“Freaky Tales” certainly lives up to its name in a genre-bending, horror-comedy-action thriller love letter to the Bay Area in the 80s, which, as said in the tagline, was “hella freaky.”

The movie is divided into four chapters with different characters, plots, and energies all interspersed with what it calls the freaky green lightning of Oakland, California in 1987. From alternative teenagers fighting Nazis to a rap battle between newcomer duo Danger Zone and Too Short to the murder of a retired hitman’s pregnant wife, the final chapter connects all of the characters in a house robbery-gone-wrong turned revenge murder spree. 

The plots are all over the place; the star-studded cast, including Pedro Pascal, Normani, and even Ben Mendelsohn, never gets more screen time than lesser-known actors. So what is truly the central character and thesis of the movie? It’s the city itself.

However, as someone who has never visited or lived in California — let alone Oakland, let alone in the 80s — a lot of the references went over my head. Only in later research did I learn that every story took place at real places with real people and even during some real historical events. Bay Area rapper Too Short, whose song “Freaky Tales” is where the film gets its name, is a character in the film and even has a cameo himself.  The “Sleepy Floyd” basketball game that happens in the fourth chapter, where Warriors player Sleepy Floyd scored a record 29 points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Lakers, is a real event. The film dropped a hefty budget to shoot on-location in Oakland at classic spots like a Giant Burger and the Grand Lake Theatre and recreate legendary 924 Gilman and Sweet Jimmie’s. 

But instead of wondering about the visual artistry and history of the setting, my attention was distracted by the gory scenes in chapters 1, 3, and 4. This was particularly a shame, as the film utilized different aspect ratios, filters, and animated graphics to emphasize the 80s aesthetic. Especially because of the ending fight scenes, I was left wondering just how much of the budget was allocated for fake blood. It was very campy, tying into the campy nature of its depiction of the 80s, with exaggerated outfits from jumpsuits to spike wrist guards; but there seemed to be a never ending stream of (comically) violent sequences that quickly got old.

When I wasn’t distracted by flying body parts and punctured jugulars, the emotional whiplash of the different chapters was distracting enough. The acting in the first chapter, centered around friends Lucid (Jack Champion) and Tina (Ji-young Yoo), was weaker than the rest, although superstars like Pedro Pascal set a high bar to match. But it had a happy ending, and so did the second chapter, leaving the audience totally unprepared for what was to come in chapters 3 and 4. As co-director Anna Boden says, it is an “action packed genre mixtape of a movie;” but I would call it a gruesome action-packed emotional rollercoaster. 

I was not the intended audience for this film, and if I was, my opinions would likely be much different. But unless you fit that context (or enjoy sincerely weird movies), I would not recommend shelling out to see it.

Ribbits, chirps, and croaks take the stage for the spring at the University of Michigan Flint Theater. This fast paced adventure reminds audiences of all ages to take life a step at a time and slow down to smell the flowers, or in this case Toad’s fresh but slightly burnt cookies. The musical that I saw this past Sunday was one that I have been excited to attend for awhile. The Story of Frog and Toad began as a children’s book by Arnold Lobel. It is a book I remember in my childhood before I even entered middle school. From the vintage looking illustrations to the soft spoken easy digestible text. It had left me truly excited to see my childhood characters envisioned through a live production. This university production was directed by Stephanie Dean

The strongest things about the director’s vision had to be the comedy and the heavily lean in on characters traits. As a reviewer, this is the first musical I have seen in over five years. The work that goes into production often goes over my head. Actors are tasked to not only sing and dance but to act and provide stage presents that represents the source material. The pair of friends represented this to a point. On this specific performance however, one of the lead actors portraying the character Frog was out sick. (Morgan Wright) Either the actor had croaked or developed a frog in their throat is unclear, but the show went on with a new actress to play the green and jolly protagonist. Taylor Boes as Frog, and Noah Anthony as Toad tied together a tag team performance that fit like peanut butter and jelly. The character of Frog, an optimist who always say the bright side of life, always had something to say to Toad’s woes. I especially felt Noah portrayed toad astoundingly well. If I had to give a voice to the character from the book it would be something very similar to what I had seen that week. Toad’s voice always has this slight worry, always thinking of the problems in his life even though they may not be the greatest problem at the moment.  An example of this is toad worrying about burning his cookies for his friends due to the fact his clock was broken. The Dynamic between the characters set up great humor and made me realize how anxious I myself get at some very small things.

