Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 9th, 2017
There is something about a Rob Zombie film that will always be a draw, and it is always the realism that he brings to the screen. Whether it’s The Devil’s Rejects or his version of Halloween, he always presents it in a way that I feel is grounded in reality. Perhaps it’s also because I live in Florida, and there are some small towns that you don’t want to break down in at night for fear of crossing some crazed backwoods types. To put it out there, I was a fan of Rob Zombie before he was putting out movies, and I have all of his albums; he’s just a guy who does stuff that I really dig. That being said, I can be objective in saying his films have been a bit all over the place, but Lords of Salem was a piece of work that I simply loved, and I felt it showed a lot of growth from his previous films and worked well as a slow burn. Now he’s released 31 upon the masses, a Kickstarter film that was initially (if not mostly) financed by fans. Is it worth the investment? Well, it depends on what you were hoping for.
The film opens in a static shot with Doom-Head (Richard Brake) approaching the camera and unloading a menacing monologue. This is the kind of opening that should get any horror fan excited and anxious for the kind of violence that is about to be unleashed in the film, yet sadly the film never quite lives up to this scene. This doesn’t mean the film is bad; I just mean that the opening is just THAT good, and it just leaves you with anticipation to see so much more with this character.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 4th, 2017
“America is the only industrialized nation with a higher murder rate than countries at civil war.”
2016 might technically be in the rearview mirror, but it feels like last year left an indelible mark on the psyche of the United States. In addition to the most polarizing presidential election in a very long time, last year was marked by the deadliest shooting in U.S. history about an hour away from where I’m currently sitting, along with other highly-publicized instances of gun violence. So it feels like an appropriate time to revisit The Killing of America, a 1981 documentary that was never granted a commercial U.S. release after being deemed too exploitative.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 2nd, 2017
Since we are knee-deep into the holidays, it would only be fitting to discuss the independent horror film Never Open the Door; after all it takes place on Thanksgiving Day. It’s a shame we don’t have more horror films to watch during turkey day, but for some this new title may be a nice fit to change all that. When I picked up the title I hadn’t heard a peep about it, but I’m a sucker for horror, and seeing that it was shot in B&W just made it all the more enticing. Now, when I watch a title like this, one thing has to work. It has to have a story that engages me; story is what matters with these smaller films, because the budgets tend to not have room for big makeup FX or big-name actors. The limitations placed upon the filmmakers seem to force their hand and have them get more creative with the execution of scenes, whether this means creative camera work or unique storytelling. Many of my favorite directors came from shoestring budget beginnings: Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, and Kevin Smith, to name a few. So is the next up-and-coming directing star putting his goods on display here?
It’s Thanksgiving, and a group of friends have gotten together to celebrate by making a trip to a secluded cabin in the woods. While the dinner is going on, we get a perspective from outside of a man running through the woods. Most of this is through his POV, so there is plenty of shaky camera footage here; thankfully it’s not too bad. The dinner is interrupted by a knock on the door, Tess (Jessica Sonneborn) gets up to answer it and as a result has blood spat upon her from a stranger that falls to the ground giving an ominous warning about answering the door. There’s nothing new here, and we can pretty much telegraph what happens next; the problem is most viewers are not going to care.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 30th, 2016
It’s been just about four years since Savages (2012) hit the big screen. For me Savages was Oliver Stone simply having a blast, shooting an over-the-top action film fueled by sex, drugs, and violence. Now it seems Stone has stepped back into the paranoid, government-conspiracy form that he seems to be best known for with Snowden. Whether you view him as a traitor to the United States or a self-sacrificing lamb to expose the government and its illegal wiretapping, it’s a choice that is up to you going into this film. Personally, while I feel his intentions were good, still, he did betray his government and committed treason. What I had hoped with this film is that Oliver Stone would capture both sides of the coin, but as the title would suggest, Edward Snowden (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is front and center on this ride, and that’s not my only problem here.
When we first meet Snowden, he’s locked away in a Hong Kong hotel room getting ready to give an interview to two journalists, Glenn Greenwald (Zachary Quinto) and Ewan McAskill (Tom Wilkinson) along with documentarian Laura Poitras (Melissa Leo) to film the event. It’s this interview that sets up the rest of the film that is told mostly in flashback form. The dynamic of this opening sequence works so well simply because of the elevated bar of talent on the screen; it sets up for what one could only expect will be filled with snappy dialog exchanges as these figures discuss what Snowden is about to unleash to the world. Instead we get a whimper of what could have been.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 28th, 2016
Writer/director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver and Auto Focus) has been a guy I can’t help but root for. His films are filled with the kind of raw grit that I like to see in films. His knack for shining a light onto the outlaws of society is something I don’t feel anyone does as well. Usually we see these characters celebrated, or simply put, they get the Hollywood treatment. Schrader seems to always go the other direction and depict them with an unflinching eye that captures the character with honesty and dignity, even as their lives tailspin into darkness. Dog Eat Dog may not be an original work by Schrader, but the film certainly carries many of the staples that embrace his celebration of the anti-hero while filming the manic insanity of the reality they live in.
The film opens up with our introduction to Mad Dog (Willem Dafoe) as he is nursing a drug binge at a girlfriend’s house. He’s begging for her help, and she reluctantly allows him to stay at least till morning. It’s not long after that the girlfriend regrets this decision, and as a result she and her daughter are brutally murdered by Mad Dog. The kinetic energy of this opening sequence is just a peek at the insane, dark, and brutal violence that is to follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 23rd, 2016
“There's a man comin', and he aims to bury you.”
