Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 12th, 2019
“This meeting of the Losers’ Club has officially begun.”
I don’t think I’d be exaggerating by saying It Chapter 2 might be the most highly anticipated horror film in quite some time. Two years ago when the first It hit the cinemas, sure, I expected it to be a hit, but the film went on to be a pop culture sensation. Pennywise was already well known because of the books by Stephen King, but also because of the loyal fan base of the 90’s mini-series. Debates were heated about which Pennywise was better and more terrifying, while other debates went on about which adaptation was better. I always felt it was unfair to compare this new version to the mini-series simply because we only had half a film, and now finally this weekend we have the conclusion to the story about our favorite Losers’ Club, only instead of teenagers they are all grown up. Now that the wait is over, how does this film stack up alongside the first half and the mini-series? Well, I’ll say it’s better than the mini-series but doesn’t quite have the magic of the 2017 film.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 10th, 2019
When it comes to movies that come from the The Asylum film company, you need to go into the film with the bar set pretty low. When I say low, a Troma film is nearly high art by comparison. By some miracle their film Sharknado has found an audience, but for all the wrong reasons. I can appreciate a cheesy B monster film; even a no-budget horror or action film can hold my interest. All I ask for is a decent story and I can forgive a film’s low budget or amateurish quality. But sometimes a movie comes along that is so bad it’s hard to find its redeeming qualities. D-Day: Battle of Omaha Beach is that film, and I can say with certainty that this is the worst film that I’ve seen this year. It’s one thing to be a bad film, but what bothered me most about this film is how shameless it is about simply making a buck off of the lives of soldiers who actually fought in WWII. You don’t need the budget of Saving Private Ryan to tell a good story about the war; all you need is a good story, a decent script, and some creativity, and you can make a good film.
The film is based on a true story about a group of soldiers who are sent behind enemy lines to take out some heavy-duty machine gun nests. The appeal of a “guys on a war mission” film is something I’m always willing to give a shot. The Dirty Dozen and Inglorious Bastards are two of the best films in the sub-genre, but there have been numerous films that take place in a variety of different wars. Really, it’s hard to not make a fun film in this sub-genre. The problem is that nothing about this film is believable. The film opens as the soldiers are prepping for the Normandy invasion; this was a huge battle that resulted in 1,000 deaths. As for this film’s attempt to bring this battle to life, well, it looks as though it were nothing more than a minor brawl that got out of control. Then there are the CGI ships. Really, it appears as though no attempt was made to make this look believable, but then again, while watching the invasion you’ll see numerous palm trees…I’m pretty sure there are no palm trees in France. The costumes are a mess. I’m pretty sure I saw patches that were not properly sewn on, and then there is my favorite bit: to mark the obvious Nazi foxholes, there are big Nazi flags draped around the opening. There is so much more to groan over, but this is only thirty minutes in.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 4th, 2019
When a film comes along directed by Richard Linklater, I’m always going to have a little interest in what he’s up to. He’s one of those directors I’ve followed from the 90’s that every few years he cranks out a film that I can’t help but enjoy. Dazed and Confused, his Before Sunrise series, Boyhood, Everybody Wants Some!!, School of Rock, and several other of his films are proof enough that he has a solid filmography, but he’s never quite been the guy to make a splash at the box office. Because of his track record, I’m a bit surprised to see his new film Where’d You Go, Bernadette managed to squeeze into the tail end of the summer when the trailers would have me thinking this could be an awards-caliber film. Well, as it turns out, the film is a swing and a miss. While I still enjoyed the film, it’s a bit frustrating, because this film seems like it’s so close to being something great, but it just manages to disappoint throughout.
