Jeremy Butler

Me and my big mouth; as you may have guessed it wasn’t destiny that brought me and the first season of Teen Mom together. Reality television is not one of my favorite programs. So by now I imagine that it is pretty obvious that I went into this program with high reservations. But as it turns out, even I wasn’t about to keep them up the entire time. Deciding to think of it as a long-running documentary, I see the importance of a show like this in regards to raising awareness among teenagers considering becoming sexually active, and after watching I am grateful that a show like this exists.
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“He apparently had a rough childhood.”

Isn’t that always the excuse? Well, in this film it seems like everyone had a rough childhood, everyone from the killer to his would-be victim to the cop chasing him. Based on the Brian Harper novel of the same name, Shiver is horror film with some intrigue. From the moment that I picked the film up and took a look at the cover, the film had my attention, and it didn’t disappoint; the end was bit much and a little generic, but overall the film lived up to its hype.
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You know, it’s odd, I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu while watching V/H/S 2. Just kidding, and that feeling is probably due to the fact that I wrote the review for the original V/H/S. In my original review I spoke about the history of the found-footage technique; this time around I think I will address the fine line that must be walked to make a successful sequel. See, the trouble with sequels is that they tend to stray too far away from what attracted people to the original. The key is to maintain enough of original that attracted the first audience, all the while also providing enough difference to bring in a new crowd. Challenging, isn’t it?
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“What makes a song beautiful is not always the quality of the voice but the distance that voice has had to travel.”

Well said, Mrs. Redgrave, well said. I should broach this subject early; I am not a fan of musicals or musically-themed films. That said, Unfinished Song is much more than a musical; it is a tale of an emotionally crippled man who has only formed one meaningful connection and about what you do when you lose that connection: do you lie down and die, or do you find a median to that will allow you to form new connections?
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I am not a huge fan of documentaries, but I am coming around. Something about their format always reminded me of the educational films I would have to watch in school, and considering I spent most of my time trying to escape school, I suppose I was never willing to give proper documentaries the attention that they deserve. However I am much older (and mildly wiser) now, and I was able to give Dark Girls my full and undivided attention, and it proved to be worth every second of it
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“You must leave this house before it’s too late. Leave now; I won’t be able to help you later.”

First of all, call me superstitious or paranoid, but when someone gives you that kind of warning about a place, it’s probably best to heed that warning. After watching The Haunting of Helena I am seriously reconsidering whether or not I’m going to let my kids believe in the Tooth Fairy. I’m not one who scares easily, but the tense atmosphere around this story makes for a truly haunting film (no pun intended).
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Survival, Endurance, Adversity, and Courage took on new meaning for me after No Place on Earth. They say that you can never judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes and experienced their life. Well, I haven’t walked that mile, but the documentary did give me a first-hand account of the 511 days the Stermer family spent underground during the Holocaust. After seeing what that family went through firsthand (or at least as close as I could get to firsthand) only one world truly describes my opinion: Awe.
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This is just personal habit of mine, but whenever I’m done watching a comedy special that features more than one comedian, instinctively I arrange them all in my head from least to greatest: In the case of The Original Kings of Comedy: Bernie Mac, Cedric the Entertainer, Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley; Blue Collar Comedy Tour: Ron White, Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, and Bill Engvall; and in the case of Women Who Kill: Amy Schumer, Marina Franklin, Nikki Glaser, and Rachel Feinstein.
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The shoe is on the other foot in the Donald Faison and Eve Amurri Martino-led raunchy comedy, Stag. Curious enough, for being the supposed co-leads of the movie, the focus of the film is on them less than half of its duration; Stag is basically about the background characters. The only issue with that is the background characters aren’t really all that interesting when you get right down to it.
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“Let me tell you what it’s going to be like. Irish girl, English jail. Every time you want to see your boy, every time he wants to see you, his grandma’s gonna have to load him onto the ferry and drive 400 miles. It’s gonna break his f***in heart.”

Which is stronger, the bonds of family loyalty or self-preservation? That is the question that is presented in Shadow Dancer, the espionage thriller starring Clive Owen and Andrea Riseborough. I had high hopes for this film when I picked it up; I was expecting an unpredictable and suspenseful thriller that I would not be able to take my eyes away from. What I got was…well let’s just say I had no trouble prying my eyes away.
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“The bullies tried to make us feel small; in a weird way it did just the opposite. I wasn’t afraid anymore, and Howie wasn’t alone. God has a way of giving you what you need when times get tough.”

Traditions die hard, but not all traditions are good traditions. Such is the case in Standing Up, D.J. Caruso (I AM NUMBER FOUR) tale based on the novel The Goats by Brock Cole. The film focuses on a subject that has been receiving more and more attention as the problem continues to grow: bullying.
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Sigourney Weaver running for the presidency? Come on, I can’t be the only one who saw that coming. No, no just joking; Mrs. Weaver herself is not running for president, but she played someone who did on TV. I am of course referring to the USA Network miniseries Political Animals, where she stars as Elaine Barrish, the former First Lady and current Secretary of State. Filled with crisis after crisis, scandal after scandal, the six-part miniseries delves into the personal and professional lives of its characters, leaving no stone unturned and no secret untouched.
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“Everything you’ve heard… about monsters, about nightmares, legends whispered around campfires. All the stories are true.”

Has anyone notice the fire sale that has been going on among film studios and young adult novels? Since Twilight neared its end (and before), the market is has become flooded in recent years with adaptation after adaptation, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon, especially with announcements of plans to adapt novels like Divergent, Ender’s Game, and Vampire Academy; everyone is looking for the next big phenomenon to fill the void left by Twilight. If there was a series that could accomplish that goal, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones was the one that had my vote.
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What an accurate title for this stand-up, “Whelmed But Not Overly.” The title of the stand-up resonates with me the most because it perfectly reflects my opinion of Nealon’s stand-up. I think that is reasonable to say that by now everyone has an idea of who Kevin Nealon is; you may not know him by name, but my guess is if he were to show up on your TV screen you’d go, “Hey I know him from somewhere.” For most, it would be that you recognize him from his tenure on Saturday Night Live, or as the corky resident funny man on the Showtime series Weeds, or perhaps in the background of a couple of your favorite Adam Sandler films.
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Has anyone ever wondered what The Breakfast Club would have been like if it had zombies? I know I haven’t. Well, despite no desire to see such a thing, Detention of the Dead is here to showcase just that. Take a cast full of the supporting cast members from popular television series and movies from the 2010 generation such as Glee, Twilight, and Greek, give them a script litter with made up words designed to be funny (and failing miserably in the attempt), and you have a project that makes you feel like you are trapped in detention.
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