Some people feel that musicals are often slow and can be tiring at times, but the pace of this was anything but. The whole production captured a year of the friends lives. Seasons only lasted minutes and it was a true treat to see the props, lighting, and overall scenes change. Orange lights filled with autumn leaves, winter blues, and Styrofoam snow littered the set, and cool summer nights and an occasional thunderstorm heavily set the tone of each scene. From raking leaves, making cookies, sledding, and even simply sleeping can shows audiences members that they can find joy in life’s simple moments. The funniest joke had to be from a side character though. After Frog had took notice that Toad never receives mail (Another thing for Toad to lose his cool about), Frog employs a friendly snail to deliver a kind note to his house. In a toad-ally hilarious callback joke, the incredibly slow snail takes nearly the entire musical to reach Toad’s residence. Good clean humor like this accompanies the whole performance. It’s the simple comedy that gets me, it puts a innocent spin that reminds me of my childhood. Being a person who may not be the target audience of this production I found myself laughing out loud much louder than my  toddler audience members.

Another thing I must mention is the score and music. Although I would love to see a live pit ensemble one day in my university, the backing tracks of light jazz and Broadway melodies made the original scores magical. My Favorite song from this production had to be “Toad looks silly in a bathing suit” The Frog actress of this production had such a beautiful voice and I can also clearly hear Toad’s character even when he was singing. I do feel at times, the dynamic range of the actors could be greater. You can hear it in the score that the musical called for over the top Broadway level “Bring it home” style of singing. Sometimes I feel the singing was a bit more safe. This may be due to it being not only the final show but also the family show. Some things may have been altered but I feel the actors were so close to greatness but just a bit more “mmph” would have taken the musical over the top and don’t you frog-et it. Even with that note, I felt the dancing and staging were very professionally broadcasted. The old New Orleans style jazz being accompanied by having all the animals do variations of the Charleston dance fit the mood heavily. High kicking and spins revealed how much care the actor’s put into their animal, and It was lovely to be a part of it.

It was a real shame that I was unable to take photographs of the live musical due to copyright reasons. The set designs of Toad’s Mushroom house felt incredibly cozy. Being an audience member felt as if I was transformed to be the size of a mouse. For one season, Frog recounts his memory of being lost and separated from his parents. Frog comes across a large and terrible Cannibal frog. The Production then reveals a large artistic puppet that spanned over 10 feet about the ground, fit with terrifying claws and large menacing red eyes. I myself am I big fan of practical effects, so seeing this I felt the art was being honored from passed productions and it is such a nice sight to see the efforts of practical effects still being put to work to this day.

Overall this was a very pleasant work to both listen to and watch. The set and props were very creative and I can see clearly how much effort both actors and backstage crew worked on making an excellent performance. One last thing I noticed is what seems to be the use of generative AI artwork for the programs cover of the performance. Generative AI being the first thing patrons see before engaging in the disciplines and hard efforts of actual artists on our campus is a huge slap in the face to the art community.  I was questioning to include this detail as I can not fully confirm if the cover uses generative AI, but I know past advertising efforts on campus have used AI images to promote art performances, and no artist seems to be credited for the illustration. Not to mention minor details in the illustration that do not make sense, nor is it reflective of the book’s original illustration. It is with deep apologies if I have misreported but I felt it was concerning enough for me to mention it. I hope to see more musicals from my university, I am always excited to see more. I may even audition for one in the future.