Hello, world. I’m MacDara Conroy, and this is my blog.


Elsewhere: My Letterboxd reviews of Phantasm, Ask Me Anything, As Above, So Below and Here Comes the Boom

Phantasm:

What it lacks in coherence it makes up with sheer exuberance.

Ask Me Anything:

Its pedestrian TV-movie look, precocious main protagonist and clichéd pills-n-thrills-n-drama plot are initially grating on the nerves. But Allison Burnett’s film, and likewise Britt Robertson as the confessional blogger lead, won me over by the third act, when the teen movie tropes make way for more real talk.

As Above, So Below:

A found-footage take on The Descent with a twist of Indiana Jones that falters when the story slips into supernatural nonsense in the final 30 minutes, which rather misses the point of what makes its first hour work as well as it does.

Here Comes the Boom:

Kevin James doesn’t exactly make a pig’s ear of this paint-by-numbers underdog comedy slash UFC tie-in slash passion project (James is a longtime MMA fan, and lost serious weight for the role), though it’s quite boring, considering the subject matter. Still, at least it introduces us to the surprising comedic skills of Bas Rutten.