Notes from a Genius

"TAU" starring: Maika Monroe, Ed Skrein, Gary Oldman written by: Noga Landau directed by: Federico D'Alessandro Netflix keeps doing. Churning out a bit of second-rate, B-movies for the sake of "original" programming, in an effort to keep attracting big name actors/actresses. Here, they've enticed Maika Monroe, who was absolutely incredible in the amazing horror film "It Follows" a couple years back. In this wannabe thriller with artificial intelligence and a sort of evil genius at the center of the horror. Julia (Monroe) is a grifter captured at the beginning of the movie and made prisoner to  someone  for  some  reason. It’s a bold start to the movie, feeling like the wordless, anxious climax of a different film, but it’s too dour in its execution, and we plainly aren’t given enough time to worry about Monroe’s character. A sense of world-building would be nice too, as this is shown to be the future but it’s uncertain what kind of techno

"Father of the Year" starring: David Spade, Nat Faxon, Joey Bragg, Matt Shively, Bridgit Mendler, Jackie Sandler, Jared Sandler, Kevin Nealon written by: Brandon Cournoyer and Tyler Spindel directed by: Tyler Spindel Definitely has potential to be one of the worst movies, ever, not just of the year. It was produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison film company for Netflix, perhaps a small sub-piece of his 6 movie deal with the streaming company and a way to keep his ol' buddy David Spade working- those child support bills might be piling up. It's one of those quickie comedies that could have very easily been conceived over beers on a Friday night. Speaking of, David Spade basically plays another version of Joe Dirt for this film- just as a shitty father figure. The loose plot of the movie is that Spade is the father to a teenage boy who challenges another boy, claiming that his father could beat his father in a fight. The two dads are polar opposites and hi-

Here's a list that I always tend to grapple with with a couple of months before "settling." Best Soundtracks of 2018 The Black Panther(Kendrick Lamar) Kendrick Lamar curated this incredible hip hop soundtrack/album that was a companion to the great Marvel film. The fact that Lamar is featured on pretty much every track almost qualifies it as a stellar follow-up to his “DAMN.” album from last year, which actually won him the Pulitzer Prize this year. A Star is Born (Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper) I have yet to see the film remake, but I did listen to the soundtrack a few times, and I can say, with absolute certainty that these two knock it out of the park with these songs and the chemistry heard through each of them. MID90s (EP) (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) At this point, I sincerely do not think that Trent and Atticus could really do any wrong when it comes to scoring soundtracks. This EP is fantastic at creating a mood for the film, a direct