workers (a big no-no in Communism). Buffy even gets the workers to chip in, and they all work together to escape. Uniting the workers and peasants together to fight a demonic capitalist? In this case, both Giles and Stalin would be proud!
Obviously, Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn’t become an openly Communist show after this, and the inclusion of a hammer and sickle in “Anne” was likely nothing more than a glorified Easter egg. But it’s undeniably fun to see our protagonist become a hero of the people, openly leading helpless workers in a revolt against the literal boss from Hell. Speaking of bosses, “Anne” offers some gallows hope to anyone who hates their job. At least your employer is only sucking out your soul metaphorically rather than literally.
The Raunchy, R-Rated 2000s Comedy That Won Acclaim By Being Over The Top
Cauldron Ferm has turned microbes into nonstop assembly lines
