Posted in: The Reel World by Gino Sassani on February 7th, 2022
In the 1970's Irwin Allen went from doing campy television science fiction shows like Lost In Space, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, and Lost In Space to becoming the king of the disaster movie. From The Poseidon Adventure to The Towering Inferno, Allen brought us to the brink of disaster time and time again. While others have followed in his footsteps, no one has taken that genre to heart as much as Roland Emmerich. Films like Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow filled our screens with technology that Irwin Allen could only dream about. But Emmerich worked best when he was partnered with Dean Devlin. Since that collaboration ended it appears that Emmerich has been in a kind of a rut. That wouldn't be so bad, because he knows how to put a big budget film together and give us a lot of bang for our buck with milestone f/x and mind-blowing set pieces. But it appears that a lot of that luster has been eclipsed by his latest sci-fi/disaster entry, Moonfall.
Posted in: The Reel World by Jeremy Butler on February 5th, 2022
Over twenty years ago, we were introduced to a slapstick television series known as Jackass. While the series only ran for three seasons, it was a show like no other, as it featured its cast intentional doing dangerous things and often risking injury and death for our entertainment. It also went on to spawn multiple spin-off series before transiting to the big screen in what is now four movie adaptations. It also introduced the world to the charisma of Johnny Knoxville, who without question was the most fearless and daring member of the cast; on several episodes, we witnessed as he got seriously injured while performing stunts that included getting gored by bulls, shot with tasers, shot from cannons, and contending with professional heavyweight boxers.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 5th, 2022
Superhost is a not-so-flattering social commentary on the youth of today who seem to be driven more by the amount of likes and subscribers they have than the actual human interactions they encounter in the course of a day. Whether it’s Tik Tok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or any number of platforms you can think of, it seems people have just become obsessed with seeking the approval of “followers” instead of taking stock in the friends they have in their “real” social structure. The pandemic, of course, doesn’t help any of this, as it seems every week there is some new dance or challenge people are doing in the name of clicks. Also recently it seems suicides and murder-suicides have been occurring more with these “social media influencers”. Maybe it is just the old man in me coming out, but I look at the social media culture and wonder if man has reached his peak and we are all simply on a steady decline from this point forward.
Posted in: Podcasts by Gino Sassani on February 1st, 2022
Superhost is out on Blu-ray and DVD today from Shudder. A pair of vacation home bloggers find themselves facing sinking numbers, but that's going to be the least of their troubles when they pick the wrong house to review. Osric Chau and Sara Canning star in the new horror film, and I had a chance to talk with Osric about his experiences on the film. Osric Chau also played the lovable Kevin on Supernatural, and now he's appearing here at Upcomingdiscs. Bang it here to listen in on my chat with Osric Chau.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 28th, 2022
When it comes to Amityville Uprising, it felt like I spent the film’s entire runtime waiting for it to start. I mean, the film literally spent ninety percent of the time building towards the action, which basically took place at the very end of the film. There are sporadic events that occur earlier, but even those don’t start until halfway in. I expect for zombie movies to get the action rolling much sooner than that, but in the case of this film, the plot moves at the pace of a walker in the Walking Dead. That paired with the low production quality, nonexistent character development, and subpar acting makes for a less than enjoyable experience. Granted, I was not expecting box office quality from this production, but I at least hoped that there would be one or two tidbits for me to be able to point to and say that the experience had some good parts. Sadly, that wasn’t the case with this film.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 25th, 2022
Twenty years ago, he left his hometown of Kiewarra, a farming town in Australia, under a black cloud. His girlfriend was found dead under suspicious circumstances, and all the evidence pointed to him. If it wasn’t for a friend willing to lie for him, he would have ended up in jail. When that same friend’s family is killed in a murder-suicide with all the evidence suggesting that said friend was responsible, he will return to investigate. However, time has not improved the community’s feelings about him, as the people have long memories. Eric Bana stars as federal police detective Aaron Falk in The Dry, a film based on Jane Harper’s 2017 book of the same name. Having been a fan of Eric Bana for some years, I looked for this this opportunity to watch him play detective. While the story does drag at times, I will say that overall, the quality of the storytelling made the experience worthwhile.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 21st, 2022
“A great man doesn’t seek to lead, he’s called to it. But if your answer is no, you’ll still be the only thing I need you to be. My son.”
Given that this was most likely the most anticipated movie of 2020, I must say that I expected much more from it. Especially given the who’s who list of Hollywood stars who were brought together for this production. Names like Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Oscar Isaac, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, and the list goes on. I suppose another thing that somewhat worked against the film was the long wait, as this was a movie that was slated for a year earlier, and then the pandemic complicated that, so anticipation for this film was high. Not to mention that this is a reboot of a beloved series that has already been adapted and garnered a large cult following. It is also my understanding that previous adaptation had the benefit of having the creator of the franchise on set to help guide it.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 21st, 2022
Every era has their Hollywood good guys and their Hollywood bad guys. Back in the early days, we had Nazis to pit against our heroes. When they didn't quite fit the bill, we had the Japanese. For much of the Cold War, we had great Russian villains to test the mettle of our heroes. Terrorists fit the bill a lot today, but perhaps the only group hated by large segments of American audiences more are the 1%ers. Anyone who makes an obscene amount of money must have cheated to get there. It doesn't hurt that financial power companies have been immersed in the last couple of economic disasters. Michael Douglas taught us that greed is good, and while every single one of us wants to be at the top, it's not quite the politically correct thing to express ... at least out loud. Billions gives us the kind of power broker who is just too much fun to hate.
Posted in: The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on January 14th, 2022
In 1996 when Scream first came out, it’s hard to explain to this new generation of teens just how much it changed the genre and the film industry. To say the horror genre was dead is an understatement. Sure, the early 90’s had a handful of good films, but when you look at where the genre was in the 80’s and earlier, you can see the difference. Then when you look at how the genre has evolved since the first film premiered, what Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven did has been emulated but not quite surpassed. Even with the three sequels that followed, they had the same spirit but just not quite as good. Sure, better horror films have come along in the 25 years since, and several have changed the genre for better or worse. We’ve seen horror go with the intense hyper realism and the re-boot which Scream 4 (2011) took its meta take on, but where could the series go next?
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 11th, 2022
This appears to be the time of Resident Evil, it would seem. Fresh on the heels of a live-action reboot to the franchise (Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City) comes the home media release of this CGI miniseries based on the popular Capcom video game. If you want to be technical, the miniseries preceded the reboot, as it was originally released on Netflix back in July of 2021. Set between the events of Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, the miniseries follows Leon S. Kennedy as he attempts to uncover a conspiracy that reaches all the way up to the White House. Now, in reference to that time period, I should mention that it is the video game continuity, not the film’s, that is an important distinction, as Milla Jovovich was only loosely based on the source material. While the story does take some time to develop, by the final episode, I was fully vested in its outcome.
On The Web
Sponsors
