Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 19th, 2012
"I'm so proud of my boys. They never forget their Momma."
What did you do for your mother the last Mother's Day? Did you buy her some flowers and candy? Perhaps you took her out for a little adventure. You might have even cooked her a special meal. If you're like Ike (Coffin) and his brothers, you treat your mom to a show. You torture, rape, and kill a few women who happen to find themselves in the woods. Good times, right?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 18th, 2012
Before Hollywood became obsessed with filming unnecessary remakes, throughout the 80’s and 90’s Hollywood was inspired to fill the multiplexes and video stores with as many horror sequels they could manage to churn out. Sure, I have a deep seeded obsession with Friday the 13th and the Nightmare on Elm Street franchises, but there are other franchises out there that were blessed with a slew of sequels when the originals, though they hold a soft spot in my horror-drenched heart, just didn’t need to continue the story; it was good as it was and should have been left that way. And that’s how I feel especially about Basket Case.
Basket Case goes back to my years of hanging out at the mom-and-pop video store around the corner from where I lived. The horror section was simply my playground. I still have the old VHS to the original Basket Case stuffed away in a box somewhere. It was just one of those insane over-the-top gore fests that are just so fun to watch with whoever I could convince to stay up and watch a bunch of horror films till we passed out in the living room.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 18th, 2012
“When is everything gonna get back to normal?”
Is a happy, well-adjusted Don Draper a good thing? That’s one of the biggest questions posed during Mad Men’s excellent fifth season, and it’s aimed at the other characters in the show as well as a passionate TV audience that has become seriously invested in Jon Hamm’s suave antihero.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 17th, 2012
Some bands stand the test of time. Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bon Jovi, Village People, errrr, okay let’s continue. Another of those bands is Queen who some experts have estimated that the band has sold over two hundred million records. Their most famous lead singer is of course the legendary Freddie Mercury. But Freddie Mercury was such a unique personality that he was not always interested in making music with Queen. He had many other interests and this documentary we have today explores them.
At the Rio festival in January of 1985, Freddie Mercury decided to perform in front of 350,000 people in a pink sweater and fake breasts. The next day, he is interviewing with David Wigg in suspenders and a seemingly normal t-shirt. When asked about whether or not he was intimidated by the size of the crowd he preformed at. He simply smiles and says that bigger is better in everything. The Emperor of Rock has found some new clothes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on October 17th, 2012
“What cannot be disputed is your imagination is the inspiration of a horrendous crime.”
The Raven may not be a turkey, but it doesn’t really soar either. Director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) attempts to fashion a historical fiction around the mysterious final five days of Edgar Allen Poe’s life. A notorious drunk and opium addict, Poe (John Cusack) careens through 19th century Baltimore dead broke, bitter from years of writer’s block, and harassed by the locals for being a blustering has-been. Due to a distinct lack of social sympathy, he can’t even borrow money for a single drink, which forces him into an involuntary sobriety. At the same time, a rash of murders inspired from the pages of his darkest fiction terrorize the city, and he is called in by Detective Fields (Luke Evans) to assist in the investigation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 17th, 2012
"In space no one can hear you scream."
It was the tagline that brought us by the droves into our neighborhood cinemas in 1979 to see one of Ridley Scott's two classic science fiction adventures. Alien was one of the scariest science fiction films we've ever seen. It wasn't just the wonderfully organic H.R. Giger designs that had us on the edge of our seats. Scott delivered a claustrophobic nightmare that caged us with this remarkable killing machine. Much the same feeling I had recently trapped in a minivan with a large spider on the prowl. It was an instant classic and holds up just as well today. It was, of course, followed by one worthy sequel and another two that I choose to pretend never happened. More recently, the franchise was paired with the Predator universe for another two films, the second of which was actually a pretty good film. Still it has been with bated breath that many of us were waiting for Ridley Scott to return to these classic roots and scare us all over again. The result of that 30 + year wait is Prometheus.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 17th, 2012
"Do you want me to give it to you straight?"
When last we left our main characters from the first two Madagascar films they were stranded in Africa after being shipped from their home in the New York Zoo. We knew the sequel was coming. They couldn't have left it any more wide open than they did. Of course, the reasonable questions were already being asked by the time the second film began. Do we really need another Madagascar film? Is there any new territory to explore? What could they possibly add to make us want to come back for more?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 17th, 2012
When I first learned that Adam Green (director of Hatchet and Frozen) would be creating a show to air on Fear Net, this seemed like a slice of heaven to me. I love horror, and with the exception of The Walking Dead and American Horror Story there just hasn’t been much to watch from the genre. So when I discovered that Green was going to be actually developing a sit-com instead, it would be fair to say I was more than a little disappointed by this news. But then I was given a glimmer of hope when I heard it would be about a pair of struggling horror filmmakers. As a film graduate and a lover of horror, this instantly became something relatable to me.
The first season for Holliston consists of only six episodes and is a bit of a mixed bag for me. As I mentioned above, it’s about two friends, Adam (Adam Green) and Joe (Joe Lynch) who film bad local TV commercials as well as share hosting duties on their cable horror show. The two are working at getting a trailer made to help get funding for their first big feature Shinpads. The guys are simply looking for that big break that will get them out of their home town of Holliston and get their movies up on the big screen. Every episode is filled with horror references, which fans of the genre should enjoy, but don’t be mistaken, this isn’t horror at all. In fact the show has a lot of heart in both the romantic as well as the bromantic form.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 16th, 2012
This is a film that’s been floating around for some time but under the title The Forgotten Ones. A simple title change isn’t going to help this film. The worst part of this train wreck is that it had every chance to be a really good film. I wish the blame could only go to one person, but there are issues with the illogical script, the direction, the camera work, the editing, and even the sound. The only things that helped make this film even bearable to watch was the cast (who didn’t have much to work with) and the makeup effects for the creatures was impressive (considering the budget). When we first meet the group of friends, everyone is meeting up at the marina, ready to set sail for a three day tour out in the open water. Liz (Jewel Staite, Firefly) is helplessly in love with Peter (Justin Baldoni) despite the fact he’s lied and cheated on her in the past. He seems to have changed his ways and committed to Liz, but still she can never be too sure. Also along for the three-day voyage is Ira, an overweight buffoon who somehow is wealthy enough to score Lauren, the stereotypical gold-digger. Thankfully, to balance out this awkward double date there is another deckhand along for the cruise, Jake, who just so happened to date Lauren at one point in time. Yeah, the movie at first plays out like a bad episode of (insert random tween-friendly show on the CW), but don’t worry, it manages to shift gears and get worse.
After the boat crashes into some rocks, everyone on board ends up washing up onto shore. With their radio they call in for a rescue, but with the coordinates they give from the GPS there is no land anywhere near where they claim to be. Things get stranger for the group as Liz begins to see things in the surrounding jungle. It would appear the survivors washed up onto the shore that is something of a mix from Dr. Monroe and Lost, only not nearly as interesting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 16th, 2012
“Greed is Good.”
No other cinematic phrase described the 1980’s better. And no other movie captures the financial corruption of the 80’s better than Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is a small-time stockbroker, making cold calls to businessmen who won’t give him the time of day. His father, Carl (Martin Sheen), is a hardworking airline mechanic for a fledgling airline and is worried about the path his son is headed down when big-time investment broker Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) takes Bud under his wing. At first, Bud loves the money, the women, and the power that Gekko gives him. But when Bud involves his father in one of his investment schemes, he sees Gekko for the greedy slimeball he really is, and starts to see the error of his previous ways.
