Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 9th, 2020
“Art is dangerous.” It’s a quote that has been passed around over the decades, and it’s something I tend to agree with. Over the weeks building up to the release of the film, there seems to be a manufactured panic about what could happen when Joker releases onto the big screen. In Aurora, Colorado they’ve elected to not show the film as a way to not trigger local residents that were involved in the 2012 shooting. This I can understand considering the shooter did indeed dress as the Joker when he committed his act of violence. As for other parts of the US, the local police and military have been placed on high alert, all because people are worried about the gun violence and how it may motivate deranged fans to go on shooting sprees. This obviously is not what the studios or filmmakers ever intended, but it is unfortunately a sign of the times that we are living in. No one should have to fear going to the movies. The theater for many is the place for audiences to escape for two hours and forget the troubles and the horrors of the real world, and my hope is audiences will be able to do so without violent incidents.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 8th, 2020
When it comes to B action films, there is a threshold for what your expectations should be for the film. In the grindhouse era there were some pretty good quality action films, but as the sub-genre stretched into the 80’s and 90’s, the quality just got worse, though they’d always find some star whose celebrity was on the verge of fading. Dolph Lundgren has managed to hang in there and continue to get roles even though it’s been more than a couple decades since he last had the top billing for a Hollywood blockbuster. Personally I’ve always liked the guy; he can still be a charming badass or also play the heavy when need be for a film. Sure, he’s aged, but I can still believe he’d have no trouble kicking some onscreen ass. The one thing that the filmmakers of Acceleration got right was to cast Lundgren in their film where we get to see him play the good guy as well as the bad guy. As for the rest of the film, well, they had a good idea and a nice lineup of B-movie action stars as well as former UFC fighters, but the result falls well short of its potential.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 8th, 2020
Family Guy has reached a level of impact upon the American pop culture where I believe the characters need little to no introduction. Is there anyone, really, who doesn’t recognize Stewie? After all, he’s reached the status of icon and has even become a fixture of the Thanksgiving parade as one of the many floats. Where The Flintstones, then later The Simpsons, were at one time the dominating animated family on television tackling day to day struggles of the modern American (each in their own and unique way), Family Guy (love it or hate it) now seems to be the go-to animated family. In this collection of 20 episodes, the creative force, Seth Macfarlane, and his team continue to deliver the laughs along with their twisted moral messages. In today’s culture, it seems like it is harder and harder to be a comedian and manage to not offend anyone, and for the first time I feel the show is restraining itself too much, and it’s hurting the product. Family Guy has always been a show that was self-aware and would break the fourth wall, so it was not a big surprise when a character mentions how they’ve eased up on their jokes against the gay community. Is this a move brought on because Disney now is writing the checks for those involved, or is this decision made by the writing team?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 29th, 2019
Family Guy has reached a level of impact upon the American pop culture where I believe the characters need little to no introduction. Is there anyone, really, who doesn’t recognize Stewie? After all, he’s reached the status of icon and has even become a fixture of the Thanksgiving parade as one of the many floats. Where The Flintstones, then later The Simpsons, were at one time the dominating animated family on television tackling day to day struggles of the modern American (each in their own and unique way), Family Guy (love it or hate it) now seems to be the go-to animated family. In this collection of 20 episodes, the creative force, Seth Macfarlane, and his team continue to deliver the laughs along with their twisted moral messages. In today’s culture, it seems like it is harder and harder to be a comedian and manage to not offend anyone, and for the first time I feel the show is restraining itself too much, and it’s hurting the product. Family Guy has always been a show that was self-aware and would break the fourth wall, so it was not a big surprise when a character mentions how they’ve eased up on their jokes against the gay community. Is this a move brought on because Disney now is writing the checks for those involved, or is this decision made by the writing team?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 17th, 2019
When it comes to Quentin Tarantino’s ninth feature film, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, while it may be the most personal film that QT has put out, for some fans this may be his hardest to embrace. For many fans, when they think of a Tarantino film the go-to titles are Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, and there is nothing wrong with that, but if you’re going into this film with expectations for it to resemble those films, well, you’re going to be disappointed. Instead what Tarantino delivers this time around is something more ambitious; while it may not be heavy on plot, what it thrives on is character and its ability to take us back in time to Hollywood in 1969 as it was closing in on the end of an era. Other fans may be coming into this film expecting this to be a story that delves into Charles Manson and his followers because of the film having Sharon Tate in it; well, again, this is something where you need to put expectations aside and allow Tarantino to let his story unfold for you, because as expected, he takes this film into an unexpected direction.
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.
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.
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.
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.
