Posts by Brent Lorentson

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.

Paul Ferris (Martin Compston) had it rough as a kid, always the target of bullies, while also developing a quiet admiration for the local Glasgow crime boss.  Witnessing an execution before even turning a teenager, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this admiration would soon develop into emulation towards the bullies in his neighborhood.

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.

For the parents out there worried about their kids having to read subtitles, no worries, the film comes with a dubbed track that is the default option on the DVD.  As for the film itself, I’ll be honest, from the cover art I set my expectations low and prepared for the worst.  Thankfully my concerns were quickly alleviated.

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.

Though this boasts that it is a horror film, I can’t help but shake my head and disagree.  Is the subject matter disturbing?  Perhaps for some.  Is it gruesome or violent?  Nothing too bad.  Instead this film is misdiagnosed from the get-go.  This is a family tragedy at best and has some heart to it, if only more attention was paid towards the performances and story, rather than film needless exposition.

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.  Dustin Nguyen puts on many hats in his first feature release, filling in the roles of actor, writer, director and producer.  It’s an ambitious undertaking and seems to be a labor of love; unfortunately, it doesn’t always reflect in the film.

Master Dao (Nguyen) is something of a loner, on a quest to find other warriors like himself.  What Dao plans to do with these warriors simply depends on whether they are good or bad.  In some ways you can see this Dao character in the same vein as The Man With No Name, the similarities are there and are very apparent, but Dao seems to lean more towards the “hero” side, considering he follows in the ways of Buddha.  Once he arrives in a small village, he rents out a room from a couple who have a young rebellious child of their own.

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.  No Vacancy comes along on DVD as families and friends are getting ready to embark on the open road, and in case none of the previously-mentioned films were enough to make you think twice about that road trip, perhaps No Vacancy will.

A group of friends are on their way to Vegas; considering they’re all young twenty-somethings, I seriously doubt it’s to catch Celine Dion live on stage.  Drinking and plenty of debauchery seems to be on the menu for these guys, that is until they get two flat tires and are stranded in the middle of nowhere.  The guys set off to find help while leaving the girls behind with the car.  The help that the guys do find turns out to be better than they ever could have expected.