Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 12th, 2017
When it comes to exploitation films you really are rolling the dice when you find a title you’ve never heard of and you decide to watch it. Through the 60’s and 70’s there were countless exploitation films that covered many genres, many of which were sold to audiences by a cool-looking poster and catchy title. Sex and violence were the major exploits with these films, and at this time there was also the birth of black cinema, or simply blacksploitation films. Many have heard of Foxy Brown, The Mack, and Truck Turner, but for all these hits there were many more misses, and it’s the lost gems of the era that film geeks get excited over. Just because a film wasn’t a hit at the time didn’t mean the film was no good; many just fell between the cracks, and Joe Bullet just happens to be one of those titles.
Joe Bullet is about as exploitation as it comes. If you are looking for something on par with the quality of the recent Jason Bourne film, well, you better keep on looking. This is one of the examples of low-budget filmmaking at its finest, where having a car explode most likely was a big chunk of the budget. I know some people can’t appreciate the camp of these films and quickly dismiss them, but for me I feel there is a bit of charm that comes through because you can see that everyone involved is actually trying to make the best film they can within their financial means.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on March 10th, 2017
Every year it seems the “summer” movie season starts sooner than the year before. Here we are, the second Friday of March, and already we’ve seen the huge box office weekend for Logan, and now this weekend we have the release of Kong: Skull Island. Ever since Kong first graced the big screen back in 1933, every film that followed was a mega-event. Personally it wasn’t till 2005 that theatergoers got to fully experience the massive beast in all his glory as he became worthy of the title “the 8th wonder of the world”. Now we have Legendary Entertainment playing in the giant monster movie sandbox with plans to set up a series of monster films. All this leads up to the inevitable clash of the kaiju monsters where we will finally see the showdown of Godzilla vs. King Kong. Before we begin to get too excited, how does our current trip to Skull Island fare?
It doesn’t take long for us to get to Skull Island; in fact the film opens up on the shore of the island in 1944. Two soldiers are shot down and crash on the island, and their fight to the death continues as they pursue one another into the heart of the island. Their fight is quickly interrupted by none other than Kong, and the pair realizes they seriously have bigger things to worry about on the island. OK, I’m fine with not drawing out the reveal of Kong, but really, the first five minutes? Where’s the tension to build to his massive 300-ft-plus reveal? Sure, we’ve all seen the trailers for about a year now, so seeing Kong should be no surprise, but come on, he deserves at least some kind of a buildup.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 23rd, 2017
Before there was South Park, in 1993 MTV released the coolest cartoon that was out there when they began to air Beavis and Butt-Head. When it came to animated shows, there really wasn’t much out there that appealed to the average teenage boy, but MTV understood their audience and took a chance on creator Mike Judge’s little series that was virtually an overnight sensation. The blend of having a short animated series mixed in with music videos that the show’s characters would deliver their commentary from the torn up sofa was the perfect blend for what would be an unexpected pop-culture movement. Looking back at the series with older eyes, I can understand why my parents rolled their eyes about my urgency to get home to watch the new episode of Beavis and Butt-Head. They were crass, they were stupid, and their only goals in life were to get laid and eat nachos; basically they were not so different from my friends in high school, only an exaggerated version. Now it’s 2017, and MTV has put out a massive 12-disc set that contains all the episodes, a variety of music videos, behind-the-scenes features, and even the feature-length film. After taking my trip down memory lane and feeling as though my brain has melted into a pile of nacho cheese, I’m here to deliver the verdict.
For those who somehow have never heard of the show, Beavis (blond Metalica t-shirt-wearing teen) and Butt-Head (brown-haired AC/DC t-shirt-wearing teen), are a pair of teens who lack intelligence and ambition but manage to plod along through life and get into some crazy situations. Despite the many faults of the duo, for the most part they are your typical teenagers who just want to have a good time. In a strange way I almost could say the two and their attitude on life is something so basic that perhaps their key to happiness is simply not thinking about their actions and just doing. We see them get bullied by the town trouble maker Todd; they are rejected by their peers, they live in terrible conditions with no parents in sight, but together the two seem to manage to get through any situation.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on February 20th, 2017
It’s kind of a big deal when discussing the film The Great Wall to mention that it is the most expensive Chinese film made to date. With an estimated budget of a $150 million, I can understand the stunt casting of putting Matt Damon in the film that takes place during the Great Wall’s construction. It’s quite simple; Matt Damon is an international star, and he puts people in seats. What’s more surprising is that at one time Edward Zwick was on board to direct, but eventually that position would be passed on to Yimou Zhang. For those unfamiliar with Zhang, he’s responsible for such martial arts epics Hero and House of Flying Daggers, and for Zhang this would be his first Hollywood feature. To bring another factoid to the table, the studio behind the film is Legendary East, the Chinese branch of Legendary, the studio that is responsible for such monster epics as Pacific Rim, Godzilla, and Kong: Skull Island; basically they are attempting to become the American version of TOHO, the studio that originally churned out all the hit giant monster films of the 50’s to today. What this all means is, everyone on board this project was expecting this film to be a monster (pun intended) smash at the global box office. Sadly, this was a giant swing, but not quite a miss, because the film is actually pretty fun.
