Posts by Jeremy Butler

“Tell everyone to get ready.  Jimmy is coming.” 

If someone were to tell me while walking out of Schindler’s List that 20 years later Liam Neeson would be an action star, I would have thought they were out of their mind.  Between the trio of Taken films and numerous films that seem to be cut from the same ilk, Liam Neeson seems to be walking in the same footsteps as Charles Bronson and Clint Eastwood as being the go-to everyman who just so happens to be a badass with or without a gun.

Now this was an interesting one for me. Usually when I watch a movie I like to look for uniqueness, what sets it apart from the thousands of films (I’m pretty sure that’s accurate) I have seen in my lifetime. In the case of As Night Comes, I didn’t particularly find it unique, but there was something that I just liked about it. Given the choice, there are aspects I would change to provide a more engaging experience; however, as is, the story is still worth a watch. Well, to start off, I kind of got the wrong impression of the film; I was expecting a fantasy drama, possibly a film about vampires.

I’m going to go on record and say that it is highly likely that I do not fit into the target audience for this film. OK, now that we got that out of the way, I feel perfectly comfortable stating that I don’t believe that even the target audience will really enjoy American Bad Boy. I just knew that when Magic Mike was released that we broke the dam; now everywhere I turn there is a movie about male strippers. Now, I’m not a prude, but when it comes to this movie, it is nothing more than a shiny penny; the target audience is expected to be dazzled by the muscular bodies rather than the story itself or lack thereof.

“Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”

There are some television series that just have a catchy theme song; COPS is one of those shows. I don’t know what it is, but every time I hear mention of the show, I automatically hear the theme song in my head. I know I can’t be alone in that category; come on, show of hands, how many people hear the theme song in their head or feel compelled to sing it out loud at the mere mention of the show?

This movie is not on my rewatch list for a number of reasons; however, it all stems from one central reason: the delivery. On the surface, I buy the premise for this movie; a girl attracts an evil spirit and starts to feel like she losing her mind. Her parents don’t believe her, her siblings don’t either, or her friends. The film even provided backstory hint alluding to the reason why the parents are overprotective due to a previous stalker situation that the family still hasn’t gotten over. Nicely done on that score; however, a lot of the allure is lost simply because of the way the information is provided.

How do you create world peace? Well, according to Bordering on Bad Behavior, you take representatives from three countries and lock them in a room together for six hours with unlimited booze and marijuana. I recognize half of you who see this as a ridiculous idea; however, I know that there are plenty of you who have likely considered this as an option (maybe not the booze and weed part, but the isolation for sure). Well, if you want to know if the idea has any real traction as an option, this movie is your opportunity to see, because despite being crude and possibly offensive in some areas, it speaks some real truth.

It is one of the most anticipated movies of the summer and another subject in the category of can Tom Hardy do no wrong? Mad Max: Fury Road is the reimagining of the iconic film that helped launch Mel Gibson’s career decades earlier. This is not new territory in Hollywood by any stretch of the imagination; remakes have happened so often in recent years that they have practically become their own genre. However, I would like to point out something that will hopefully set this film aside in the eyes of the audience: how often do you see a remake that is overseen by the creator of the original film that you know and love?

I will be the first to admit that I never watched a horse race prior this film. Just never interested me; however, it did not take long to see that 50 to 1 is more of a story about unwavering friendship; friendship between two men who had a chance encounter years before becoming a team and a friendship between a trainer and a horse that everyone has all but given up on. As cheesy as that may sound in theory, it was actually a very warm concept, and the production team manages to unfold the story in a way that makes it easy to watch.

“You will be severely punished for your disobedience.”

Yeah, there is plenty of that going on in this film. What a fragile construct the mind can be, or at least that is how it appears in Bedlam. As the movie progresses, it becomes harder to tell who is more mad, the patients or the people in charge. However, the film does teeter between the line of real insanity and comical insanity.

Well, it looks like Comedy Central is still searching for a viable replacement for the loss of The Chappelle Show almost a decade ago. The newest attempt to recapture the former fan base has to be Inside Amy Schumer. I must confess a blissful ignorance to Mrs. Schumer’s rise to fame; I had no knowledge of her existence in recent years, never glimpsing a cameo of her in a television series or movie (or least one that I was aware of), and then all of a sudden it was like she was everywhere.