Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 19th, 2016
Growing up one of coolest jobs I thought was out there was undercover work. Not to diminish all the threats to one’s well-being associated with that profession, but come on, who didn’t want the opportunity to reinvent themselves as someone else entirely. Undercover affords that opportunity. That said, it does not come without a cost, and that cost is explored thoroughly in The Infiltrator, a based on a true story tale about a U.S. Customs agent who infiltrates the most successful and equally dangerous drug cartel led by the one and only Pablo Escobar. An interesting little tidbit that I was unaware of before the opening credits was that this film was shot right here in the Tampa area, which provided recognizable environment and a chance to pick out familiar territory.
The Infiltrator follows Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston), a seasoned agent with the United States Customs Service with a talent for undercover work. After successfully completing an operation, he finds himself thrown back into the mix for possibly the biggest operation he has ever every undertaken: infiltrating the money laundering operation used to clean the proceeds for the Medellin Cartel, led by Pablo Escobar.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 19th, 2016
I’ve always been a fan of Tarzan; I loved the old series and the films basically because I just dug how he was this fearless character who lived in the jungles who fought the bad guys and a few wild animals as well. As I got older that was when I discovered the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I just had a blast with all these pulp tales about the civilized Wildman and the beautiful Jane. I even remember how excited I was about seeing Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan as a kid; even though this screen adaption bored me to tears, it was still exciting to see the character up on the screen. Now it’s 2016, and the character is swinging into action on the big screen again, and with a large budget to back it up. The trailers had me excited; everything seemed to look how I always hoped a Tarzan movie should be. Did the film manage to meet my expectations? Well, it came close, and the result is a film that shows how the wrong director can ruin a great story.
The casting of Alexander Skarsgard is just about as good as you can hope for in casting the role of Tarzan/ John Clayton. It’s absolutely vital how important it is to get the physical look of the character and make it believable that he can be stealthy, as well as a brute force who can fight giant apes and crocodiles but still look the part of a British lord. Sure, many audience-goers will enjoy the numerous shirtless scenes the film offers, but it makes it all the more believable when we see the character pull off some superhero-like scenes. When it comes to the casting of Margot Robbie as Jane, she is a knockout here. She plays this damsel (not so) in distress in such a charming loveable way that it’s clear that by the end of summer following the release of Suicide Squad she will be the A-list actress off Hollywood. She brings so much life to Jane that you can understand why Tarzan will do just about anything for this woman, and when they are together it’s a chemistry that has me hoping so much that we’ll get more adventures of Tarzan and Jane.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 19th, 2016
Shirley MacLaine and Jessica Lange are two great women of American film, and living legends. It is always a pleasure to see them work. They both have won shelves of awards including Best Actress Oscars. But they both have also been in bad movies. The process of being a creative artist is always a journey where you take a leap through a hoop with the hopes of doing good work. It also becomes difficult for actresses, even for living legends, to get good work as they grow older. But films about older people are important too. All movies can’t be about young attractive new faces being forced on you with little understanding of who they are. We all know who Shirley MacLaine and Jessica Lange are. They are part of our collective history. They are like our family. It makes us feel good when they keep going and do good work. Lange especially has been hitting career highs with her recent work on multiple seasons of American Horror Story. Lange has won numerous awards for that alone. But eventually it is time to move on to new risks. I forgot to mention that Demi Moore is also in this movie.
Wild Oats is a movie that premiered on the Lifetime network. That can be perceived as a bad sign, but it doesn’t necessarily have to, in a case like this. In this case, it is an opportunity to showcase a type of film that doesn’t get made much anymore; films that celebrate old age. It is also a film that went through numerous difficulties getting made. It had so many difficulties getting made that Shirley MacLaine wrote a book about it. It’s called Above the Line and is the latest in a long line of bestsellers written by MacLaine.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 18th, 2016
Vampyres (2015) is a remake of Vampyres (1974). It is important to note that right here at the start. They have a strong similarity, and the latter film is clearly a homage and loving duplication. It should be stated that the new version is not better, but the two films have identical essential elements. That would be naked lesbian flesh-eating, blood-obsessed predators. The original was fairly groundbreaking in its almost fetishistic content. This version has more nudity and sex scenes. I would safely say that if you like naked blood-soaked sex scenes, you will enjoy it, but aficionados of horror classics will likely be pickier. The initial problems have to do with the writing and acting which is not Oscar caliber. I can get to that later. This is basically an English-language Spanish production. The biggest difference maybe the landscape of the Spanish countryside is not as evocative and lush as the original English location.
May Heatherly and Caroline Munro are two classic horror actresses who show up but with very little effect to the story. Colin Arthur is an established makeup artist and was involved with the original production.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 17th, 2016
When it comes to director Jeff Prugh and his new film The Caretaker, he shows that you don’t need a big budget or grand effects to deliver a horror film. In the case of The Caretaker, filming on a modest budget may have presented the director with the challenge to lean more towards atmosphere and technique rather than fall back on special effects and gore. This isn’t a film that is going to get a wide release in theaters across the US, so it’s going to have to rely on receiving word of mouth to be seen. With there being so many options to choose from, what makes The Caretaker stand out from the pack? Well, if I’m being honest, it’s because I find the film charming in a way. Not exactly what a horror film would want to have said about it, but this is one of those little films where you can actually feel the labor and passion put into this.