The film opens up with a band of mercenaries on the run; they are on a quest to find “black powder” and return home with it. Right from the start we are given some beautiful aerial cinematography as the camera sweeps over the landscape to capture this opening horse chase. Everything about this opening sequence just screams epic, and it quickly elevated my hopes on what would soon follow.
During the night, the group of mercenaries are attacked by a dark creature that no one seems to get a good look at, but in the process of the struggle, William (Matt Damon) manages to sever the creature’s arm, and he keeps it to identify later. Later turns out to be the next day once William and his Spanish partner Tovar (Pedro Pascal) are separated by their group and are taken prisoner at the foot of the Wall. The Wall is under the protection of The Order, a group of soldiers that have been trained to protect The Wall for centuries. But protect it from what?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 20th, 2017
Ewan McGregor has had an interesting career in front of the camera; he’s gone from playing a heroin addict (Trainspotting), to being a Jedi and several roles that just about make him impossible to typecast. With his new film, McGregor is doing double duty by also helming the film as director for the first time. When I first heard about McGregor taking on American Pastoral, based on the book of the same name by Philip Roth, I was worried that perhaps he had bitten off a bit more than he could handle with his first time at bat. What’s surprising is how relevant the film is at this point in time as the country is so divided, and because of this it adds a new perspective to the film.
The story is told with narration from the perspective of Nathan Zuckerman (David Strathairn), who has returned to his hometown to celebrate his high school reunion. Nathan has come back to reflect on his old memories, most of which involve the high school star of his day, Seymour Levov, or as the town affectionately call him, Swede.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 14th, 2017
When it comes to having a serial killer being used as the main character or used as the anti-hero, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and of course Dexter are titles that first come to mind. The difference between these two titles is that we understand their code, or see the lack of code, when it comes to whom they choose to kill. It’s escapist entertainment, and I appreciate the morbidity of rooting for such deplorable characters, but that’s what cinema and television do; they take us along for a ride that reality cannot. When it comes to Dead West, we’re on board for a cross-country trip with a serial killer, but sadly this is a trip that had me reaching for the door handle before arriving at our destination.
When we first meet “The Ladykiller” (Brian Sutherland), he’s at a honkytonk bar in Texas and has his eye on one of the patrons who seems to have an eye on him as well. After a little small talk, he leads her behind the bar, and after he decides she’s not to his liking, he kills her. Apparently this is the M.O. for the killer, killing pretty young blondes, except this blonde has a brother Tony (Jeffrey Arrington) who wants revenge for his sister’s death. It’s a simple setup to get the story rolling, but the problem is there is nothing much else on display.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 10th, 2017
Season 1 of From Dusk Till Dawn gave us a ten-episode remake of the hit original movie while setting up a mythology to stretch its story over numerous seasons. Season 2 took us deeper into the culebra syndicate, and we got to see how they operate in their world as Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama) searched for an ancient blood source and sought to sit at the throne as the leader of all the culebras (a snake/vampire hybrid of sorts). All while the baddest outlaws North and South of the border, the Gecko brothers Seth (D.J. Cotrona) and Richie (Zane Holtz) were forced to work out their differences ever since Richie was made a culebra. Things have definitely taken some drastic turns from the original film, and I’m more than happy to say that Season 3 continues down its blood-soaked, horror western path, and this time it leads our band of misfit anti-heroes to take on a new enemy that is straight out of hell.
As we catch up with Seth and Richie they are stuck being collectors to the Lords (basically ancient leaders of the culebras), they’re not happy being bagmen and being at the bottom of the totem pole, but they really don’t have much of a choice. That is until a new breed of villain steps in, the xibalbans. The xibalbans are pretty much demons straight out of hell that use the culebras as slaves in their world. The introduction of the xibalbans also re-introduces us to Kate (Madison Davenport). Last time we saw her she was left for dead before some ancient blood got into her system As it turns out this ancient blood contained Amura, the queen of hell, and she is who has possessed Kate.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on February 5th, 2017
When The Ring (2002) first came out, if you looked hard enough you could still find movies on VHS, so the thought of a mysterious tape that kills you seven days after watching it wasn’t so entirely farfetched. Now that we are in 2017, if someone were to find a mysterious VHS tape, well, they’d be out of luck for the most part, since I’d wager most of the US population no longer has a VCR. But Hollywood won’t let this stop their successful franchise from moving forward, even though it’s been 12 years since The Ring Two, this weekend is the release of the third film in the series, and quite frankly, I have to wonder if anyone really wanted this.
