Hey everyone, Jack Drees here! It is time for another update on Movie Requests. Remember that time I said I asked 10 people if they wanted to suggest a movie for me to review, and those people said yes? Well… That is true, at least in part. Because after I began the series, I continued my search for more people! This is the 10th anniversary of Scene Before! It would be amateurish of me to stop at 10 people! It is too predictable! I have to crank things up to an 11. Heck, why stop at 11? This is 15!

Before we go any further, if you have not done so already, be sure to follow Scene Before either with an email or WordPress account, or subscribe to my YouTube channel, that way you can check out new episodes of Movie Requests whenever they drop! I appreciate your support!

I want to remind everyone of how things are done here. For those who do not know about Movie Requests, this is a series where I ask people what movies they think I should talk about, I capture their response in a short video, which is recorded in person with their permission, and I review the movie based on their choices. There are no virtual videos or AI alterations to the recordings. So far, we have six people down in the series including Bryce Dallas Howard, Jason Mewes, Joel David Moore, Katee Sackhoff, Brian O’Halloran, and Chris Hardwick. If it were not for these additional guests, we would be halfway through the series. But I am having too much fun! Why stop now?

Like before, I am not going to list any of the movies that were picked for this series. Instead, I will name each special guest one at a time, and when it comes time to drop their episode, I will reveal their movie of choice. With that said, let’s meet the five guests who will be joining Scene Before’s 10th anniversary celebration!

Melissa Barrera

Please welcome our first of the five guests, alphabetically by last name at least, Melissa Barrera! You may have seen her on the big screen as Vanessa from “In the Heights,” as well as Sam Carpenter from the “Scream” franchise, specifically the fifth and sixth installments. You may have also seen her on the small screen as Liv Rivera on Netflix’s “Keep Breathing” and Michelle on Peacock’s “The Copenhagen Test.” You can also catch her right now on Broadway’s “Titanique,” where you can see her play Rose Dewitt Bukater. Barrera also stars as Joey in of one of my favorite movies of 2024, “Abigail.” If you have not seen it, please check it out. It has a killer child ballerina vampire. What more could you want?!

Adam Conover

Hi! He’s Adam Conover! And this is the introduction that totally explains everything you need to know about him. Conover is a comedian whose special, “Unmedicated,” you can find on Dropout, in addition to his YouTube channel! On said channel you can find an assortment of long-form videos on topics ranging from entertainment to politics to artificial intelligence. Conover is known for his comedy series “Adam Ruins Everything,” which aired for three seasons on truTV. It is inspired by a CollegeHumor series of the same name. He also hosted the Nickelodeon game show “The Crystal Maze,” which premiered in January 2020. He currently hosts the podcast “Factually! with Adam Conover.” If you are in the mood to laugh in front of this know-it-all’s face, you can catch him doing standup during his Big Divorce Energy Tour.

Joe Gatto

I was not able to find Larry. But I did find Joe Gatto out in the wild! Known for being one of the “four lifelong friends” from TV’s “Impractical Jokers,” at least until the early 2020s, Gatto is practically put on earth to make people laugh. If his big eyes did not suggest that this man is one of the funniest people to come out of Staten Island, New York, then his commitment to fearlessly surviving dozens of daunting challenges given to him by his three best friends certainly will. On top of appearing in the hit comedy series, he also starred in “Impractical Jokers: The Movie,” and served as a panelist on the TBS game show “The Misery Index,” where contestants must rank incidents based on how embarrassing they are. Gatto is also a standup comedian, who you can catch on tour at a city near you. Gatto’s 2024 special, “Messing with People” is available to watch now on YouTube.

Tessa Thompson

Up next is an actress whose name is not only well known, but happens to be the only one in this series that is alliterative. Grammar. It is fun sometimes. Anyway, please welcome Tessa Thompson!

Okay… Lynne is her middle name. I guess one could argue it is not an alliteration. Let me have my moment.

You may know Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She has portrayed the character in several projects including “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “What If…?,” and “Marvel Zombies.” Apparently Thompson really likes working with Chris Hemsworth, as the two also co-starred in 2019’s “Men in Black: International.” She also starred as Bianca in the “Creed” trilogy, as well as Josie in one of my highlights of moviegoing in 2018, “Annihilation.” Some of her TV projects include “Copper,” “Veronica Mars,” and “Westworld.” Thompson just finished up her run on the Broadway play “The Fear of 13,” in which she starred alongside Adrien Brody. The play is based on true events and is about a man who is sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit.

Elijah Wood

And lastly, I promise I am playing no favorites with this next guest… But he is most certainly one guest to rule them all. Please welcome Elijah Wood! This actor is best known as Frodo in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, having appeared in all three films in the original trilogy, as well as “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.” Wood also stars as Patrick in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” as well as Mumble in both “Happy Feet” movies. By the way, “Happy Feet” was my second Hollywood feature I saw in a cinema. If you are a fan of science fiction film franchises being brought to television, then Wood has you covered. He stars in Disney XD’s “Tron: Uprising” and “Star Wars: Resistance.” You can also find him in live-action shows like “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency,” “Wilfred,” and “Yellowjackets.” One of my favorite works from Wood is the 2013 film “Grand Piano,” where he plays the lead character, Tom Selznick, who must play the piano at a concert without hitting a wrong note or he dies. That movie is music to my ears. Literally.

And as a reminder, I am still in the process of reviewing movies requested by Rosario Dawson, Sandi Harding, Michael Rooker, and Amy Sedaris. If you want to know more about those guests, I made a separate post several months ago explaining who they are and what they’ve done. I thank each and every single participant for appearing in this series. You made this movie nerd proud.

Thanks for reading this post! The list has gotten bigger, and so has my drive! The next episode of Movie Requests will be available Tuesday July 14th and it will feature special guest Sandi Harding! Even if you do not know the name Sandi Harding off the top of your head, chances are you are familiar with the place where she works. Sandi Harding is the owner of the last Blockbuster Video still standing, located in Bend, Oregon. You can find her in the 2020 documentary “The Last Blockbuster,” which sums up this very story. If you want to watch this episode of Movie Requests when it drops, it is going to be available here on Flicknerd.com, but to access it as early as possible, do yourself and I a favor by subscribing to my YouTube channel!

For the record, these guests are not being presented in the order by which they were recorded. Sometimes there will be a reason why I pick a certain guest for a certain date, like Katee Sackhoff on May the 4th as she is tied to “Star Wars.” Also, given how I have recorded a relatively even amount of men and women in this series, I also do not want to do too many episodes in a row featuring someone of a single gender. I just did a couple episodes in a row featuring guys. Now it is time for one of the gals, so, Sandi is up next!

As a reminder, I also dropped a new trailer for the series, showcasing all of the guests I have recruited, including the five newbies! Check it out, give the video a like, and as I said in the beginning, click the fancy-dancy subscribe button so you can get notified of what’s new in the series as soon as possible!

If you want to see more from Scene Before, follow the blog either with an email or WordPress account! Also, check out the official Facebook page! Also, I will ask the same question I asked when I introduced this series’ original set of guests, what movies do you think these guests chose? Keep in mind, each person picked something different. There are no duplicates in this series. All of the movies that you saw reviews of thus far are not getting a second appearance. That said, leave your theories down below! Scene Before is your click to the flicks!