Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 22nd, 2014
by Normandy D. Piccolo
“Magnum, Rockford and Marlowe never had to rake leaves before a case.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 18th, 2014
by Normandy D. Piccolo
“We are that which we are really seeking.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 14th, 2014
Nymphomaniac I and II are 117 and 124 minutes, respectively. There is a longer cut that may be released next year closer to 5 and ½ hours. The story is simple. It chronicles a conversation between two people. Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is found bloody and beaten in an alley by an older man, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard). He takes her to his sparse flat to care for her and help her. What takes place is a long conversation full of intellectual digressions about Joe. It slowly reveals what led to her downfall. Seligman is a sheltered bookworm who has a detached curiosity about her story.
The cast is impressive including Shia LeBeouf, Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe, Connie Nielsen, Udo Kier among others. The director is Lars von Trier, the famed Danish auteur and provocateur. Von Trier has always tried to find hidden and shameful areas of human behaviors in his films. Many of his films are rigorous exercises in the depths of human pain. They attempt to push expectations. They explore behaviors that seem too absurd to be real, but that is because most of us refuse to acknowledge certain parts of ourselves.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 14th, 2014
Nymphomaniac I and II are 117 and 124 minutes, respectively. There is a longer cut that may be released next year closer to 5 and ½ hours. The story is simple. It chronicles a conversation between two people. Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is found bloody and beaten in an alley by an older man, Seligman (Stellan Skarsgard). He takes her to his sparse flat to care for her and help her. What takes place is a long conversation full of intellectual digressions about Joe. It slowly reveals what led to her downfall. Seligman is a sheltered bookworm who has a detached curiosity about her story.
The cast is impressive including Shia LeBeouf, Uma Thurman, Christian Slater, Jamie Bell, Willem Dafoe, Connie Nielsen, Udo Kier among others. The director is Lars von Trier, the famed Danish auteur and provocateur. Von Trier has always tried to find hidden and shameful areas of human behaviors in his films. Many of his films are rigorous exercises in the depths of human pain. They attempt to push expectations. They explore behaviors that seem too absurd to be real, but that is because most of us refuse to acknowledge certain parts of ourselves.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 9th, 2014
by Normandy D. Piccolo
“She’s the damsel. He’s in distress.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2014
by Normandy D. Piccolo
In 2011, four men, Larry Black (big cat expert), Ben Black (cinematographer/Larry’s brother), Budi (a local) and Adi (a government tracker) ventured into the jungles of West Java, Indonesia in the hopes of finding and filming a documentary about the endangered Javan leopard. Unfortunately they crossed paths with something deadlier, and it was all caught on film. The Jungle, a documentary/found footage film, was written/directed/produced by Andrew Traucki. Mr. Traucki’s other works include the ocean thriller, The Reef (2010), which made the sharks in Deep Blue Sea (1999) look more like tame goldfish. He also wrote/directed, Black Water (2007), a swamp saga that had folks bidding a fishing trip in a bayou adieu. The term ‘gator-bait’ pretty much sums it up.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on June 22nd, 2014
Godfrey Reggio made Koyaanisqatsi in 1983. It was followed by two other films, Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi. The trilogy of films were all scored by Phillip Glass and filmed by John Kane. They are the Hopi Indian words for imbalance, transformation and war. Nothing like them has penetrated the culture to such a pervasive extent. Their subversive content is unchallenged. They stand alone, and to say they are unique is a massive understatement. If you have seen them, you know what I mean. If you haven't seen them or are not aware of them, it is unlikely you ever will see them. They are non-narrative ocular extravaganzas. They are visually and orally spectacular, but there is no story.
When I say there is no story, I mean that each image is a story, and the collective images are for you to decipher. They are probably the most disseminated art projects of the last three decades, but the medium is film. It is highly conceptualized and rigidly thought out, but it is up to you the viewer to truly unlock it. Its meaning is fluid and open to interpretation. In other words, don't see these films if you don't have an open mind.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on June 16th, 2014
By Zach Abati
Telling a story that takes place in one location isn’t the easiest thing to do. Films like Clerks, 12 Angry Men, and Saw show that it is possible to do, as long as you have the writing and direction to pull it off. Alpha Alert was able to do just that, even though it still had its ups and its downs. When a terrorist attack hits the streets of D.C., Cpt. White (Jennifer Morrison), Pfc. Diego (Stephen Rider), and Sgt. Oldsman (Josh Stewart) become trapped as an innocent elevator ride now becomes an escape mission. Each of them, struggling with PTSD, will have to deal with one another and their own illness as they run out of time and slowly realize that not everything is as it seems.
Posted in: The Reel World by Archive Authors on June 15th, 2014
When I see films I don't like, I tend to dismiss them. I have seen many, many movies over the years, and I have seen many, many terrible movies. In the last few years, there have been an increasing number of post-modern, self-referential meta-movies full of smarmy irony. So many of these films have been made that it seems that I don't see simple un-ironic movies that are just plain funny anymore. It is actually a great skill to create something really funny. 22 Jump Street is supposed to be a stupid comedy that one can enjoy without thinking. First of all, I sat through the whole movie and didn't laugh once. That doesn't mean that most people won't laugh at this movie. But I'm angry. After I saw the movie I saw that lots of critics gave it favorable ratings. I'm angry because the standards of critical thinking are collapsing. I think it's hard for many to appreciate real humor, but I can guarantee there is no real humor in 22 Jump Street.
There are so many things I didn't like about this movie, so let me start with some of the things I did like. There was a female roommate who had a biting, sarcastic tongue and caustic manner. That was about it.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on June 5th, 2014
By Zach Abati
“Welcome To My Nightmare”
