Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 5th, 2024
“I will not accept a life I do not deserve.”
In 2022 writer and director Ti West gave horror fans the gift of the one/two horror punch of the films X and Pearl. From those two films came the rise of Mia Goth, who has since become horror royalty, and since the rumors began to rumble about a third film in this horror series, it has been hard to not get excited. Ever since the announcement of MaXXXine and hearing the cast of the film, it’s been the horror film I’ve been most looking forward to. I’ve been a big fan of Ti West ever since 2009 when I saw The House of the Devil. I adore that film, to the point where I have a Mondo poster of it hanging in my living room, and then he did The Innkeepers, which for me cemented his awesomeness, and that he wasn’t simply a fluke. When you look at his filmography and you watch his films, you can see the man has talent, but for some reason he’s not a bigger name in the industry. But I feel like that’s going to change soon, and it seems like A24 knows that West can deliver the goods, especially when you consider that they are releasing the film over 4th of July weekend, typically a spot meant for huge tentpole movies … or am I just being delusional?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on July 3rd, 2024
In 2004 when Team America: World Police was released, Trey Parker and Matt Stone were already well established in the film industry as the guys who created South Park. They had even dipped their toes into doing live action films like Orgazmo and BASEketball, but what the industry knew them for was their animated series South Park that began back in 1997 and is still going strong on Comedy Central. The duo isn’t afraid to take chances, whether it’s insulting celebrities (after all, part of their charm is being equal opportunity offenders) or creating their musical for the stage, The Book of Mormon, so was it a big surprise they’d want to do an action adventure film entirely with puppets? The film is very much a parody of the action films of the 90’s and early 00’s that were produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. In case you are unfamiliar with his name, he produced the mega hits like Top Gun, The Rock, Con-Air, and Pearl Harbor. But what this film was also tapping into was the over-the-top patriotic attitudes that the media projected. I mean, everything needed to be patriotic in a post 9-11 world.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 2nd, 2024
The films of the 1960's and 1970's began an era of what have been called exploitation films. There are many examples of films that pushed the R to X boundaries and have been referred to as Sexploitation films. Today we might call them soft porn, and examples of those early films includes Daughter Of The Sun (1963) and The Twilight Girls (1961). There were also films that took advantage of a certain aspect of black culture in the 70's and made to appeal to the young, "hip" blacks of the decade but also became quite popular with the mainstream audiences. Films from that genre include iconic movies like the Shaft and Dolemite franchises. There's another of these kinds of films that hasn't gotten quite the attention and aren't as well remembered. That group of films from mainly the 60's were called Hicksploitation. These films provided heavy stereotyping like the Blacksploitation films did
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on July 2nd, 2024
“I have a ghost to bust.”
When Afterlife was initially announced back in 2021, my thoughts were: why do we keep messing with things instead of preserving them? Ghostbusters was an iconic film franchise that already suffered one failed attempt at reboot. So when I went to see Afterlife, I was expecting the law of diminishing returns to be in effect. However, to my mind, Afterlife, with its homage to the dearly departed Harold Ramis and inclusion of the original crew, was not a reboot, but a continuation. It worked, and brought with it some of the nostalgia from the franchise’s original run. Now as expected, one good turn deserves another, and we now have Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. Once again, we were at risk of destroying a good thing, but thankfully we had the right people at the helm who were able to blend the old with the new, which is no surprise given that the film was co-written by the son of the franchise’s original director.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on June 29th, 2024
It’s the little things I supposed. When forced to confront the prospect of your own death, what will you do with the time you have left. Some fight against their own extinction. Some seek help from a higher power. While some cling to the past and seek comfort in their treasured memories. In a Quiet Place: Day One we see a bit of all three. While Day One marks the third installment in the Quiet Place franchise, it serves as the prequel for the series showcasing how the world went silent after sightless aliens with sharp hearing and impenetrable armor plating take over the planet and attack the human population. For me, this is a welcome addition to the franchise because while watching the first two films, one of my recurring thoughts was I would like to see how the world went quiet. Imagine my excitement when I this movie was announced. In my mind, I figured the prequel would continue to follow the Abbott family. However, Day One is comprised of a predominantly new cast, with the exception of Djimon Hounsou, who was introduced in the second film. While I was initially disappointed, I got over it quickly as new blood provides a new opportunity to expand the story rather than restricting yourself. Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, and Alex Wolff represent our new additions to the franchise, and they don’t disappoint.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 29th, 2024
In 1993 when this film came out, 1962 just seemed like another time that as a teenager I just couldn’t wrap my head around. While the kids in Matinee were excited about these giant monster films, I could sort of relate, as I was getting into horror myself, but instead of atomic bugs, I was getting into the slasher heavy hitters like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. So a film about kids spending most of their time at a movie theater was something I could relate to easily, and as I got older I simply continued to appreciate the film more as I consumed more films from the past and grew to appreciate filmmakers like Val Lewton, William Castle, Roger Corman, and Lloyd Kaufman, the guys who knew how to turn a cheap film into an event experience through a variety of marketing gimmicks. The idea of ambulances being staged outside a theater because audience members may faint or having people in costume lunge at unsuspecting guests. These innovators make going to the movie theater an experience even if the movie wasn’t all that great … and now 30 years after the release of Matinee, I find myself bitten by the bug of nostalgia.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 25th, 2024
"Somebody went to a lot of trouble here, and I want to find out, lawsuit or no lawsuit. I'm not the one who's supposed to be caught with his pants down."