Samara is back, and she is hungry to take the lives of anyone foolish enough to watch the video, and as the film opens we’re in a plane along with a passenger who has seen the film and only has minutes to go before his seven days are up. While this is a fun scene that gave me hope for what would continue, I couldn’t help but feel that the scene was perhaps a throwaway sequence from Final Destination. Then, oddly enough, the film seems to start again, two years later when we see Gabriel (Johnny Galecki), a college professor, purchasing an old VCR. Once Gabriel gets to his apartment, he gets a surprise when he discovers a tape with the words “Watch Me” written on it. Just like all foolish characters in horror films, he watches the film and immediately gets the phone call.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 2nd, 2017
It’s been 40 years since the release of The Man Who Fell to Earth, and in that time a lot has changed. If I’m being honest, this isn’t a film that really holds up too well. Last year the star of the film, David Bowie, passed away, and it would seem prosperous and logical to crank out an anniversary edition of the film. As it stands this film isn’t considered so much a classic, but a cult film that fans of Bowie and certain sci-fi fans hold in high regard. For me, this was simply a title I had heard of in passing during talks about Bowie or sci-fi films, but it was never a film that really called to me. To the disappointment of several friends, I’m not much of a fan of David Bowie’s music, and science fiction just isn’t a genre I’m in love with. But when the call came in from Upcomingdiscs headquarters about reviewing this film, well, I decided to finally check this film out, and the result…well it certainly left me pondering the film afterwards.
I’m going to start off by saying this is a strange film, not just in subject matter but how the story is told. Today we’re used to seeing films in a traditional linear manner, where basically the story unfolds from start to finish in an ABCD manner. Well, this film goes that direction but chooses to skip over C to get to D. What I mean is there are gaps in story and time that are not explained, and there is no reason for this, and don’t dwell on it much despite how often this occurs.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 27th, 2017
Before there were The Hunger Games or even The Running Man, there was a tiny little B-Film called Death Race 2000. Long before the remake occurred with Jason Statham as the lead I was a fan of the original, and for all the wrong reasons. I thought it was great, the notion of having a point system for people you’d hit with your car, the kind of thing you’d joke with friends about, but would never actually go through with. With David Carradine wearing the black mask as immortal Frankenstein behind the wheel of his death machine, he was fun to root for. I’m pretty sure, though, it was a young Sylvester Stallone as the bloodthirsty Machine Gun Joe who got so many people to see the original. I’ll be honest, it’s what got me to rent the VHS, hoping to see Rambo in action, but instead it just opened my eyes to a new kind of cinema cool I wasn’t expecting. I’ve seen the original film at least a dozen times, and it always delivers the over-the-top fun that films of the 70’s embraced. Now that Roger Corman has decided it is time to dust off his film and give it a reboot for a new generation. Even with a bigger budget and more affordable technology, is it a wise decision to once again attempt to update a classic? There’s only one way to know for sure. Strap in, folks, because things are about to get messy.
It’s supposed to be the year 2050, and the government has developed a cross-country death race to hopefully whittle down the population while entertaining the masses in the process. The returning champ is Frankenstein (Manu Bennett). He’s the fan favorite in a leather suit and always wears a leather mask. It’s hard to understand why he’d be such a beloved favorite, but this is a world that embraces a ruthless killing machine. Other drivers are Minerva (Folake Olowofoyeku), a stylish hip-hop/Mad Max inspired mash-up, Jed Perfectus (Burt Grinstead), an egocentric madman who wants to be number one and adored by everyone, and then there is Tammy (Anessa Ramsey), an all-American religious leader who loves to pray and kill. It’s a fun batch of drivers, along with a car that is controlled by AI that is simply known as Abe (voiced by DC Douglas). The characters are all over the top, but unfortunately there is nothing in the way of depth to be found here. There is an attempt at giving Frankenstein a deeper story, one that is far from being original, but really what’s going for the film is that you don’t watch a movie called Death Race 2050 and expect a heartwarming character study. Instead, you’re here to be entertained, and it does so.