Bernadette Fox (Cate Blanchett) is a bit of a mess, to put it lightly. She’s more than a little difficult to get along with, she heavily self-medicates, drinks, and seems to hate most people with the exception of her family. From the start it’s a bit difficult to decide if Bernadette is simply a quirky individual or if she is genuinely just an unlikeable person. The problem is the film doesn’t seem to know either, so with each awkward situation we see Bernadette get into, she just becomes a frustrating and tiresome character. We see she doesn’t get along with her neighbors, and her relationship with her husband, brilliant computer animator Elgie Branch, played by Billy Crudup, is odd in its own way as well. It’s hard to understand why they’d be on board for a last minute trip to Antarctica.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 1st, 2019
For some the ‘haunted house’ sub-genre is a bit stale. Sure, there have been some great films and TV shows that have tackled the sub-genre, but many of the films tend to be recycled trash. Personally I’m a fan of haunted house flicks, even the bad ones I tend to find at least somewhat enjoyable. Mary may not fall into the classic definition of the haunted house film, mostly because it takes place on a yacht and in the Atlantic Ocean, but really it plays by the same rules. Seeing a familiar story unfold in a different location, where the characters have no place to run to, is enough to inject new life into a stale story, but is it enough to keep viewers engaged to the very end? Mary is a ship that that David (Gary Oldman) finds at a boat auction and ends up purchasing with hopes of turning it into a vacation sailboat his family can use to run a business with. To say Mary is a “fixer-upper” would be the understatement of the decade, as it seems to be falling apart from the inside out. We’ve seen it before, where the protagonist finds some busted-up car, bike, boat, etc., and what follows is the required montage of the protagonist fixing up the boat. Well, the film of course delivers the montage, but as montages go this one is lame … It’s as though the filmmakers never saw a film in the 80’s ( a time when every film seemed to have a montage cued by some 80’s pop or rock song). It doesn’t take long before his family suspects that there could be something wrong with the boat. Now here’s the fun little tidbit: David is struggling to patch things up with his wife Sarah (Emily Mortimer) after discovering she had cheated on him. So yes, David’s need to repair the ship is indeed a metaphor for his need to repair his marriage. Honestly, having Sarah’s affair brought into the story is simply a distraction from the plot. When you consider the film is only 84 minutes, it becomes too much drama to attempt to flesh out in such a short amount of time, and because of this wasted time, it does take away from us getting attached to these characters.
Another issue I have with the film is that it is told in flashbacks; basically Sarah is in police custody and is telling her story to Detective Clarkson (Jennifer Esposito). Here is a huge problem: if you’ve seen The Usual Suspects, you will see through this movie. Had this film kept it simple and just told a linear story it would have been fine, but in its attempt to be clever this film falls apart so quickly. Everything surrounding the story on the boat works fine, but these scenes between Sarah and the detective ruin all the tension that the film has been building for itself. Most damning is that it reveals the demise of characters and the survival of others. Even when the film delivers a fun back-story to the ship, this fun twist has already been ruined, because we know from the start Sarah is telling the story about what happened on the ship.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 22nd, 2019
I have to be honest; when I got this title and saw that Jim Gaffigan was starring, I didn’t know what to expect, but I went into this film with some low expectations. I’m a fan of Gaffigan, and I own a few of his stand-up albums, but seeing him headlining a thriller, well, it was a tough leap for me. Now that I’ve seen the film, I got to say I’m impressed by what he pulled off with this film. That being said, as I was watching this film, I couldn’t help but see a similarity between Gaffigan and the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. I doubt this was intentional, and perhaps it’s just my subconscious attempting to make these connections, but Gaffigan’s performance in this film is on par with many of the performances we saw from Hoffman in his later years. As for the film, American Dreamer follows Cam (Gaffigan), a down-on-his-luck schlub who at one point was living the American dream: a good job, a nice home, and a wife and child. Then he lost his job, and everything else seemed to disappear around him. Now he’s a driver for a ride share company, where he struggles with paying child support and has had a bit of a mental breakdown. Early in the film we get to see him in a parking lot near an airport, watching as planes are coming and going, and its obvious Cam is dreaming of an escape from his life. He ends up getting a fare that has him driving a small-time drug dealer, Mazz (Robbie Jones) around town. The setup here seems simple, as it establishes who both of these men are, but over the course of one night we’ll see these men make some difficult decisions, and by the time the film ends, you will definitely feel differently about these characters.
