Posts by Jeremy Butler

This movie is more likely to make you laugh than it is to scare you, so its place among the 31 Nights of Terror is borderline. However, with a title like OMG.....We're in a Horror Movie, it goes without saying where it belongs. Six friends while indulging in their weekly board game ritual (I didn't even know that was a real thing) find themselves inexplicably transported in the plot of a horror movie. Realizing that they have been relegated to the stereotypical roles of such horror movie characters as the token black guy who dies (though there are at least three black characters, so figuring out which one is the character is a source of entertainment), or the hot girl who dies in the shower. Most importantly, one of them is the killer.

Desperate to survive, the friends must figure out how to shed their stereotypical roles before the killer discovers his homicidal nature.

Imagine being able to move things with your mind, no matter the size. To suddenly be able to send a car or a person flying through the air merely through the power of your thoughts. I’m sure we have all thought about having such extraordinary power. For Zach Connors, it is a reality; however, the power is more curse than a gift. The Mind’s Eye presents an engaging and intriguing look into what it would be like to possess this psychic ability. From the inability to control the power, to the isolation, to the envy and lust to obtain the ability for themselves, the movie hits on several key aspect and all the while never loses steam as it heads towards the final battle, which in itself is quite the meeting of the minds. Pun intended.

Zach Connors (Graham Skipper) is a drifter with the ability to move things with his mind. It is an ability that he cannot fully control and has forced him to leave behind everyone he ever loved, from his father to the love of his life, Rachel Meadows (Lauren Ashley Carter). Following a confrontation with police which results in him losing control and injuring the officers, he is arrested and approached by the mysterious Dr. Slovak (John Speredakos). Claiming to be an expert in the field of psychokinesis and offering to help Zach, the stranger offers him a place at his institute in order to help him gain control of his power.  Zach is hesitant until the doctor mentions Rachel, who apparently is undergoing treatment at the institute.

This movie definitely gives credence to the saying, “keep it in the family,” given that it features the two leads falling in love. I know what you’re thinking: that’s nothing new. Almost every story in existence features a love story in one fashion or another. You are correct, but here’s the kicker: they are both married into the family; he to their deceased daughter and she to their cheating son. That should make things a bit awkward around the dinner table at the holidays.

Nothing like walking in on your husband with his mistress, who also happens to be his assistant. That is the moment that defined the end of Jesse’s marriage. At that point you usually just walk away and only communicate through lawyers, but in her case, the tragic death of her father-in-law forces her to remain a part of their lives. Though divorced, Jesse remains behind to help her former mother-in-law with packing up her family home in order to move in with her ex-husband, whose callousness also extends to his own family, as the audience will discover under the guise of a sneaky, underhanded deal that he is negotiating.

I have a new opinion, newly formed, that Tyler Labine is underrated, because it goes without question that his performance was the crown jewel of Mountain Men, a story about two estranged brothers who find themselves without a vehicle, trapped in the winter wilderness, and must trek their way back to civilization. This movie features some of the quips and brotherly banter that I’ve seen all year. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that the two look nothing alike, I would be inclined to be believe that they were actually related.

Toph (Labine) is part-time deejay, full-time weed dealer who has just been notified that his girlfriend (Britt Irvin) is pregnant. Cooper (Chace Crawford) is his more successful younger brother, who returns home after a long absence for their mother’s wedding.  Early on it is clear that the family is not very close, and much of that is explained to be in part due to the death of their father. Cooper hasn’t accepted their father’s death because his body was never found, partially due to the fact that their last conversation together was not a happy one. As a result, Cooper stalls signing the documents regarding their father’s estate. Toph, in need of that money due to his situation as well as to try and open up his own business, convinces Cooper to visit their father’s old camping lodge for some brotherly time. Everything that transpires after this is a hilarious adventure in adversity and self-discovery.

You think your home life is screwed up? I can almost promise you that the Gallagher family has you beat in spades. If not, perhaps watching them will help you feel better about your situation. Fiona, Lip, Ian, Debbie, Carl, Liam, and of course Frank are back with Season Six of Shameless, and it’s like they never left. That is the good thing about the series; it always feels like you can pick up right where you left off despite the several-month hiatus. This year is filled plenty of the same antics you are used to seeing by one of my favorite dysfunctional families, including illegal marriages, teenage pregnancy, and criminal mischief. After indulging in Season Six, the only thing you can say is in the words of Steve Howey, “F$8#ing Gallaghers.”

Thirty-second recap of last season: Fiona did a prison stint and almost lost custody (not to mention of the respect) of the family after becoming addicted to cocaine, and Liam almost died of an accidental overdose after getting into her stash. Lip continued to enjoyed campus life, eventually meeting and falling in love with one of his married professors (Sasha Alexander). Ian suffers a nervous breakdown and finally comes to grips with his bipolar condition. Debbie decides that she wants to have a baby with her boyfriend and goes about accomplishing her goal. Carl embraces his inner hoodlum, engages in drug running, and ends up being sent upstate. Finally, Frank finds love in the form of a terminally ill doctor who decides to go out on a bender. OK, all caught up; did it take longer than thirty seconds?

Charlie “Charlie Mac” McIntyre (Terrence “Terrence J” Jenkins) is a modern lothario (not much call for that world nowadays) with a seamless ability to remain romantically unattached to the many women that he meets and sleeps with. Now before you begin to hate him, let me clarify that he is not callous, and he does have scruples. He does not date anyone that shares a connection to any of his circle of friends in order to preserve their friendship. Despite him respecting that relationship, his friends wish for him to reform his ways and settle down, something he has no intention of ever doing. Believing his actions are emotionally unhealthy, his two best friends Rick and Victor (Donald Faison and Robert Christopher) take it upon themselves to propose a bet: he must commit to one person until Victor‘s wedding, in order to prove that a prolonged period of time with one woman will not fundamentally change his perspective on relationships.  Charlie accepts.

Enter Eva (Cassie), a sultry and successful woman that Charlie has a chance encounter with. Now this is where the story takes a turn. She is fully aware of the bet, and at first is not interested in participating but soon changes her mind on one condition: she is not looking for a full-blown commitment, but rather a no-strings-attached relationship. Thinking that is the perfect circumstances for him, Charlie accepts once again. With every encounter their passion and connection grow, leaving one question lingering: are they falling for one another?

I fear our acceptance of A Haunted House has opened a door that we may never be able to close, as it would cause the disaster that is Meet the Blacks to be born. Parody films have the potential to be extraordinarily funny or incredibly bad. Can you guess what side of the scale this film falls on? Whether it be through overacting or jokes that attempted to play on every stereotype known to man, Meet the Blacks never really manages to get off the ground and make me laugh, which is equally disappointing given the sheer talent pool of comedians in the film: Mike Epps, Charlie Murphy, DeRay Davis, Lavell Crawford, Michael Blackson, Lil Duval, Paul Mooney, and the list goes on. As I said, this was a clear waste of talent.

A clear ripoff of a film which features the allowance of any crime for a predetermined period of time, the overall storyline involves Carl Black (Epps), a father with an on-the-nose name that moves his family out of the south side of Chicago after landing a lucrative contract for his wiring business, or at least that’s what his family believes. In reality, Carl stole the nest egg of a recently incarcerated drug dealer.