That sort of threat — especially when it's made within the trigger-happy Western genre — usually refers to a wronged hero looking to rain vengeance upon some dastardly villain who wronged him in an extremely personal way. The only most interesting thing about Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story is that our presumed hero is the one being hunted...and the “bad guy” has a legitimate gripe.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 21st, 2016
Coming out of Norway we have In Order of Disappearance, a film I knew nothing about aside from the cover art. To be , it pretty much reminded me of any of the numerous revenge films we’ve seen Liam Neeson in. Stellan Skarsgard instead stars in this revenge romp that I feel got lost in translation with me. It’s not that I couldn’t understand the base of the film being a revenge tale; this is very much clear as day, but it is the film’s sense of humor that borders on being dry and black, to other points I feel it’s just a Norwegian thing. Usually one of the first things I do with a foreign film is I make sure everything is set to the original language track and use the subtitles to follow along (never been a fan of dubbing). As it would turn out, whoever decided to subtitle this film decided to use white lettering. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, only for this film most of the backgrounds are filled with snow, so the white on white forced me to listen to the dubbed track, and the actors doing the dubbing are really bad at times and ruin the experience.
Nils (Skarsgard) is just your average guy who has been awarded an honorary citizen of the year award; he’s humbled by this but continues on with his day-to-day life as a snow blower. His life gets thrown into chaos when he discovers his son has been murdered, and over drugs. It’s the kind of news no parent wants to hear, and just when Nils is ready to take his own life, he comes across a drug addict who knew his son and has the answers to what “really” happened to him. Not to throw you any curve balls, but Nils decides he wants blood and is going to go after anyone and everyone who was involved with his son dying. As you can imagine, there is a lot of bloodshed to follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 15th, 2016
In 1959 when Ben-Hur came out, it was a massive undertaking that nearly closed the gates for MGM after nearly bankrupting the studio. It was a huge risk in producing such a large-scale epic that fortunately paid off and became one of the studio’s cornerstone successes. The story of Judah Ben-Hur and his fall from being a prince, to becoming a slave, to eventually becoming a hero to the people in the arena is such a familiar story that it’s hard to not feel you’ve seen this before without even entering the theater. In some parts I look at Gladiator and see somewhat the same film, only being set in a separate time and place. But really, the story of betrayal at the highest levels, and seeing great figures fall only to pull themselves up again is a theme Hollywood seems to relish, and it seems to attract many viewers in the process. Now it seems Hollywood is desperate for remakes, and I figure someone felt it was time to once again dust off the story of Ben-Hur, only this time throw in all the CGI gimmicks at the director’s disposal; after all, $100 million isn’t the investment it used to be for a film. But to paraphrase the great Ian Malcom from Jurassic Park, perhaps the producers were so preoccupied with thinking if they could remake the film they didn’t stop to think whether they should.
Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) is the newest star to tackle the role of the Jewish Prince Judah Ben-Hur. This is the kind of casting that has me a little excited, because right now he’s just an actor on the rise, and having him front in center on a grand epic is something that could help make Huston a breakout star. He’s a departure from previous incarnations, but in a good way; he gives more range than what we’ve seen before, yet sadly doesn’t have that commanding presence that Charlton Heston was able to bring to the role. But Huston manages to give his character charm as we see him in love with Esther (Nazanin Boniadi), a servant girl in the palace. But the crux of the story is around the friendship/brotherly bond between Judah and Messala (Toby Kebbell), a Roman soldier who grew up as an adopted child with Judah.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 15th, 2016
“Word of advice: don't take up a sentimental attitude over the poor.”
That bit of wisdom is offered by Henry Wilcox, the scheming, obliviously shameless wealthy capitalist in Howards End. The 1992 Merchant-Ivory film — which gets a spiffy, 25th Anniversary Blu-ray release courtesy of Cohen Media Group — is based on an E.M. Forster novel that was published in 1910. However, Henry's philosophy towards the less fortunate members of society strikes a chord more than 100 years since the character made his debut. And that's just one reason Howards End is worth another look as we prepare to turn the calendar to 2017.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 14th, 2016
relatively out of the spotlight as she has worked on making her cable network channel, OWN, a success. While I wouldn’t ever say I was a fan of Oprah’s work on the screen, I could appreciate what she did in The Color Purple and Beloved. This being said, I have to admit I was a bit reluctant to take a title that at first glance seemed to be a show that would be heavy-handed with its subject matter centered around the church. Despite my concerns, I’m glad I picked up this title, because despite how it handles some very familiar topics, it’s presented in a manner that not only feels fresh but is truly an engrossing show that manages to suck the viewer in and kept me wanting to see what would happen next.
Grace Greenleaf (Merle Dandridge) returns to her Memphis home with her daughter, Sophia (Desiree Ross), to pay her final respects to her sister who has passed on. Grace returns home but is hardly greeted with open arms. The Greenleaf name is one that has a far reach, due to the fact that Bishop James Greenleaf (Keith David) runs Calvary, a large mega-church that has thousands of followers, with several members of the family taking on large roles in the day-to-day functioning of the church. The Greenleaf family (at least a good portion of them), all seem to live together under one roof, in a mansion that is situated upon a large, picturesque piece of property. The show wastes no time in setting up all the drama that unfolds behind the walls of the mansion and inside the church.
