Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 29th, 2022
I don’t think Hollywood is ready to stop shooting movies centered around World War 2 any time soon, even if it seems they’ve filmed just about every story under the sun that you can tell about that that war. I get it, Nazis are simply put some of the greatest villains you can have in a film, because they took part in some of the most wicked atrocities towards men and women, so you really don’t have to do much in the way of character development to get your audience to hate them. I don’t think anyone is interested in a story about a sympathetic Nazi, but is it so hard to ask for a character that comes off the screen that seems to at least have a personality? I mean, Tarantino did it with Col. Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds (2009) with a terrific performance from Christoph Waltz, but since then the movies have been afraid to do this, and that’s the kind of thing that is so desperately missing from Wolf Hound. It’s not just the Nazis who are lacking in personality, but the entire cast of characters that reek of cliché and lazy writing that it mystifies me how this ever got made.
The film opens up with some excellent aerial photography of some authentic war planes being used for these sequences. Director Michael B. Chait was smart to utilize these planes and use them at the start of the film, because it was a good way to hook the audience into thinking that perhaps the whole film just may be as authentic. Sadly after that 20-minute mark this becomes a whole different film when pilot David Holden (James Maslow) has to parachute from his plane. Unfortunately for Holden, Major Erich Roth (Trevor Donovan), a German pilot, has crashed in the same area and is looking for vengeance for his brother’s death. If the filmmakers had kept it simple and this became a story about two men hunting one another in the woods while avoiding capture from the enemy, this could have been a stronger film, could have had some actual suspense, but instead these filmmakers decided to go big and go strong with the clichés, which means just about every scene in this film is obvious because it’s been done to death in every other war film to come before it. Down to the convoy of enemy soldiers that just happens to stop where our hero is and to go further with the cliché a soldier happens to relieve their bladder right next to our hero who is just out of the enemies sight-line because they don’t look down. That’s right, you’ve all seen this done before, and the movie plays out like a bad piece of déjà vu, but in surround sound.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 27th, 2022
It is a shame that director Roger Michell (Notting Hill) passed away before this film had a proper release. He’s a director who while he may not have a filmography of blockbuster hits, he’s literally worked with many of the biggest stars of the industry. Notting Hill is easily my favorite film of his; easily I’d rank it as one of the best rom-coms of all time. Sadly he’d go most of his career not quite matching the success of the 1999 film, but with The Duke, he gives us a film that is so damn charming it shows how he’ll be missed in an industry that’s become so dependent on CGI and spectacle.
The film presents itself as “based on a true story”. When it comes to the movies, it has become harder to believe how much is actually true and how much is sensationalized to tell a “better” story. In 1961, Kempton Bunton (Jim Broadbent), stole the Goya portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London and held it hostage for 140 thousand pounds. This wasn’t some simple get-rich-quick scheme that Bunton concocted, but instead it was a way to get the government to pay for television licenses for the poor, the disabled, and the elderly. Despite the noble intentions, it was a crime that could possibly land the man in prison for ten years. While the film does cover the heist and eventual trial of Kempton Bunton, the real heart of the film is about the relationship between Kempton and his wife, Dorothy Bunton (Helen Mirren).
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 28th, 2022
I have to admit my knowledge of the show Curb Your Enthusiasm is casual at best. I’ve seen a few episodes over the years, but not enough to call myself a fan. So to have Season 11 handed off to me to review was a bit daunting, but as a long-time fan of Seinfeld and having at least seen Larry David in the Woody Allen film Whatever Works, I figured I had a good enough idea of what I was in store for. Thankfully the show isn’t something like Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad, and I could simply start the season and not feel lost. The season starts off with Larry David waking up after hearing a noise in the house. When he goes to investigate, he eventually finds a body floating in his pool. It was an attempted robbery gone bad, and as it turns out there is a law in Larry’s district that states there needs to be a fence around the pool. This basically is the catalyst for the whole season, and things just get worse for Larry and him not having this fence.
Larry is also busy with getting a new show started up with Netflix, and then when things fall through, Hulu comes in to pick up the series. Larry is being extorted into casting Maria Sofia (Keyla Monterroso Mejia), the niece of the man who drowned in Larry’s pool. The hoops Larry has to go through to get the girl on the show are pretty funny as is, but then when everyone sees just how bad of an actress Maria is it makes things even better.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on June 24th, 2022
Joe Hill has done a good job of establishing himself as a horror writer, and when you consider his dad, Stephen King, has been the “master” of horror fiction for over four decades, you’d have to imagine the expectations on Hill are pretty high. I’m a fan of Hill’s work, and I’ve enjoyed seeing his work translate to the big screen and television (though I’m still hoping one day we’ll finally get an adaption of his book Heart Shaped Box). I’ll admit my expectations for The Black Phone were a bit high, and to be fair, can you blame me? The Black Phone would be a return to horror after director Scott Derrickson’s work on the first Doctor Strange film and a reunion with actor Ethan Hawke and screenwriter C. Robert Cargill from the great 2012 film Sinister. I don’t think enough praise is given to the film Sinister. It’s a film that just gets better with time and has a high rewatch value. Personally I feel it’s the masterpiece in Derrickson’s filmography. The Black Phone has all the ingredients to be another modern classic, but it pains me to say it just doesn’t quiet deliver despite how much promise this film had.
