The Nerd Corps

In Honey Boy, writer and actor Shia LeBeouf traces back to his childhood to tell an intimate and reflective story about trauma.

Alma Har’el directs a script written by Shia LeBeouf starring himself playing the father of a child actor opposite Noah Jupe’s Ottis. The story is based on LeBeouf’s life growing up with his father and how it parallels with his life after his incident with the police as portrayed by Lucas Hedges. The script was written during Shia LeBeouf’s time in rehab and translated to the silver screen this year to tell one of the most intimate stories of 2019.

I truly have no idea how to even start elaborating on my thoughts on this film. The best way I can actually describe this movie is as something that I felt I should not be seeing, but I felt so grateful to be watching. Shia LeBeouf is so brave to have written such an incredibly detailed and personal story. The fact that he trusted Alma Har’el to direct instead of him shows the level of maturity in Shia to tell this story. There are movies where I mention them as cinema in its purest form and this is definitely one of those examples.

Some more standouts other than the beautiful cinematography and exquisite production design are the performances. Shia LeBeouf gives a once in a lifetime performance as his father that feels therapeutic throughout the picture. You can truly feel every inch of emotion being poured out of every word spoken by him in every scene he is in. My biggest takeaway was actually Noah Jupe’s stunning performance as Ottis. He is an incredible talent throughout the movie and is always on the level of Shia never missing a single beat. Not much to say that is not already known about Lucas Hedges but he once again does an impeccable job at playing present time Ottis.

As the year winds down Honey Boy is one of the best that has been released. This is one to watch as soon as possible. I will say this too, Shia LeBeouf deserves to be nominated for his performance and writing such a profound picture. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, Honey Boy surprises you and makes a case for one of the best of the year.

As we wrap up our month on the acclaimed Italian American director on The Nerd Corps we take a look at the films of Martin Scorsese.

Up until this year the only two films we have discussed from Martin Scorsese’s critically acclaimed filmography were Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980). Scorsese and I both share a lot of things in common, we both have 2001: A Space Odyssey in our top 10 movies of all time, we are both big fans of the master filmmaker Federico Fellini, and both of us enjoy some homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

The son of Charles and Catherine Scorsese started his career with his directorial debut in 1967 with Who’s That Knocking at My Door. Soon after he would go on to create some of the most incredible films of three decades with Taxi Driver in 1976, Raging Bull in 1980, and Goodfellas in 1990. He is known as the man who has perfected the mobster film. His filmography consists of amazing mobster films but films like The Last Temptation of Christ, The King of Comedy, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Silence truly prove his talent to not just be chained to one genre.

Scorsese’s cinematic language consists of brutality, faith, identity, fear, and much more. An incredibly talented director that has kept his relevancy throughout the years of his career. One cannot watch a single film by Scorsese without feeling the raw authenticity of his work. The level of intimacy that he brings to the director chair is unmatched even though he is no stranger to controversy.

You cannot mention this man without bringing up the impeccable editor he works with, Thelma Schoonmaker. Two creative minds are not more made for each other the way that Scorsese and Schoonmaker are. It is hard to imagine a Martin Scorsese picture without it being edited by Schoonmaker.

Wrapping up our month on Scorsese I have reinvented my love for him. Watch out for a review of his 2019 film The Irishman coming soon to The Nerd Corps podcast, YouTube channel, and website right here!

Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse is a deep dive into madness created by the isolation of Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson.

In order to actually talk about this movie I feel that we need to go back to the year 2015. The world would be subjected to the incredible directorial debut of Robert Eggers, The Witch. Now The Lighthouse is no The Witch because it is a completely different movie breed of its own. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson play these two sailors who are stuck working on this island as Dafoe maintains the lighthouse which seems to have some weird powers. Here is the catch, these two men are slowly going mad and it all happens in an incredibly crafted way.

Now I understand at first glance this probably looks like the most pretentious film of 2019 because it is filmed on 35mm black and white film along with an immersive 4:3 aspect ratio. The thing is that there are films that seem to take these types of aspects and make it more important than the story. That is definitely not the case for this picture. Throughout the film it never feels like Eggers is sacrificing style for substance.

Robert Eggers crafts an incredible piece of art that is heavily supported by two one of a kind performances. The cinematography and creation of the atmosphere amplifies the sense of uneasiness throughout the film. Eggers truly creates a one of a kind film that was not easy to watch to say the least, but leaves you with shivers down your spine until the end. Pattinson absolutely loses himself in this role and along with some disturbing visuals left me speechless. Dafoe also does an incredible job with the several monologues and line delivery.

When I continue thinking about this movie I think about the fact that Eggers really stylized this picture and made it his own by taking influences from Ingmar Bergman and Stanley Kubrick to name a few. I cannot wait to see what Eggers does next and how this shapes up at next year’s Academy Awards.

10/10 or 5/5

Wondering how our week went? Look no further than this week on the podcast feed! As always click those sweet edits made by YoungYoda to check these episodes out.

High Flyer Radio #1: AEW Dynamite Preview

We opened the week hot with the debut of our new pro wrestling podcast, “High Flyer Radio.” The hosts introduced the show and gave their thoughts on the AEW Dynamite premiere before its debut!

The Nerd Corps Podcast #279: Not Fun. So Done.

We kicked off Horror Film Month with our amazing guests Ayden and Leah by watching Brad’s first pick which ended up being a complete and total disaster of a movie.

Unstructured With YoungYoda #9: Shook Ones

Unstructured is literally unstructured this week as YoungYoda talks about Kevin Smith’s “Not Ones.”

The Impaired Files #13: Robert Butler III

Raul was joined by RB3 as they discuss RB3’s love of movies and what set him on his path as a filmmaker.

The Gamer Corps #59: Diversify Your Grind

The nerds go deep into a conversation on whether Bungie needs to concentrate on making a new non Destiny game, and Raul also opened the wrong link in this episode a couple of times.

The Nerd Corps Podcast #280: Confusing & Unsatisfying

Claire joins the nerds again this week to review Millennium Actress and she vents her frustration with the film and her overall confusion.

The Nerdy Chicano Show #45: Love For Our People

Luis watched Joker, shenanigans, and a lot of nonsense. It’s pretty much what you would expect from an episode of The Nerdy Chicano Show.