Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 10th, 2012
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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 6th, 2012
It’s a little hard for me to realize it really has been 20 years since Stone Temple Pilots emerged out of the grunge scene with their album Core. I remember hanging out at my friends house playing Sega Genesis while listening to this tape (yes, cassette tape) over and over with some Pearl Jam and Nirvana thrown in as well. For me these guys are like moments of time from my past that I’ll always look fondly upon. Whether it was my first mosh pit or first house party, this was the music that surrounded me.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 6th, 2012
We’ve all heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”; well ,in this case it should be extended to not judging it by its title either. I read the title for Some Guy Who Kills People and thought it was a clever ominous title, but the movie that followed didn’t live up to the title but instead pulled a bit hard at the heartstrings. I came into this one expecting horror and instead got pleasantly surprised by this sweet horror (very loosely fits in this case) comedy about a relationship between a father and daughter.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on July 6th, 2012
When I first saw the trailer for Savages I was more than a little unimpressed; in fact I was beginning to accept that there were no more great films to come from one of the directors I believe was in the top five working directors of the 80s and the 90s. Over the past decade he’s managed to churn out some decent films, but nothing that can measure up to Platoon, JFK, The Doors, Natural Born Killers or Nixon. With Alexander he took a big gamble and it was a commercial bomb, and since then it seems he’s been playing it safe.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on June 29th, 2012
What if your favorite childhood toy were to not only come to life but also be your best friend for life? This is the scenario writer/director Seth Macfarlane (creator of Family Guy and American Dad) set out to explore in his first live action venture behind the lens in this summer’s comedy Ted. With the freedom of an R rating I was curious to see what Macfarlane would bring us and what I came away with was something of a surprise.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 25th, 2012
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.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 21st, 2012
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.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 19th, 2012
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
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on June 15th, 2012
Ever since his departure from Saturday Night Live, Adam Sandler has become one of the most successful comedians of all time. Granted not all of his movies have been great; in fact, some are better left forgotten, but he has a loyal fan base that will keep returning to the theater to see the funny man with hopes of the next big hit. Sure, he had success with Grown Ups, but when looking over his films from the past decade I can’t help but wonder what happened.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 13th, 2012
Films have been around for decades that have followed the life of crime and the pitfalls that come with it. And with the success of the AMC series Breaking Bad, it seems meth is the new drug of choice for Hollywood to exploit for the big screen. There have been plenty of great films and shows to come out of the exploitation of the drug trade; my personal favorites are Blow and Traffic. But what always made this subgenre of film engaging is that it seemed to always balance the pros and the cons of living the life of crime, and in the end the audience would be given the message that crime doesn’t pay.