After reading the blurb on the back of the Blu-ray and starting this film, I was a little worried that this would be something akin to Collateral meets Falling Down. When we see Cam come to his breaking point and he decides to kidnap Mazz’s son, sure, it’s a drastic leap for someone to make, but the way the writers and director handle this situation, it still remains in the realm of possibility. That pretty much is how the rest of the film plays out; there are a lot of worst-case scenarios that happen to both Cam and Mazz, and it’s what keeps the viewer on the hook. What I was most impressed by is how co-writer and director Derrick Borte wasn’t afraid to go dark with this film, because there are a few decisions made in this film that are pretty risky, and most filmmakers would avoid entering this territory, but personally I think it’s the risk that makes this film work. (It would be a huge spoiler if I were to say what this risk was.) But by taking that risk, the viewer knows anything can happen in this film. and it’s what literally kept me guessing at how this would all end for Cam and Mazz.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 18th, 2019
Blumhouse Productions has been the go-to company when it comes to horror and suspense films being marketed for the more mainstream audiences. The Purge films, Happy Death Day, and most recently Halloween (2018) have been some of their successful releases, though they’ve had several other films that didn’t fare so well that you can catch on Netflix. Now there is Prey. I knew going in this would be a Blumhouse film; I just wasn’t sure if I’d be watching a potential genre gem, or if it would be a dud. As it turns out, it’s somewhere in between, and I’m a little surprised that there seems to be little to no marketing campaign for this one. The film starts off innocently enough with Toby (Logan Miller) at home and on his cell phone. While Toby is immersed in his social media, outside his father is being attacked by a couple of robbers and is killed. This sequence is a bit of a bummer; it’s lacking anything that resembles tension, and while it’s attempting to insert this message about today’s youth being disconnected from the real world, it just falls flat. We don’t get to see Toby deal with loss or guilt, instead the film has us follow Toby as he in enrolled in a “Lost and Found” program that has people spending three days and three nights alone on a tropical island. It seems like it would almost be paradise, but all they are left with is a backpack filled with some supplies, and in case of emergency, you get a flare. OK, I was in scouts for 12 years, and there was never a time where they would just abandon us for three days. On our own and with our troop we had extensive wilderness survival training, so to see this was not only reckless but unbelievable. Even with shows like Survivor, there is a camera crew and medics on standby incase anything goes wrong. But for the sake of cinema and needing to have the suspension of disbelief, I ignored all this and let it unfold. Toby is not on the island very long before his backpack is torn apart by monkeys that steal his food, so Toby is forced to settle for shellfish, and you just know this can’t end well.
Then we get to the mysterious monster on the island. Toby quickly discovers there is something on the island that is hunting the animals, and for a while he feels like he’s the one being hunted, that is until he comes across Madeleine (Kristine Froseth) who has been stranded on the islands for years with her mother. Madeleine quickly gives Toby a crash course on the rules to surviving on the island and about avoiding the monster. Now here is where things get hard to believe again. The group Toby is with has been using these islands for a while, so it shouldn’t be hard to believe other people have explored or travelled past this island over the years, so why would Madeleine and her mother still be “stranded”? Thankfully this does get addressed in its own way as the film attempts to give audiences a twist, though really it isn’t much of a twist to begin with.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 15th, 2019
It’s frustrating seeing a film starring Michael Chiklis and Bruce Willis and knowing before you’ve even watched five minutes of the film that it’s not going to be good. I mean, come on; you have the star of The Shield and then an action movie icon, but neither can save this film. 10 Minutes Gone is one of those films where on paper it seems like a surefire hit, but somehow instead of a white-knuckle action thriller, the result is a snooze-fest that will keep you guessing as to why these actors signed on for this film. Frank (Chiklis) has been hired by Rex (Willis) to pull off what seems to be an easy heist. Frank and his team seemed to have thought of everything and have even put together some backup plans, but as expected, the heist ends up going bad, and in the process Frank is knocked out cold and loses 10 minutes. In this time he’s lost possession of the jewels, and he needs to figure out what happened to them before Rex has him killed. It’s not a bad idea for a movie, but it’s the execution of this film that is a mess. Willis and Chiklis do their best to make the dialog work, and at times the can make the scenes flow, but once the film shifts to any other character you start to wonder if this film was written by a 12-yea- old boy who just binged a bunch of older action/ detective films while chugging Red Bull and snorting lines of sugar.
The big mystery of the film is who set up Frank and his crew; the film does a good job at setting up a variety of suspects, though it doesn’t take much to figure things out. One thing, though, that is rather frustrating is when Frank goes to question one of his guys and the guy is “hiding out” at some underground gambling room. I have my issues with this character’s decisions already, but what is more distracting is how the scene is shot. The amount of lens flares in this sequence is nauseating. This might be one of the worst shot scenes I’ve seen in a film. Sure, Spielberg uses lens flares, and the world knows how JJ Abrams gets carried away with them, but this sequence is a technical marvel at how just about everything has a lens flare, and someone actually thought that this looked good and it wasn’t a distraction.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on November 1st, 2019
The folks over at Shout have done it again, finding a forgotten title and polishing it up for a nice Blu-ray under their Scream Factory release. This time they have pulled out the 1998 western/horror mash-up that is John Carpenter’s Vampires. It only seems fitting that a John Carpenter film gets covered for the 31 Nights of Terror, though this is definitely a title not many would expect to hear about. When I say this film wouldn’t even crack my top five Carpenter films, it may at first seem like a jab, but you’ve got to remember John Carpenter has one of the most impressive bodies of work, not just for a horror director, but for a director, period. Big Trouble in Little China, The Fog, The Thing, They Live, The Assault on Precinct 13, In The Mouth of Madness, oh, and then there was that little film everyone forgets about, Halloween…and seriously, there are numerous other films I didn’t even mention. I love the filmography Carpenter has given us, but I’m still hoping he’ll release at least one more classic before he hangs up his directing duties for good.
