Brent Lorentson

After solar storms ravage the earth causing the soil to overheat and scorch our forests, the few who survive are left in a barren wasteland that stretches across the globe.  The concept is an impressive one to explain the desert world we are first introduced to in the opening moments of Hell, though what’s more impressive is how this low-budget, post-apocalyptic film managed this look with simple camera tricks.  With Roland Emmerich involved as executive producer, you may be expecting big-budget recreations of famous landmarks exploding and wiped away in a giant tidal wave.
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It’s not often, if ever that you’ll find me looking forward to a Hallmark Channel movie.  I have nothing against a good romance or sappy family dramas; it’s just that guys for the most part are not the target demographic.  To get to the point, this film is the chick flick guys fear being made to watch after losing the battle at the Red Box when all the other appealing titles are out and the wife or girlfriend is in no mood for action.  But thankfully the film isn’t all bad, and in fact it’s actually decent with the exception of a few clichés along the way.
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As the credits rolled for this film I struggled to remember the last time I’ve been so relieved that a movie had finally come to an end.  Christian Slater and Donald Sutherland are so much better than this. Can things really be so bad that they are slumming to do this “D” grade action nonsense?  I understand a gig is a gig, but these guys used to be at least marketable names to the box office.  They still have the talent and swagger to steal a scene, so why subject them to this?  Before I digress any further, allow me to take a breath…
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“I guess I kinda always liked cutting stuff up.”

Maybe it’s a little weird to admit this, but I dig movies where the characters are put in the position where they need to dispose of a body.  This is something of a sub-genre plot device that worked so well in Shallow Grave as well as Very Bad Things.  Sure, most of us would go ahead and call the police and report the body or the accidental homicide, but I always found these films amusing when they decide to let their characters do the wrong thing.
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From the title alone it will either induce an eye roll or peak your curiosity.  I have a soft spot for fun cheesy horror, and with the tease of potential nudity well, this seemed like it would be a good time.  Turns out I had way more fun watching this movie than I expected; it was actually pretty good.  By no stretch of the imagination is this a brilliant slasher, but a solid B-movie that would have made Roger Corman and Lloyd Kaufman proud.
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Ever wonder what Herman Melville’s classic tale Moby Dick would have been like if instead of a white whale Ahab was obsessed with but a giant white dragon?  Well, then you’re in luck, because that is exactly what Age of Dragons is, a literal remake of the classic but with dragons.  At first I found this idea pretty awesome, and heck it even has Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon) with Vinnie Jones(X-Men Last Stand); what could possibly go wrong?  Sadly, a lot can go wrong.
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Going into this film all I really knew was that it was written and directed by Mario Van Peebles (New Jack City) and a vague memory of the trailer I caught on a previous DVD I reviewed.   One look at the unappealing cover and it had me thinking I got stuck with a low-budget Step Up knockoff, and I just really wasn’t looking forward to this film, but I do try and stay optimistic, because sometimes you never know when something good may come along.  This is one of those films.
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“Loyalty is what you can hold in your hand.”

I know it doesn’t completely fill the bill as a pirate film, but ever since I saw The Goonies up on the big screen I became obsessed with all things pirate related.  Even one of the first books I read as a child was the Robert Louis Stevenson classic Treasure Island.  The bad part with being an 80’s kid was growing up in an era where pirate films simply were hard to come by, and when they did they weren’t very good; I’m looking at you Cutthroat Island. 
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Just to forewarn you this is not a review for the mini-series that aired on the History channel with Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton.  Instead this is for the bad knockoff that seems to have been released just in time to catch any spillover interest from the Costner version.  So how does this version of the battle between the two feuding families hold up?  Well, not so good, and I’m being generous in saying that.
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A serial killer is on the loose in New York dispatching up-and-coming hip hop artists.  Is it a feud between rappers, a crazed fan, or is it all part of a conspiracy connecting all the homicides involving rappers reaching back to the days of Tupac and the Notorious BIG?  Chances are if you’re anything like me you couldn’t care less.  I take rappers about as seriously as Carrot Top, and I’m willing to wager it’s Carrot that has more talent.  But people still enjoy the music, and as long as the fans are happy that’s all that matters.
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It’s been six years since the end of the Civil War, and zombies have managed to overrun the landscape.  Had this been the actual turn of events, I believe more kids would surely enjoy digging into their history books, but as we all know this is not the case.  But this is the “what-if” scenario that writer/director John Geddes portrays for us in his new Canadian horror film Exit Humanity.
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With technology constantly evolving and becoming more affordable, it has allowed more and more film makers to get their projects made.  With so many films now filling the market it’s become harder to sort through the crowd and find the ones that actually stand out from the pack, and because of this some really good films just get lost among the masses.  A Bag of Hammers seems to be one of those films.  This isn’t groundbreaking cinema, but it’s a story that has us look at the idea of what family is from a unique perspective without beating the message into our head.
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Since the age of 15 jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour has been strumming his Gibson guitar with The Mommas  & The Papas and even doing some guitar work for Pink Floyd’s the Wall ‘’Run like Hell” track.  It was during his time with the Mommas & The Poppas that he was given the name “Captain Fingers” which would also later go on to be the name for one of his more successful albums.   In 2010 after fifty years of performing, Guitar Player Magazine awarded Ritenour a lifetime achievement award
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