It's 1978 in north Denver when the film kicks off, and the town is already under attack by “The Grabber” (Ethan Hawke). Parents and kids are terrified as kids have gone missing without a trace, and a bit of an urban myth has spread that if you talk about “The Grabber” that there is a good chance that you’ll be next. Finney (Mason Thames) and his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw) are dealing with a lot. Finney is dealing with bullies, while Gwen is tormented by dreams that may or may not be a psychic connection to the kidnappings. What’s more troubling for the brother and sister is their alcoholic father, who seems to have a hair trigger with his temper that results in punishing the kids with his belt. Jeremy Davies delivers a great performance in the first half of the film as the dad, so much so that the film didn’t need to even have the character of “The Grabber”. The tension on screen when the kids have to be careful with everything they say or do is anxiety-inducing enough, and some of these scenes are sure to get under the skin of some audience members. Finney and Gwen are characters we are rooting for. Their relationship is what works best in this film, and it is why when Finney is taken by “The Grabber”, the film loses some of its appeal.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 21st, 2022
Offseason is the type of film we just don’t get a lot of anymore. It’s a film that heavily pays homage to HP Lovecraft and The Messiah of Evil and other films of the 70’s era, only there is little to no gore to show for it. There’s a strong Silent Hill vibe going on with the film, especially with the copious amounts of fog that seem to always be around. It would seem that this film has all the makings to be a hit, especially when it seems to be going for tropes that I like in a horror film, but unfortunately this one just missed its mark by making two big mistakes. One, it was too obvious, and two, it just totally screws up the ending. I’m not expecting every movie to be the next Wicker Man, but it seems that writer and director Mickey Keating is trying so hard to be on the same level as Ti West and Robert Eggers that the film just comes off looking like a good-looking snore-fest we’ve seen before. I really wanted to like this, and it had a lot going for it, but it seems when you pull inspiration from too many sources, it can get pretty messy.
Marie Aldrich (Jocelin Donahue) gets a notice that her mother’s grave has been vandalized and that she must immediately come to the remote tourist island. We find out that her mother, Ava Aldrich (Melora Walters) never even wanted to be buried on this island, but that somehow her will was mysteriously changed, and she was still buried on the island. Marie knows little to nothing about the island, but she goes out there to see to the repairs that need to be made for her mother’s grave … trouble is that the island is being evacuated of tourists, and if Marie and her beau, George (Joe Swanberg) don’t get things sorted out in time, they run the risk of being abandoned on the island.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 16th, 2022
“But I like to have sex with dragons.”
Have you ever had the desire to see a midwestern take on ninjas? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you have not, but the if you happen to be that one person out there with an itch for bad cinema, I’m talking the kind of film that makes Troma look like high art cinema, then Ninja Badass may be the movie to quench your need. After 30 minutes of watching this film, I had to stop it and take a break. When Ed Wood set off to make his films, he didn’t intend to make a bad movie; it just happened. He was a filmmaker just trying to do the best he could without any real talent supporting him. Ninja Badass seems to go above and beyond to create one of the worst films in history, and what’s somewhat frustrating is that this was almost a good movie if it had showed just the slightest bit of restraint. But restraint is a word not in this film’s vocabulary. This is hands down the most WTF-did-I-just-watch movie in all my time reviewing films. This is no small feat.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 14th, 2022
“Congratulations, you’ve just been erased.”
In 1996, when Eraser came out, it was pretty much what everyone expected from an Arnold Schwarzenegger film: lots of action and cheesy one-liners. It was far from Arnold’s finest work, but it was fun, and the big guns used in the film were pretty cool, too. Eraser is a film you can look back fondly on if you grew up in the 90s, because it was silly fun and nicely directed by the legendary Chuck Russell, who had a pretty good streak of films going when he did Eraser. Before he’d had success with the breakout Jim Carrey film The Mask, and before that he had the remake of The Blob and A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors. I bring this up because the reason Eraser worked when it did was because it had the biggest action star on the planet in its lead role and a talented director working behind the camera, and to top it off a $100 million dollar budget to play with. Now we are talking 25 years later, and Warner Brothers has given us a sequel no one in their right mind has asked for, and it doesn’t even have its star. Dusting off older properties is the rage in Hollywood, and at least most of these sequels are warranted, but Eraser: Reborn comes at us about as unwanted as solicitors on a Saturday morning when all we want is to sleep in. Despite everything, I still went in to this with an open mind, hoping maybe they returned to this intellectual property because they had something new and cool to bring to the table. Spoiler alert: they didn’t, but that’s why I’m here to take the visual bullet so you don’t have to.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 2nd, 2022
When I heard Fox had cancelled Lucifer after Season 3 and Netflix had picked up the show, I have to admit I got excited about the possibilities. I had hoped that the transition from network TV to the streaming service would mean the show could get away with more, because the show wouldn’t be bound to network rating guidelines. As it turns out, the show still has its TV-14 rating, but on the bright side the episodes are longer now, which in my opinion is a good thing. When Netflix picked up the show, they had announced that Season 5 would be the last season of the show. While the show does take some major storyline leaps as ways to wrap things up, thankfully things don’t come to an end just yet, as a Season 6 was produced and is currently airing on the streaming service.
