Posts by Brent Lorentson

SyFy Channel is at it again, a film about the near end of the world.  With the backlog of disaster films, you would imagine if there ever was an emergency and the world was on the cusp of massive destruction, thankfully there is a film out there to at least give us an outside-the-box theory of how to prevent the end.  After all it’s not as though NASA or the numerous geniuses working in labs in front of computers or telescopes would have any idea about what to do.  It’s always someone nestled in a small town no one has ever heard of, but this resident has the answers to everything.  It’s with this kind of thinking and obsession with disaster films where End of the World wants its viewers.  This isn’t a film that takes itself seriously, but it also is a far cry from being a parody.

Greg Grunberg (Alias and Heroes) plays Owen Stokes, a disaster-film-obsessed owner of a video store.  It’s a small town, so it doesn’t seem as though Netflix or Red Box has made its corporate invasion quite yet.  Selena (Caroline Cave) is Owen’s girlfriend and doesn’t seem too pleased that he’s forgotten her birthday or that he uses the birthdate of his favorite sci-fi writer Dr. Walter Brown to remind him.  But before their argument can get too out of hand, a solar flare hits the Earth sending bursts of blue energy that destroy whatever it comes into contact with.

Joel and Ethan Coen have been churning out hits for decades.  From Raising Arizona to Fargo and No Country For Old Men as well as many cult hits in between, the Coen brothers have a unique voice that has led to their long success in the Hollywood system.  With their new release, the Coens delve into the Greenwich Village Folk scene in the winter of 1961.  It’s a time that most audiences (myself included) may not be very knowledgeable about. The Coens take on this niche genre of music and present an engaging tale about a struggling musician and his journey to find success in an industry that at the time had a deaf ear to Folk.

Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is a guitar playing folksinger, his act recently going solo after his partner dies.  When we first meet Llewyn he’s playing at The Gaslight, a club filled with musical acts on the rise.  After his set Llewyn is told by the club’s owner that there is friend waiting for him outside; as it would turn out the so-called “friend” has a grudge to settle with Llewyn.

The key to making any good romance work is that you have to be able to root for the couple, that no matter what these characters may face, you have to be on board and believe this cinematic love affair is meant to be.  In the case of Twice Born, I have to say it does such a good job at getting me to root for this couple that I want to punch the film in the face for what it puts them through.  Yes, you read that correctly.  This film managed to get me so wrapped up in the characters that I found myself cursing at the screen simply because what Gemma (Penelope Cruz) and Diego (Emile Hirsch) endure is heart-wrenching to the extremes.  This isn’t simply a love story but a brutal example of what it is to endure tragedy for the love of a soulmate.

When we first meet Gemma, she is a caring mother of a teenager whom she wishes to take back home to Sarajevo so he can see where he was born.  This is an understandable experience she’d like to share with her son, Pietro (Pietro Castellitto).  The story then jumps into the past, when we see a younger Gemma setting off to travel, and it is in her travels she meets Diego, a charming American freelance photographer.  Though back home Gemma has a relationship, it doesn’t prevent her from her brief yet torrid romance with Diego which in turn brings about her first pregnancy, though the child never comes to full term.

There is something charming and irresistible when it comes to the characters of Mordecai and Rigby.  The slacker duo that consists of an oversized blue-jay and a raccoon have a charm about them that seems to appeal to all ages, but for me I find them to be the most relatable of animated characters.  Perhaps not so much now but back in my teen years these two sadly remind me a lot of myself, the obsession with film, slacking off about work, and most notably the awkwardness around girls. With this DVD release we get a collection of episodes that explore the love lives of not just Mordecai but Rigby and even Muscle Man as well.

