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ORION AND THE DARK MOVIE REVIEW
All tucked into the One Of Us bunk beds, Mike, Chad, and T.C. have a whispered conversation about the newest Netflix/Dreamworks animated film Orion and the Dark. Orion is a severely anxious 11-year-old kid with an endless list of irrational fears, including toilets overflowing, public speaking, getting beat up by the school bully, and being rejected by his school crush, Sally, at an upcoming planetarium field trip. One night, after a sudden blackout, Orion faces his biggest fear of all: The Dark. In fact, he’s so afraid of it, that Dark knows Orion all too well. He is the most scared of the dark kid in the world! Utterly fed up, Dark kidnaps the terrified little Orion for a worldwide adventure through the night. Dark hopes Orion will overcome his fears by experiencing the benefits and wonders of nighttime. During their travels, Dark introduces Orion to fellow night entities Sleep, Insomnia, Quiet, Unexplained Noises, and Sweet Dreams. Little by little, over the course of his adventure, Orion learns more about himself and the things that scare him. Simple as that sounds, there’s one additional element to this tale. This kid’s book has been adapted into this movie by none other than Charlie Kaufman, writer of Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Does that mean this elevates itself over other Dreamworks animated faire? The Squad has their divided thoughts.
DIRECTED BY: Sean Charmatz
STARRING: Jacob Tremblay, Colin Hanks, Paul Walter Hauser, Angela Bassett, Ike Barinholtz, Natasia Demetriou, Golda Rosheuvel, Nat Faxon, Aparna Nancherla, Carla Gugino, Matt Dellapina, Mia Akemi Brown, Shannon Chan-Kent, Shino Nakamichi, Ren Hanami, Jack Fisher, Nick Kishiyama, Werner Herzog
YOUR REVIEWERS
T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)
T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.
Chad Halvorsen (Screener Squad)
Chad Halvorsen currently resides in Milwaukee, WI, where he produces and edits commercials, films, and everything in between. He was always a fan of film/television growing up, spending days in the Summer, making (terrible) home movies with his brothers. Little did he know that passion would carry on into adulthood. Since 2006, Chad has worked for several agencies in various departments. Shooting, producing, editing, production management, directing, and when forced to, writing copy. In 2015, Chad decided to take the big leap and become a freelancer. Since then, he’s produced content for Lyft, AT&T, Target, and Discovery Network. His passion lies in entertaining people, making them feel better, even for a moment. All the pain and suffering of this business is worth it, if even just one person views his work. Chad is a frequent podcaster, most notably posing as a co-host for the podcast “The Film Illogical Society.”
Mike J. McAllister (Screener Squad, Staff Writer, Head Video Editor)
Mike J. McAllister is a filmmaker, editor, writer and animator. He is also a film junkie, dog lover and Surge-aholic (Hi, Mike). He grew up in a small town in Western Pennsylvania, where he earned the reputation as the “human IMDb” and was on a first-name basis with every video store clerk in town. He later studied film in Pittsburgh. He has since written several unproduced screenplays and TV pilots. He has also produced a number of short films, some of which have appeared in festivals across the country. He is a ninja with Final Cut Pro and is armed with a mind full of mostly useless pop-culture trivia. He also enjoys animation, MST3K, classic video games and being the “music geek” among his friends (which really just means he buys vinyl and listens to music that doesn’t come from an anime soundtrack). He resides in Austin, Texas, and can be followed on the Instamagrams at @ohheyitsmikejm.
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