Pardon the dust

April 19, 2021 ~ Vince Leo

This site is undergoing a restructure, as The Qwipster Film Review Podcast transitions to a podcast covering primarily movies from the 1990s, as well as newer movies influenced by the 1980s and 1990s cinema. Click subscribe on any of the podcast platform links to subscribe and get the show episodes when they are released!

Out with the new, in with the old…

April 15, 2021 ~ Vince Leo

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Vince thanks listeners for their feedback regarding the future of the show and briefly lays out the format change going from henceforth, including what the new title will be.

Feedback request from listeners

April 5, 2021 ~ Vince Leo

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This is not a review, but a request for feedback from Vince on the future format of the show due to the lack of availability of new movies. Please write to Vince @ qwipster@gmail.com and let him know if you’d like the show to remain as it is, or if you’d like to hear something different that covers a particular genre or era of films of the past.

Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

January 2, 2021 ~ Vince Leo

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The prolonged armed raid of the shopping mal reveals a jewelry store used as a front to fence valuable but stolen ancient artifacts brought to the Smithsonian for Diana (Gal Gadot) and her team to identify. That’s where we meet the newly hired Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wiig), a mousy gem specialist with self-esteem issues, particularly around the self-confident and beautiful Diana Prince. In particular, one stands out, a phallic piece identified as the Dreamstone, a crystal of myth once believed throughout ancient history to grant wishes. Cavalierly, Barbara makes her wish to be like Diana, though not knowing that also means like Wonder Woman as a by-product. Diana makes her wish for Steve Trevor to be back in her life to continue the life they never got to spend together.

Overnight, Barbara’s confidence begins to grow, and the men take note of her beauty while she begins to grow in strength and agility. At the same time, Diana is approached by a mysterious strange claiming to be Steve Trevor (Chris Pine). He doesn’t look like him, but after a few words that only Steve might know, she sees the character with Chris Pine’s face and voice henceforth. (This aspect will require audiences not to think too hard about an innocent man whose body will be used nonconsensually indefinitely for Diana to romance, while also having no family or friends in his life to notice he’s completely changed).

Villainy soon enters the scene when Max Lord (Pedro Pascal), a TV infomercial conman who has headed the financially failing oil company called Black Gold Cooperative, enters the scene. Lord discovers they have the Dreamstone, and he’s desperate enough to give it a try, using his charm on Barbara to get his hands on the piece and make his wish – which is to have the stone’s powers. The physical stone disintegrates, and now Max has the power to grant anyone a wish – a power he uses in exchanges for the wealth, power, and fame of others who deal with him directly.

However, what the wish makers don’t know is that there is a catch. Gaining the thing they desire most means losing the thing of most value they already possess. In Barbara’s case, it is her kindness. In Max’s case, it is a good father. And in Diana’s case, it is the superpowers she needs to save the world.

Patty Jenkins directs.

Black Panther (2018) Marvel, Ryan Coogler – Movie Review

February 18, 2018June 3, 2018 ~ Vince Leo

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From the pages of Marvel Comics comes Black Panther, directed by the very skilled Ryan Coogler, starring Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa. The MCU continues its roll in delivering a quality entertainment, this time with more to think about beyond the run time than usual blockbuster fare.

Coco (2017) Pixar Disney – a podcast movie review

November 26, 2017 ~ Vince Leo

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Taking a look at Pixar’s latest big film, Coco, which incorporates the Dia de los Muertos tradition into yet another heartwarming family tale.

Darkest Hour (2017) Gary Oldman – Movie Review

November 24, 2017 ~ Vince Leo

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This true story begins at the onset of World War II when, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill has to face one of his most critical of trials: contemplating a peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the principles, independence, and free will of a nation. As the seemingly insurmountable Nazi forces trample through Western Europe and invasion appears imminent, and with a nervous public, a wavering King, and his own party conspiring against him, Winston Churchill must find the self-resolve to inspire a nation, and to attempt to alter the course of world events.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Denis Villenueve Film Review

October 9, 2017 ~ Vince Leo

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A podcast review of Denis Villenueve’s continuation of Ridley Scott’s 1982 science fiction masterpiece.

Detroit (2017) Kathryn Bigelow film review

September 29, 2017 ~ Vince Leo

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The riots and looting in Detroit, 1967, were sparked by the mostly white police force coming into a predominantly black neighborhood in order to infiltrate a nightclub operating without a license, which ended up with yet another incident of police aggression and harassment in the area that has seemingly gone on unchecked. Specifically, the film concentrates on the Algiers Motel incident, which which a group of black men, and two white women, end up having a terrifying night while being interrogated by several white police officers and members of the military. The methods of interrogation includes beatings, and the horrifying deaths of those who refused to comply to the request of the authorities to produce a gun that they believed had been used to shoot at them.

It (2017) Stephen King – Movie Review

September 10, 2017 ~ Vince Leo

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The action in It takes place in the fictional small town of Derry, Maine, where we mostly follow a group of about seven adolescents on their break during the summer. The de-facto leader of the group, Bill Denbrough, has recently been plagued by thoughts of his younger brother Georgie’s disappearance, though we in the audience know that the tyke is but the latest victim of a sewer-dwelling, fear-feeding demon who mostly presents himself in the form of a clown named Pennywise. Georgie’s not the only child to go missing of late, and the group soon learns that Derry has a special history for children who disappear without a trace about once every generation, causing them to have to confront their innermost nightmarish fears, lest they become the latest victim of the sinister Pennywise.