The journey of Lucifer Morningstar (Tom Ellis) has been an entertaining one over the years. Season 5 has actor Tom Ellis, doing double duty playing Lucifer’s twin brother, Michael. The two have a bitter rivalry, and their feud is the major arc of Season 5. All the angels have their own unique gifts and powers. Lucifer is able to have people confess their innermost desires, while Michael has a far more sinister power, one that allows him to actualize a person’s innermost fear. Power also seems to be a theme of this season as well; we see characters lose their powers, other characters gain powers, and then there is the major arc of the season: who will become the most powerful being in the universe when God (Dennis Haysbert) decides it may be time for him to retire.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on May 27th, 2022
It has been about 36 years since the release of the first Top Gun. This is one of my earliest memories as a kid, seeing the movie on the big screen with my parents at the old Main Street 6 Cinemas. I was a bit obsessed with this movie growing up. I had a copy of the film that I had recorded off of Showtime, and over the years I’d imagine I’ve seen Top Gun at least 100 times. I was obsessed with the movie and its soundtrack. Kenny Loggins and “Danger Zone” lived rent-free in my head throughout my childhood. I know I’m not alone on this when saying just how much Top Gun is a movie I just love. It’s not perfect, but I just can’t find anything I dislike about it. Even in my forties, I look at this film as comfort food. It doesn’t matter the time or day, if it’s on, I can’t help but sit down and watch it. I’m putting this out there because, yeah, when I heard the talk of them first doing a sequel, I was excited, but I wasn’t too optimistic. Then when Tony Scott died in 2012, I thought for sure that was the nail in the coffin for any potential new Top Gun film. Ten years later, after over two years of delays, Top Gun: Maverick is finally hitting the big screen. After all these years and all the hype, is it worth the wait?
In case you haven’t realized it, Hollywood has been riding the wave of nostalgia for a while now. Just this week alone, Disney Pus is debuting the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, Netflix is releasing the new season of Stranger Things (that alone is borderline 80s nostalgia porn at its best), and then we have Top Gun: Maverick. This week is simply old-school pop-culture-on-steroids week, and a reminder of why it’s a good time to be alive as a cinephile. It’s important to keep all this in mind, because when you go in to the theaters to see Top Gun: Maverick, you are not just simply getting to see a new movie, but it’s also a nostalgic trip back to the first film that will leave you excited and at times maybe a little misty-eyed reuniting with these characters we first met so many years ago.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 27th, 2022
Licorice Pizza marks writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s 9th feature film, and it seems to be his most personal film to date, as it takes place in his hometown of San Fernando Valley during 1973. It’s difficult to go into a Paul Thomas Anderson film and not have high expectations. I can’t even guess the number of times I’ve watched Boogie Nights, and Magnolia is one that I adore just as much. These two films just impacted me from the first time I experienced them in the cinema and really fostered my appreciation for film and storytelling with large ensembles. Since then I’ve been waiting somewhat patiently for PTA to do another film like those two, but instead he’s grown as a filmmaker and genuinely become an auteur. While I can look at his films The Master, There Will Be Blood, and Phantom Thread, they are great cinematic achievements that show he can do award worthy films and that he’s definitely one of the best working directors out there, BUT I’d be hard pressed to say they have the re-watchability of his earlier films. It just seems he’s been chasing after that elusive Best Director award rather than simply having fun directing movies. Then Licorice Pizza comes along, and it is a sweet breath of fresh air, a film filled with the cinematic flair and great characters, along with a great soundtrack that got me to become a fan of Paul Thomas Anderson’s work.
The overall plot of the film is simple. Gary (Cooper Hoffman) is a precocious 15-year-old who is an actor and has started up a few businesses of his own. When he meets Alana (Alana Haim) on picture day at school, he is instantly smitten with the 25-year-old who works for the photography company. He’s persistent about getting Alana to go out on a date with him, and reluctantly she agrees in a way to call his bluff. She sets the ground rules that they are meeting, but only as friends. As the film progresses and the relationship gets more complicated, she has to keep reminding herself that they are only just friends … or are they? This isn’t a teenage sex comedy, but it is fun-spirited romance that is charming and innocent. Sure, this has some vibes that remind me of Rushmore (1999) with the precocious teen trying to win over an older woman’s affections. The difference I see is that in Rushmore, the main character was more fueled by jealousy, whereas Gary’s affections and actions are genuine.