When John Carpenter’s Vampires first came out, I think it would be fair to say that for many he was past his prime, and some may have uttered the phrase “hack”. Personally I never felt that way, especially when only a few years before he had released In the Mouth of Madness, which is one of my favorite horror films from the 90’s “Do you read Sutter Kane?” is a phrase that haunted me for a while. So going into his attempt at a vampire film with James Woods starring -- this was something I was excited about. I got to admit, 18 year old me wasn’t impressed. This seemed like something I’d love considering I was a huge fan of Near Dark and From Dusk Till Dawn was still fresh on VHS.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 30th, 2019
“Thrill Me!”
When it comes to catch phrases, at least in this household “Thrill Me!” is easily the most used, and it’s all because of Night of the Creeps. I’m not quite sure how many times I’ve seen this film, but for me, when you name off classic horror films, this makes my top 10. I was only six when this film first came out, and I actually discovered it in the mid-90’s upon realizing it was directed by Fred Dekker who was responsible for The Monster Squad (the movie I blame and love for my introduction to horror). What I’m trying to get at is, I’m not sure if it is possible for me to be “objective” with this film. Night of the Creeps is simply a film that is fueled with nostalgia, but I feel has aged better than most horror films from the 80’s. For those who are fans of the film, at least the ones I’ve met, can agree on the film’s awesomeness and its fun B-movie campy-ness that manages to toe the line perfectly between remaining fun while playing a homage to the old 50’s monster films while being a legit horror film. Also there is Tom Atkins, who is a legend in my eyes because of this film.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on October 29th, 2019
When it comes to Rob Zombie, his films are a bit hit-or-miss. Halloween and The Devils Rejects are his biggest commercial successes, but when he delivers films like Halloween 2, fans tend to be unforgiving. Now we have 3 From Hell, the final chapter in his Firefly family saga that began way back with House of 1000 Corpses and followed up by The Devils Rejects. While many fans have been excited about this third film, I’ve been on the fence wondering if this is really something I want to see. The Devils Rejects is a dark and mean little film that delivers one of the most satisfying endings for a horror film. It’s so good I have my doubts that it could ever be topped. But in Hollywood, if there is potential to make more money off a “franchise”, then there is going to be a sequel whether you want it or not. It’s been 16 years since the franchise began. How does he wrap it up? Well, buckle up, it’s a bit of a bumpy ride; that’s for sure.
The film opens up with the fallout from the massive showdown from The Devils Rejects as we saw Otis (Bill Moseley), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie), and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig) get taken down in a flurry of gunfire. We see them taken in to the hospital where by some miracle the three survive, and then the three are put on trial for their crimes. There is definitely a Natural Born Killers vibe to the first third of the film as Zombie does a good job at showing how this trio of psychopaths would be treated like celebrities in the media and how they develop fans. Some people are willing to even believe the three are all innocent and are being framed by the government. Sadly, though, a lot of this is rushed to build up for a big prison break to set up another murder spree led by Otis. Sure, it’s nice seeing Otis, and we get some bittersweet moments with Captain Spaulding (a shame this will be the last time we’ll see Sid Haig but his moments on screen are memorable none the less). But what doesn’t work is Baby. I’ve always been a fan of Sheri Moon Zombie and felt fans were kind of hard on her performances in the past, but this time around there are some groan-worthy moments. What’s worse is when you have her performing alongside Moseley, it’s impossible not to notice the talent gap. Joining Otis and Baby on their escape and new spree of mayhem is Richard Brake, playing Winslow Foxworth Coltrane, who is Otis’s brother. Brake is a welcomed addition to the cinematic family, but he’s obviously not in the same league of crazy that is Baby and Otis.
