Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on October 31st, 2015
The Horror Network Vol. 1 is an anthology of five short horror films, compiled by Douglas Conner and Brian Dorton. I absolutely love short films: I have created a few of my own, and I have been part of the selection committee for a short film festival. This anthology is fantastic in that it combines my love of short films and my love of the genre of horror. Although most films in this anthology could most certainly be cut for time (as is the case with most independent short films), they do a fantastic job capturing the elements of horror that make your hair stand on end.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 30th, 2015
“She’s quite a common girl, very common indeed.”
Of course, we don’t need 50 years of hindsight — or more than 100 years, if you want to go all the way back to the original 1913 staging of George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion” — to know that there’s nothing common about cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle. And there's nothing ordinary about 1964's My Fair Lady, the beloved Oscar-winning musical that now gets an uncommonly (but appropriately) lavish 50th anniversary Blu-ray update courtesy of Paramount.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 29th, 2015
Un, deux, trois! Cohen Media Group has given us an engrossing triple dose of French director Benoit Jacquot. The films —The Disenchanted, A Single Girl, and Keep It Quiet — span a decade and coincide with the moment when the post-New Wave filmmaker started gaining international acclaim. Each of the titles makes its HD debut with this release, and they all offer an intriguing look at Parisian life. The movies also feature some enchanting performances from their leading ladies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2015
"Dark forces are rising. The frequency of possession is increasing all over the world."
Must be Global Warming...check that ,Climate Change. It seems the whole warming thing wasn't exactly working out for these guys. So like a business with a bad reputation you change the name and pretend that's what it's been like all along. There is an alarming increase in the frequency of movie possessions all over the world. But it's not Global Warming or Climate Change that's to blame. Hell, it isn't even Bush's fault. It's got to do with the color green.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 27th, 2015
Between Judgment Day, zombie apocalypses, and various other doomsday scenarios, we've gotten a pretty good look at what the end of the world is supposed to look like. One of the most striking things about Z for Zachariah — an otherwise straightforward and deliberate drama that takes its story from a 1974 novel of the same name by Robert C. O'Brien — is that, for the most part, the end of the world looks an awful lot like paradise.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 24th, 2015
Dustin P. Anderson
As far as a synopsis for this movie goes, there isn’t too much to it. We are given a brief look inside the mind of a real-life serial killer. A psychopath has been given a conditional release from jail and is only interested in satiating his lust for killing. After some failed murder attempts, the killer finds an empty house and waits for the occupants to come home. This movie has a lot to say, while being easy to summarize. The story is basic, but there is so much more to it than just the events that take place. It does a great job at making the killer seem more human when we see how clumsy he is at killing people. During the killer’s beginning inner monologue, he states, “this time he won’t get caught,” which, I thought meant he had some grand scheme in place to kill a bunch of people and never see the inside of a jail cell again.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 23rd, 2015
"Looks like the crazy is starting."
Actually, it started three seasons ago. The creator of Dawson’s Creek and The Vampire Diaries, Kevin Williams, delivers a thriller that is a bold new entry in the crime drama for television. The Following was 15 episodes of nail-biting bliss that kept the viewer guessing and riveted long after its gut-wrenching cliffhanger season after season. For a while I was beginning to wonder if Williamson had lost his touch with the Scream series, but what you’ll discover here is that Williamson may just be the king of creating and penning one of the darkest serial killers on the small screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 22nd, 2015
“If I didn’t have movies, life would be pretty boring.”
That statement obviously applies to those of us who spend an inordinate amount of time watching and thinking about movies. (If you’re reading this, chances are you visit this site with some regularity, so I feel good about including you in that group.) However, the notion that movies serve as a source of escape — in every sense of the word — is remarkably expressed in the captivating, stranger-than-fiction tale of the Angulo family. Unfortunately, it’s pretty apparent that The Wolfpack — a vague, shapeless documentary — doesn’t give us the full story.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on October 22nd, 2015
Does anyone remember The Facts of Life? The show ran from 1979 to 1988, but then there was syndication and some reunion movies. So it had a long life and was consistently popular for its predominantly female cast. Where are they now? Blair (Lisa Whelchel) did very well on the 2012 season of Survivor, for one. They were all very young when the show started but were beginning to consider college and apartments in the final years, leaving behind the safe confines that Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) had provided. But over the years various cast members came and went. There is a young wise guy in this season who later became a big star.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 21st, 2015
“Whatever happened to good old-fashioned, run-of-the-mill sex?”
On its surface, The Little Death looks and sounds like the glossy, crowd-pleasing romantic comedies Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) used to make. But it becomes apparent rather quickly that no one in this funny, insightful, uneven Australian comedy is having “run-of-the-mill sex.” The movie’s jazzy, jukebox-y score also made me occasionally think of Woody Allen films, which is fitting because Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) easily could’ve been an alternate title for The Little Death.