With 16 episodes together in the pack and coming in just under three hours of content, for fans of the show there are plenty of episodes to sit back and enjoy.  Muscle Woman would be the first in the collection that I’d consider really follows the “romantic” theme of the collection.  Rigby and Mordecai have to work together to help get Muscle Man out of the depressed funk he’s in since his girlfriend Muscle Woman has broken up with him.  This isn’t so much something they are doing out of the kindness of the hearts, but rather to get Muscle Man back to work.  Unfortunately the plan that seems to work is getting Muscle Woman to go out with Mordecai, only he needs to break her heart in order for her to see what she had with Muscle Man.  Sadly Mordecai gets nothing but the bad end of the stick in this episode, though it does have its sweet moments.  The Muscle Man and Muscle Woman relationship is followed up in the episode Fancy Restaurant where Muscle Man is asked by his girlfriend to meet her parents and to do it at some place that is fancy.  Once again it’s up to Rigby and Mordecai to help make this date go off without a hitch, but there is only so much that can be expected of a character like Muscle Man who enjoys ripping off his shirt and having a punch line that tends to end “…like my mom”.  When the date goes bad and Muscle Man and the gang have to take on the stuffy wait staff, well, that’s the kind of fun you come to expect from the show.

Let’s be honest, anytime you hear about a SyFy original movie, expectations are lowered, and you settle in for what is most likely going to be a forgettable, cheesy film.  But sometimes a film comes along, and it manages to take you by surprise, and you just have a good time with it, and not at the film’s expense (Sharknado, I’m looking at you).  When it comes to where Scarecrow falls, well, this is one of those fun little films that captures the spirit of some great 80’s monster films; Pumpkinhead continually came to mind while watching this.

It’s almost time for the town’s annual Scarecrow Festival where everyone gathers around to celebrate the tale of an urban legend that goes back over a hundred years.  Unfortunately for a few students who are in detention, they get to spend their time helping clean up an old farm.  Stuck looking after the students is Aaron Harris (Robin Dunne) who just so happens to have dated Kristen (Lacey Chabert), the current owner of the farm he and the students are going to work on.

Prison films seem to work as one of the perfect examples of characters in life confronting the crossroads in their lives to either continue down the road they are going and amount to nothing, or seize the opportunity to make a change and make something of themselves.  Most often the character needs to overcome personal demons whether they are emotional or drug-related, but it is still a demon that has dragged them to a dark place in their life, and it’s behind bars where these characters find their redemption.  The Shawshank Redemption is perhaps one of the most popular films that explores this belief of personal salvation from behind bars, and Jamesy Boy appears to followed suit.

The film is based on a true story, and newcomer Spencer Lofranco steps into the lead role of James.  James is the poster child for what a troubled youth is, bouncing in and out of juvenile detention to the point that no public school wants to accept him as a student.  He’s a boy without a future as he continues down this troubled path, but his mom, played by Mary-Louise Parker, struggles to find a school that will take him.  The trouble for James is that the longer he’s out of school the easier it is for trouble to find him, and that’s just what happens when he meets Crystal (Rosa Salazar) who is just as troubled, only she has friends who deal heavily in drugs and numerous other illegal activities.

Good news, you just inherited a home from a family you never even knew you had; unfortunately, once arriving onto the property you start to lose your sanity.  That is basically The Invoking in a very crude nutshell.  The cover may elicit hopes for a more hard-edged haunted house film or a film revolving around some unseen evil in the woods, but this is not the case. Writer, cinematographer, and director Jeremy Berg sets off on his first- time feature film and delivers a film that underwhelms but does have its merits.

Samantha (Trin Miller) takes three of her friends out into the wilderness to see the home and property she has inherited.  Along for the ride is her ex-boyfriend Mark (Brandon Anthony), Caitlin (Andi Norris) and Roman (Josh Truax).  This is one of those pairings that I feel really only works in the movies, but in real life this group would simply be at one another’s throats the entire time.  After all, Roman seems to be in love with his best friend who is planning on traveling for six months and continues to flirt with Mark despite her best friend’s feelings.  As for Mark, there still seems to be tension between Samantha and him, so of course what better way for this drama to play out than a trip to a house in the middle of nowhere.