Mallorie (Meegan Warner) is called upon to take care of her ailing grandmother; her boyfriend August (Sean Martini) tags along, and it’s not too long before things start to get a little weird. The grandmother, Birdie (Sondra Blake), seems to have a deep attachment towards her home. Most with grandparents are familiar with the type that want to remain independent and not be locked away and forgotten in a home. At first glance Birdie is a very familiar figure and we can understand the need for someone to look after her with her health in decline, but the film doesn’t waste time in giving us the impression something just isn’t right with old grandma Birdie.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 16th, 2016
Everyone makes mistakes. Decisions that are made in the heat of the moment that haunt them and they wish they can take back. Sometimes those mistakes don’t go away as easily as they want to them to. That is definitely the case for Tara (Jamie Alexander) after her bachelorette weekend in New Orleans. Looking to celebrate her impending wedding as well as forget an indiscretion committed by her soon-to-be husband (Cam Gigandet), she meets Patrick (Wes Bentley), a bartender at a club Tara and her friends go to. They meet, there’s a connection, and as these things go, one thing leads to another, as they say. Afterwards, she just wants to move on and forget it happened, but Patrick will not be ignored (I know it is an obvious rip-off, but it applies).
This thriller is definitely a welcomed addition to the 31 Nights of Horror. Granted it does not feature a seemingly immortal killer, but more of the human variety; it goes without saying that human beings have the capacity for great violent and psychological acts. Patrick is no different as he begins a barrage of tactics to achieve his objective including cancelling wedding reservations, showing up unannounced, even embedding himself in Tara’s life thorough people close to her. Tara goes to extremes as well, doing anything and everything to rid herself of her stalker and keep her secret from Michael.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 14th, 2016
Imagine if Three Men and a Baby was remade with just two guys, a baby, a battle axe, and a bunch of arrows. Despite its exceedingly generic Americanized title, The Last King has a little something different to offer action-weary movie watchers. The story is set in a time and place — 13th century Norway during the country's civil war — that is probably unfamiliar to U.S. audiences. And while much of the hand-to-hand combat and royal treachery will prove cliched to some, they are presented with some fun tweaks and an occasionally sentimental tone that doesn't always mesh with the hard-hitting action.
The Last King is set in 1204 and is inspired by actual events in Norwegian history. King Hakon Sverresson (Benjamin Helstad) is killed in a plot hatched by power-hungry younger brother Gisle (Pal Sverre Hagen). Everyone assumes the culprit is Gisle's older brother Inge (Thorbjorn Harr) in a move to seize control of the country, and Inge is subsequently jailed. However, Gisle's path to power remains blocked thanks to a surprise wrinkle: the king has an illegitimate son with a stronger claim to the throne.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2016
“Everything they've built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we'll build a better one!”
Since Disney has taken over The Bullpen at Marvel, they have had an unprecedented run of successful comic book superhero films. During that same time DC/Warner has had trouble finding a direction for their cinematic universe. But the Marvel titles still in the hands of other studios haven’t shared in that run of good fortune. Sony finally had to relinquish control of Spider-Man, and Fox has followed disaster with disaster with The Fantastic Four. The single exception to that rule has been the Fox handling of The X-Men universe. Since Bryan Singer’s 2000 hit the series has had some ups and downs, but the box office verdict has generally been good. Since the series was revived with prequels in 2011, we’ve enjoyed two solid X-Men films sporting a younger cast. Spinoffs with Wolverine and Deadpool have added to the Fox/Marvel winning combination. But it seems the X-Men can fight end-of-the-world events but can’t seem to quite get the hang of third movies in trilogies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 13th, 2016
When you have a title like Satanic, it’s kind of hard to not start to build up expectations right out of the gate. I like a horror film that isn’t afraid to go dark and play with the subject matter of the occult, because honestly it’s the only topic that can manage to get under my skin. The Exorcist in my opinion is hands down the best horror film of all time and manages to haunt me after a viewing simply because the boy I once was who went to Catholic mass every Sunday knew that it could happen. That’s the thing about films like Satanic; you have a built-in audience that you already will have hooked from the start and have a reason to be afraid, simply because of faith. So when a movie has so much momentum going for them and it delivers such a lackluster result, it shows that certain people just shouldn’t be playing in the horror sandbox.
Chloe (Sarah Hyland) is on a road trip to a music festival with her boyfriend David (Stephen Krueger), but along the way they’ve decided to make some stops at the locations of some famous occult murder sites. The decision to make these stops comes at the suggestion of Elise (Clara Mamet), her cousin, along with Elise’s boyfriend Seth (Justin Chon). If not for the blood relation between Chloe and Elise, it would be difficult to imagine these couples ever being together, since Chloe and David seem to be more traditional college students, while Elise and Seth seem to be nothing more than Goth kids who are trying so desperately to be “dark”. This is a problem I had from the start; I never bought into this Goth couple. We’ve seen this story played out before in Kalifornia, where two odd couples go on a reluctant road trip to visit murder sites, but what worked is they cast the roles and made it more believable. By making Elise and Seth a joke from the start it simply pulls away any chance for attachment to these two despite blood relation. Even trying to imagine people on a road trip to the Coachella but deciding to detour for this murder tour is a hard leap for me.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 12th, 2016
"...And then all light will end, and the world will live in darkness. The very air will be pestilence to mankind. And our brethren, the night creatures, will emerge and feed."
We could be talking about the end of the world. We could also be talking about the untimely demise of Penny Dreadful with just its third season at Showtime. It came with a suddenness, and not without controversy. John Logan originally planned for the series to go 6-7 years. Something abruptly changed, and he has stated rather forcefully that it is impossible to continue the show beyond this third season. The finale is marked with a solid The End to punctuate his feelings. Showtime did not want to part with the show so quickly. Neither did the fans, and quite frankly neither did I. I haven't been this disappointed in a creator since Calvin & Hobbes went away because Bill Watterson got tired. Hell, I get tired, too. John Logan might have been finished with Penny Dreadful, but I wasn't.
