Pasckie Pascua's Nerdy Squirrel Reviews: Movies.

“The Substance” (2024, HBO) horror film . Follows a fading Hollywood celebrity who, after being fired by her producer due to her age, uses a black market drug that creates a younger version of herself with unexpected side effects.        Nauseatingly gross, wickedly creative. Yet this is not the first time that I've seen a body-transforming movie so nothing so big deal about that area of yucky cinematic audacity. The real attraction or interest here is Demi Moore's involved performance, although Margaret Qualley isn't so bad either. But Dennis Quaid is expectedly cartoonish as ever.         This movie also proves that horror is a reliable box-office magnet. For a production budget of $18 million, this macabre gasp earned $77–82 million. 🎥💻📽 "Shell" (2024, Apple TV+) black comedy body horror , directed by Max Minghella . Set in a near future where technology is used to take beauty standards to extremes, this f...

“The Roses” (2025, Hulu). Satirical dark comedy based on the 1981 novel “The War of the Roses” by Warren Adler, and a reimagining of the 1989 movie.         This new version of the film is about a successful couple, Ivy and Theo, whose marriage falls apart due to their differing career successes and resentments. As Theo's career collapses and Ivy's takes off, their idyllic life devolves into a vicious and chaotic divorce.         I tried to recall Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner's Oliver and Barbara (in 1989), but my memory is foggy. Yet I am sure their fight was childishly wilder, more exaggeratedly violent, and destructively silly. Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman's Theo and Ivy is relatively restrained, more dramatically controlled, and less boisterous or loud.        I don't know what entertains me more. Still, a fine weekend watch. 🎥💻📽 “The Naked Gun” (20...

“Palmer” (2021, Apple TV+) drama film . Plot: Eddie Palmer is a former high school football star and ex-felon who has been released from prison after serving 12 years for attempted murder and armed robbery. He moves in with his grandmother Vivian, who occasionally watches over a young feminine boy named Sam, the son of her neighbor Shelly, a drug addict. When Vivian died as Shelly stayed a mess, Palmer and Sam got closer.          This exemplary movie by full-time actor Fisher Stevens tackles several issues that warrant a sensitively critical understanding. Reinforced by an award-deserving performance by Justin Timberlake as Eddie Palmer, this feature could squeeze your heart to tears. Not moralizing or castigating yet “Palmer” coaxes us to look within. Never mind that the theme or plot is familiar; the urgency of the message should not stray away from public attention.        And look out for child actor Ryder A...

“A House of Dynamite” (2025, Netflix) apocalyptic political thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Noah Oppenheim .         Story; The U.S. government navigates an official response to a single nuclear missile launched by an unidentified enemy.        The unfailing, masterfully-crafted suspense and overlying anti-nuke message is clear but the storyline is a bit implausible or unrealistic to me. I won't give away the end game though since you may already have imbibed the moral of the story.        And you have reliable performers here, such as Idris Elba , Rebecca Ferguson , Jared Harris, Jason Clarke, Tracy Letts + brief appearances by Greta Lee and Kaitlyn Dever. Per Ms Bigelow's filmography, I rate this B+. 🎥💻📽 “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” (2022, Hulu) action-thriller , relies on ideas advanced in Andreas Malm 's 2021 book of the same name . Examines t...