Brent Lorentson

One look at the DVD cover art for this film and I somewhat had an idea of what to expect.  A science fiction B movie that would have made Roger Corman smile with delight, and surprise surprise, that is exactly what we get with Agency of Vengeance: Dark Rising.  This is actually the sequel to an earlier film Dark Rising: Bring Your Battle Axe. It isn’t necessary to watch the previous film to enjoy Agency of Vengeance. The film jumps into the action as we see a group of Rising Dark agents pursuing a large sandworm that is tearing up the streets of a suburban neighborhood.
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I’m a sucker for a good urban legend.  Growing up, friends and I would dare one another to lock ourselves in the bathroom with candles and perform the “Bloody Mary” chant, and other times we’d pull out the Ouija board and attempt to communicate with the otherworldly spirits that seem to only want to talk during the midnight hour.  Well, now there is a new game that you and your friends can get together and play into the late night hours, that is if you’re willing to risk losing your life in the process.
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Many would agree that we are in the golden age of television, where the pedigree of the television drama has never been equaled in talent or scope of the stories we are seeing projected on our television sets night after night.  As these stories have gotten bigger and bigger with every following year and season, it would also seem that drama TV has also fallen into its grimmest time.  Not to mean that there is anything wrong with seeing these tales of survival like The Walking Dead or rooting for the ultimate anti-hero like Walter White.
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I never knew just how many incarnations of Transformers actually existed; with this review of the Cybertron series, this will be my third take on the series, and for better or worse, they still manage to deliver a good time. Known originally in Japan as Transformers: Galaxy Force, this series had its run from 2005-2007.  Cybertron does appear to be a sequel in the line of the previous series Energon, though some of the changes that were made unfortunately left me a little disappointed.
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When it comes to films with Dolph Lundgren, let’s face it: you know before it even starts there is no chance of this movie having what anyone would call an “inspiring performance.” Thankfully Lundgren seems to understand the limits of his abilities and tends to stick with the run-of-the-mill action/adventure films that seem to go direct to DVD.
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When I first picked up this title to review it was a film I knew nothing about other than what the DVD cover revealed, which as it turns out was very little.  I like going into most films cold so there is no room for expectations to get in the way.  With such a generic title and a cast that had a few names that rang a bell and knowing nothing about the story, I figured the film had equal chances to be good or simply a stinker I’d forget by the weekend.  As it turns out, Gangster is a gritty little drama that not so much took me by surprise but instead left me wanting so much more.
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Not to be mistaken for the much anticipated Ant-Man that should release next year from Marvel, Antboy is the latest import out of Denmark that shows that the worldwide box office is becoming a more level and diverse playing field.  For the longest time foreign films were a thing that belonged in art house cinema and found in a tiny section at the mom-and-pop video store.  Now in a generation of the internet and most notably Netflix, the wide range of foreign cinema is being made available, and in my opinion this is a great thing.
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With all these found-footage films that seem to be coming out week after week, I wonder just how audiences will react when they finally get a scene that is shot on a tripod.  It will be hailed as a revelation, I’d imagine, and finally the world will be able to watch a film without pondering if they should have double-dosed on their motion sickness pills.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Infliction is yet another entry into the canon of found-footage films and is also another example of why it is a style that is not meant for everyone to try or to use as an excuse for a low budget.
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Any time I see a film released with the words Once Upon a Time (insert location), I feel the film is already setting itself up for failure. There are numerous classics that boast that title; Once Upon a Time in the West as well as Once Upon a Time in America are two that come to mind that are classics in their genres.  But then you have Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which for me was a lackluster conclusion to the El Mariachi trilogy.  Now we have the release of Once Upon a Time in Vietnam and, well, despite its attempts to be a big sprawling epic, the film just doesn’t deliver.
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After the number of horror films I’ve seen, the prospect of going on a road trip and taking a back road seems like just about the worst idea anyone could ever have.  Whether it’s in the mountains where you have to fear backwoods cannibals (Wrong Turn) or it’s the open desert highway and fearing maniacs in semi-trucks (Joy Ride), really, is anywhere safe to travel?  Even the quaint little roadside motel is a place to fear, and I don’t mean the bedbugs either.
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When I read on IMDB that this was meant to be a horror comedy, I have to admit I breathed a sigh of relief.  After watching Ghost of Goodnight Lane I just simply was left wondering if the laughs were intended or if this was a film that just was delivered so poorly that you just couldn’t help but laugh at it.  Having seen now that the film was intended for laughs, I’m still not so sure it’s helps the film any.  Though it has a solid story and a decent cast, the execution just falls flat.
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As we get even closer to the release of Michael Bay’s next foray into the Transformers universe with Transformers:Age of Extinction, Shout factory releases yet another series to help whet our appetites. As a kid growing up in the 80’s it was impossible to exist without knowing who Optimus Prime was or being able to hum (if not sing) the theme song to the cartoon.  But since the release of the original cartoon there have been so many spinoffs it’s hard to keep them all straight.  In 2007 Cartoon Network and Hasbro Studios set out to capture the imaginations of a younger audience following the success of the movies.  How does the series stack up to the 80’s classic?
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