The word "classic" gets thrown around a lot. Everybody has their own list. I get that. Whenever someone starts listing films from the last year or so, I just smile and take it with a grain of salt. Because I know they don't know what they're talking about. I don't know how many years it takes to be a classic. Is it 10 ... 20 … or even 30 years? Well, how about 50 for a nice round number? The film has certainly stood the test of time. That's one of those things you can't say about a film under a decade or two old.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 25th, 2024
It’s been about 10 years since Richard Linklater gave us Boyhood, which for me may not be my personal favorite of his films, but it is the one that certainly got the attention of the Academy Awards. Linklater is a director I’ve always been a fan of. It’s hard to really describe his filmography other than to say it is diverse, but at the heart of all his films they are about the characters. It’s no surprise that his new film Hit Man is once again a film about the characters and definitely has more heart than violence, even if the central character is supposed to be a contract killer. The film is loosely based on a true story and was written by Richard Linklater and Glen Powell, who also stars in the film, and my first reaction is this is immediately shooting to the top of my list of my favorite films I’ve seen this year. Though this film has some familiar tropes, I have to say it is a breath of fresh air. A film without CGI, it isn’t an established IP; it’s just a good story that is carried by great performances and was fun start to finish. The first impression I got from the film as the credits rolled is that it reminded me of the fun and cool crime films of the 90s.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 12th, 2024
"For most of human civilization, we believed that we were Earth's most dominant species. We believed that life could only exist on the surface of the planet. Well, after a certain point of view, you have to wonder what else we were wrong about. In the beginning, Hollow Earth lived in harmony with the surface world. The Titans were the guardians of nature, and the Great Apes became the protectors of humanity. But a great evil threatened the peace. A powerful and ruthless ape desperate to conquer the surface world led his tribe into war against the one they call the Monster Who Ate a Star. The war with the Apes nearly destroyed Godzilla. But after a great battle, he imprisoned the apes in a fiery realm of Hollow Earth. Their false king remains obsessed with reaching the surface. The Iwi call him the Skar King."
That in a nutshell is the plot of the latest Monsterverse film from Legacy and Warner Brothers. It's called Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire, and we're told the X is silent. And here I thought it was some kind of a multiplier.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on June 8th, 2024
“You're my bad boys. Now clear my name.”
Slipping back into their roles as Mike Lowry and Marcus Burnett must be as easy as slipping on their favorite jacket for Will Smith and Martin Lawrence at this point. Their chemistry has been what has sustained this nearly thirty-year franchise, and they continue the trend with the latest installment, Bad Boys: Ride or Die. If this is to be the final addition in the franchise, I would be more than satisfied, and Ride or Die would be a very good high note to go out on in my opinion, as it offers a measure of catharsis for both characters. Not to mention paying homage to an O.G. character who was tragically killed (I’m still upset about it) in the previous film. Naturally Smith and Lawrence are the returning vets for the series, but there are also a few other returning faces, such as Paola Nunez, Jacob Scipio, Vanessa Hudgens, and Alex Ludwig, who were introduced in the last film. However, that’s not all, as the film demonstrates excellent character continuity by including characters introduced in the first movie. Characters like Dennis Greene as Reggie, and even better, a surprise cameo from a very tall former criminal that dates to the original film.
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