‘Freaky Tales’ Review: Pedro Pascal, Jay Ellis and [You’ll Never Guess] Steal Overstuffed Oakland Homage

variety.com:

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Taking a one-for-us victory lap after one-for-them studio smash “Captain Marvel,” indie duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden blow a big, self-indulgent kiss to the late-’80s East Bay with “Freaky Tales.” Berkeley-born Fleck was all of 10 years old in early 1987, when this nostalgia-fueled anthology film is set, which explains the wide-eyed way he romanticizes the defining subcultures of the time (with Boden presumably doing her best to broaden the film’s incredibly specific, “you had to be there“ appeal).

In four distinct but intertwining chapters — populated mostly with fresh faces, plus grizzled-but-gorgeous Pedro Pascal — “Freaky Tales” melds wildly different sectors of the city: There’s the rowdy-yet-respectful Gilman Street punk crowd; the revolutionary Oakland hip-hop scene (including Too $hort, whose raunchy rap anthem gives the film its name); the Warriors’ historic victory over the Lakers, in which local basketball legend Eric “Sleepy” Jones scored a record-setting 29 points in the fourth quarter; and a disturbing spike in neo-Nazi-linked hate crimes, which strangely serves to tie everything else together.

As if those disparate realms weren’t enough of a grab bag, the co-directors also pack in scores of vintage film, fashion and music references — the most conspicuous being the “Repo Man”-like “cosmic green shit” seen glowing throughout.

That phosphorescent energy represents whatever special mojo Fleck and Boden associate with Oakland at the time. The filmmakers played a similar game in “Captain Marvel,” piling on the wink-wink tributes to mid-’90s pop culture. (Remember all the retro needle drops?