Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 7th, 2019
"This is where change begins."
We're a visual people, so most of you will recognize Taylor Sheridan from his role as a deputy chief of police in Sons of Anarchy when the controlled puppet regime had finally left the scene. It's not a remarkable role, and it's not a complete surprise that Sheridan found his calling more recently behind the camera. As a writer, his first script did hit it out of the park. Sicario is an awesome film populated with compelling and interesting characters who thrived on a broken system. That theme appears to have stuck with him, because the first season of Yellowstone appears to take us back in time to the days of open frontiers and cattle barons who struggled to keep their land amid lawless communities and raiding parties of American Indians who were portrayed as savage beasts who kill women and children in the middle of the night to become shadows of nightmares and the stories told to keep children in line. These themes are all there, but it takes place in a modern 2018 setting that does indeed make for an interesting new twist on an old idea. This is the dawning of the modern western where lands still stretch for miles and are still owned by a single family. It's Bonanza in the 21st century, and Kevin Costner thought enough of the idea to star in this television drama series for The Paramount Network.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 30th, 2019
“Thrill Me!”
When it comes to catch phrases, at least in this household “Thrill Me!” is easily the most used, and it’s all because of Night of the Creeps. I’m not quite sure how many times I’ve seen this film, but for me, when you name off classic horror films, this makes my top 10. I was only six when this film first came out, and I actually discovered it in the mid-90’s upon realizing it was directed by Fred Dekker who was responsible for The Monster Squad (the movie I blame and love for my introduction to horror). What I’m trying to get at is, I’m not sure if it is possible for me to be “objective” with this film. Night of the Creeps is simply a film that is fueled with nostalgia, but I feel has aged better than most horror films from the 80’s. For those who are fans of the film, at least the ones I’ve met, can agree on the film’s awesomeness and its fun B-movie campy-ness that manages to toe the line perfectly between remaining fun while playing a homage to the old 50’s monster films while being a legit horror film. Also there is Tom Atkins, who is a legend in my eyes because of this film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 23rd, 2019
When it comes to gritty detective films, Seven and Zodiac are two that help define the genre. It seems like there are so many films that are attempting to piggyback off the style, but so many films fail because they are trying so hard to copycat the films, or they simply pull their punches with the material. Night Hunter is the newest film to make an attempt but sadly just falls apart. There is a lot of potential in this film, with Henry Cavill (Man of Steel) taking the top billing; then there are Ben Kingsley, Stanley Tucci, and Nathan Fillion filling out the cast. The cast and the storyline give this the potential to be a great thriller, but unfortunately the delivery ends up being something just a little better than an episode of Law and Order.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 22nd, 2019
"Come and see. Come and see. The death of humanity upon a shore of corpses, broken heads, spilled guts, scorched flesh. Come and see the young tearing each other's throats out. Rivers of poison will flow through the halls. Oath breakers. Philanderers. Murders will wade through those rivers. Come and see. Come and see."
