Posts by Brent Lorentson

Have you ever watched a movie that is so insane that when it ends you’re stuck on your couch wondering what just happened?  Adam Chaplin: Violent Avenger did just that, and as it turns out, that is not such a bad thing.  The film is such a mash-up of crazy visuals and violence, it’ll leave your mind rattled for some time just trying to make sense of it all.  This is pure splatter cinema straight out of Italy where the gore runs red and by the buckets.

Adam (Emanuele De Santi, who also wrote and directed the film) is a man that is out for revenge after he finds out his wife has been burned alive by a local crime boss Denny Richards.  The police are no use considering Denny controls the city, and this leaves Adam with only one option, to make a deal with a demon that gives him special powers and will help him as best he can to achieve his revenge.  Sure, the plot is simple, and the film doesn’t try to pretend it is anything more.

It’s only the first of October, and already the Christmas spirit is being thrust upon us.  It’s not that I’m trying to be a Grinch about it, but for me my true Christmas is in October when we get to celebrate the ghouls and goblins that lurk in the shadows.  But I did what I could not to let the season we’re in get in the way of a movie; after all, Die Hard was a Christmas movie in the summer; same goes for Iron Man 3.  Sure, those are action titles, but they are still great no matter what time of year you watch them.  So perhaps So This Is Christmas may turn out to be this under-theradar gem that will surprise me.

Things open up with a brief flurry of excitement as a young man and woman are rushed into the hospital suffering from multiple gunshots. Ashley (Lexi Ainsworth) is pulled aside by an officer to get her statement about what she saw; instead of just a statement about the shooting instead her story starts further back, explaining her early party days, and so the story really begins.

Family Guy has reached a level of impact upon the American pop culture where I believe the characters need little to no introduction.  Is there anyone, really, that doesn’t recognize Stewie; after all he’s reached the status of icon and has even become a fixture of the Thanksgiving parade as one of the many floats.  Where The Flintstones, then later The Simpsons were at one time the dominating animated family on the television tackling day to day struggles of the modern American (each in their own and unique way), Family Guy (love it or hate it) now seems to be the go-to animated family.

In this collection of 23 episodes, the creative force, Seth Macfarlane, and his team continue to deliver the laughs along with their twisted moral messages.  Instead of jumping right into it and discussing the season’s lows and highs, I want to mention the oddball of the group Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q.  In what starts out as an amusing tale about Quagmire barely escaping death while experimenting with some kinky sex, quickly the story shifts instead to the abusive relationship his sister is in.  For television, with the added bleeps it may not have seemed so harsh, but with the uncensored set the viewer stands by and watches the verbal, physical and emotional abuse Brenda goes through, and it is intense.  The gang feels there is little to do knowing Brenda will never leave the boyfriend, so they decide to schedule a camping trip where they plan to kill him and have it look like an accident.  Before any feminist groups get upset feeling the show is making a joke out of abuse towards women, surprisingly it’s the opposite; the episode is dark and at times uncomfortable and shocking as the story unfolds.  For a twenty-two minute episode they cram a lot in to deliver a message as subtle as it may be, but I applaud the creative team behind it for using their creative forum to get their message out.

Football season is well on its way, and that can mean one thing; fantasy football players are at their computers making trades and setting up their lineups.  For some fantasy football is nothing more than Dungeons and Dragons for adults who like football, but those that have their own league, well, you know how cutthroat things can get once your star receiver is injured and that perfect replacement just hit the waiver wire.  The F/X (now I think FXX) show The League may take more than a few jabs at those who take fantasy football a little too seriously, but for myself this is one of my comedies on the air right now. 

Considering this is an ensemble show where the laughs and plot lines are well spread throughout the core six, perhaps it would be better to run down the cast.  Pete (Mark Duplass) who is the league’s three time champion, Ruxin (Nick Kroll), Kevin (Stephen Rannazzisi) Pete’s best friend, Jenny (Kate Aselton) Kevin’s wife, Andre (Paul Scheer), the socially awkward one of the bunch, and then there is Taco (Jon Lajoie) Kevin’s brother.  Even though this band of friends seem to care a great deal for each other, feelings are easily put aside when it comes to the league or making a joke at the other’s expense.

The idea of taking a long road trip with your loved one or best friend is something everyone has to do at least a few times in your life.  There is something that occurs while driving down long lonely roads with nothing but music, scenery and good conversation to keep you company.  The road trip film is almost a genre onto itself and can be funny like Plains, Trains and Automobiles, insightful like On The Road, or horrifying like Joyride.  These films are so easy to relate to, because at some point we all share in these kinds of adventures, perhaps not so exciting but memorable nonetheless.  As for Scenic Route, it explores what can go wrong when you decide to take the long way home to take in the scenery, especially when there is a rising tension between two best friends.

Mitchell (Josh Duhamel) and Carter (Dan Fogler) have been lifelong friends, but since Mitchell got married the two have seemed to drift apart.  To make up for lost time, Carter decides to plan a long road trip that takes them through Death Valley and hopes that this quality time together can help bring the two closer together.  Unfortunately Mitchell isn’t much for the scenery and not so big on talking, leaving Carter to make a drastic decision to stage the car breaking down.  This is the first of many confrontations between the two as we discover how Carter feels Mitchell jumped into his marriage after getting out of a bad breakup.  Mitchell, on the other hand, believes his wife is the best thing to happen to him and that getting married is simply what people do when they get older.

Even though director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Ocean’s 11, Magic Mike) has an Oscar under his belt and numerous box office hits, the road to getting Behind the Candelabra was a difficult one.  Originally Soderbergh had planned for the film to play in theaters, but every studio was afraid of the project believing it to be “too gay”.  Sure, there have been numerous films in Hollywood that dealt with homosexual subject matter, and considering this was also a bio pic I’m still surprised the typically liberal studio system was so afraid of this project.  But thankfully the film found a home with HBO, and the result is an intense film that is more than just a look behind the closed doors of the famed Liberace but the loss of innocence once introduced to wealth and fame.

When we first meet Scott Thorson (Matt Damon), he is a young impressionable teenager who has a passion for working with animals.  But it’s after seeing Liberace (Michael Douglas) perform on stage that something begins to change for him.  Getting the chance to meet the performer after the show is one of those surreal moments in Thorson’s life, but it’s also the moment where Liberace first laid eyes upon him and when some would say the seduction and corruption began.  Thorson is young and impressionable from the beginning, clearly having issues with his sexuality.  Liberace knows how to work this to his advantage, distracting him with money and a comfortable lifestyle, and before Thorson can realize it he finds himself the lover and possibly the adopted child of Liberace.  If this were not strange enough for you, Liberace goes so far as to have Scott see a plastic surgeon so he can have work done to look like Liberace.

In the caverns beneath the planet’s surface there exists a place like no other, a place where duels are settled not with bullets but with slugs.  But these are not the kind of slugs that ooze their way across your driveway; instead they each have their own personalities and skills that are to be used in battle.  In the land of Slugterra, El is the quickest slugslinger out there, but there are a lot of baddies out there looking to take control over Slugterra, and thankfully he has the Shane gang (Trixie, Kord, Pronto and Burpy) to help him out.

This somewhat comes off as a slight knockoff of the Pokemon series, but really the kids that’ll be watching this I doubt will care, considering there is plenty of action to keep them entertained.  Though the characters are somewhat generic: Trixie, the witty smart and tough girl of the bunch, Kord, the big guy that’s also a bit of a softy, then Pronto, the goofy clumsy one of the bunch; what makes it all tolerable is the writers don’t go too far with the cheesy factor and maintain a somewhat serious tone (for kids’ cartoon standards).