When Vikings started five years ago, I found it to be quite an ambitious task for a network that usually featured documentaries and reality shows about odd jobs. I approached this one with some caution. Now I've thrown caution to the wind for these compelling characters. I was particularly drawn into the lead. Travis Fimmel was outstanding as the Viking leader Ragnor Lothbrook. When his character was killed off after three years, I suspected things would be winding down for this experiment. I could not have been more wrong. Alex Hogh Andersen plays Ivar, his crippled son, who rises to be more powerful and more brutal that Ragnor ever was. The actor shares many of Fimmel's characteristics, both in his physical look and the way he carries himself. It's one of the most perfect father-and-son casting pairs I've ever encountered. Because of Andersen, the show has been reborn, and there's still a lot of life in this series. The release of the first half of Season 5 is another strong contribution to your home entertainment library.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 22nd, 2019
As a kid growing up in the 70's and 80's, I quickly grasped the concept of a good short. Whether it was a tiny piece before the movie started at my local cinema or a Looney Tunes cartoon on my 13-inch television, I saw how hard it was to capture the audience in the span of such a small frame of time. However, when those directors are able to capture that lightening in a bottle, it can produce some amazing results. Today, we are taking a look at Genius Party and Genius Party Beyond and see if a few of these fantastic directors can create a memorable slice of anime.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 17th, 2019
The novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson is certainly a literary classic, but for the sake of this review you’ll need to ignore the book and the previous film adaptations…I think it’ll be easy to forget the 1999 film The Haunting. I say this mostly because if you go into this series expecting that story, you will be disappointed. Instead, what creator and director Mike Flanagan has delivered is a masterpiece of horror that is so good that as the season plays out it manages to outdo itself again and again up to its final episode. When it first aired on Netflix I binged it and instantly fell in love, and when the opportunity arose to return to the series and see extended cuts of the episodes, I was more than happy to oblige.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 16th, 2019
Ever since I saw High Tension, I’ve been a fan of Alexandre Aja. The guy simply has a nice visual flair and for the most part puts out quality horror films. From The Hills Have Eyes remake, to Mirrors, and the beautifully shot Piranha 3D, Aja has made gore look like fine art on the big screen. So to hear he’d be working with Sam Raimi on a horror film, well, that’s simply music to my ears. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good man vs. nature horror film, and the concept of a family attempting to survive a category 5 hurricane in Florida while being hunted by alligators in their crawlspace, well, if that doesn’t get you excited, then just back away now. Crawl isn’t a movie attempting to be high art or go for Oscars; it’s a movie that just wants you to have fun for 90 minutes, and it delivers on that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 15th, 2019
I wonder how this film would have been received if The Road simply didn’t exist. It’s just about impossible to watch this film and not see the striking similarities between the films, though Light of My Life definitely isn’t as grim or as brutal as The Road. Light of My Life is the directorial debut from Casey Affleck, who seems to be following in his brother’s footsteps by taking the step behind the camera. How does he fare behind the camera? He definitely shows that he has a solid eye when setting up his shots and telling a story, though there is certainly room for him to improve. It’s a bold move to make a post-apocalyptic film your first feature and decide to star in the film as well, but for me I was glad to see him take such a risk, and I’m impressed he almost nailed it. The film takes us into a world where most of the world’s female population has been killed off by some sort of a disease. While the world isn’t quite in shambles, we definitely see that society has quickly crumbled as cities struggle to thrive. Rag (Anna Pniowsky) has somehow managed to survive this vicious disease, and with the aid of her Dad (Casey Affleck) he’s kept her alive and has been training her to survive in this hostile environment. This is pretty much a father’s worst nightmare for his daughter to grow up in, and we get to see how her father deals with everything from suspicious travelers to simply educating her on puberty.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 12th, 2019
"Did you say Chucky?"
The 70’s and 80’s were fertile ground for horror films. It was a new era of iconic monsters. Starting with Michael Myers and Jason, the trend that gave us Freddy seemed to be at the end of its run by the late 1980’s. Certainly sequels were still being churned out, but it seemed like we’d seen the last of these maniacal monsters, at least for a while. But before it petered out, the cycle would supply our nightmares with one more notable denizen…Chucky. Later Chucky would pace the sidelines here in Tampa as the head coach of the local NFL franchise, but for the last 20 years it was the darkest alleyways of our dreams that Chucky prowled. Inhabited by the soul of a killer, Chucky was truly one of the “Good Guys”. Child’s Play was the brainchild of writer Don Mancini. Mancini’s original story Batteries Not Included was changed because of the impending Spielberg film to Blood Buddies. The title and many aspects of the story would evolve over time. Eventually the title Child’s Play took over, and Chucky was born.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 11th, 2019
The Conjuring franchise and its spin-offs have been a success at the box office since 2013. Now with the third Annabelle hitting the big screen, it’s time ask the question: is this the end for the franchise? We already know there is going to be a third Conjuring film coming out next year, but beyond that, I’m guessing the studio heads are watching to see how this film fares with the summer competition. I wasn’t a fan of the first Annabelle. The second one was better, but still it seemed to pale in comparison to The Conjuring films, so to be honest, my expectations were not very high for this new installment. As it turns out, this ended up being my favorite of the spin-off movies, and I have no shame admitting how much fun I had with this one.
