Movies Watched The Week of 7/20 - 7/26

Welcome back gang, and holy shit did I go big with the viewing this week.  I didn't even realize how much I saw and it was nice and varied.  Nothing bad at all, just some minor disappointments. But that's all fine, since there is a movie in here that breaks way ahead of the pack and comes damn near close to being the best movie of the year.  So sit back and enjoy the ride.

Trance (July 20th, 2014)

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, and Vincent Cassel 

No matter the quality of the movie, it was just nice to see Danny Boyle make a movie that wasn't practically begging for Awards. Going back genre fare, a really odd heist/sci fi-ish movie, Boyle seems reinvigorated.  So much so, that he goes really big in this.  He takes a lot of chances.  The third act of this is just out of control, and in lesser hands it would have fallen apart.  But Boyle has been around the block and keeps it together, making quite the bold ending.  It does take a lot of suspension of disbelief, using the typical heist movie formula of a lot of disparate things working out perfectly and turning that up to 11.  Some may not be able to roll with it but I dug it for how audacious it was.  Just a little hint, it makes everyones characters do a 180 in terms of motives.  For me, it worked but for others it might not.  McAvoy does really good work, especially by the end of the movie.  Cassel is Cassel, doing skeevy criminal very well.  Dawson shows how under rated she is yet again, and also shows that she's shaved.  Yeah, kinda odd moment in the movie.  Boyle shoots it with his typically kinetic eye and makes it look like nothing else out there.  If you want a twisty little movie with nicely surprising turns, this is a good pick.  Not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.  

Rating: 8/10

Don Jon (July 20th, 2014)
Director: Joseph Gordon Levitt
Starring: Joseph Gordon Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, and Tony Danza

JGL is a decent enough actor. He doesn't really do good work in big blockbusters, and has never been very transformative.  He's good when he doesn't have to do action or accents.  So, this role is kinda halfway out of his depth. He sounds like a cartoon of Jersey Shore.  But this movie is really about seeing what he's like behind the camera.  And I'm here to report that he's alright.  He doesn't do anything really special, kinda directing like a typical indie guy.  The only truly great performance he gets is from Johansson, and that may be more her than him.  Because he also wrote the movie and it's not bad, but it's flaws make it stick out.  The biggest flaw is Johanssons character.  She's really just a giant cunt, and this is supposed to be a good thing in the movie.  John gets out from under her thumb and we're supposed to be happy, even though it's his porn addiction that knocks the relationship out.  So in that regard, if she was not the horrible shrew that she is, it would make his loss more poignant.  And would make the scene when he accepts it and moves on would have been better.  But it's not, and what we got was really off for me.  That and he gets with Julianne Moore, who's playing super cool tragic backstory Cougar.  The movie wraps up a little too cleanly.  There is some good stuff about young guys dependency on porn and how it ruins their thoughts on how real relationships should be, while also pointing out that women have the same thing with rom coms.  If he dug down a little deeper and worked a bit longer on the script, this could have been really special.  But as is, it's a nice little movie with it's moments but misses the highs it is so straining to reach.

Rating: 7/10

The Purge: Anarchy (July 22nd, 2014)
Director: James DeMonaco
Starring: Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford, and Kiele Sanchez

Now, this was a movie I've been waiting a while for and I didn't even know it.  The movie that the first Purge should have been, this movie may very well be the surprise of the summer.  This is a world where once a year for 12 hours, all crime is legal to keep crime down the rest of the year.  Where the last ruined didn't take advantage of the premise and stuck to a middling home invasion movie, this one goes bigger.  And not in an obnoxious way.  We follow two separate groups of people as they try to survive the day, and the one guy who is out there looking for someone.  Then they all meet up and stick together, trying to survive.  This movie is so heavily inspired by Carpenter, that if it wasn't good I'd be really mad at the audacity to rip off the master.  But it being so good is a real treat for me.  Grillo is the star of the beast, as the nameless Sarge who is out looking for someone for justice.  He's essentially The Punisher.  Perfectly playing the mysterious stranger who can kick ass, he brings alot of intensity and pathos to the role.  In lesser hands, he could have been a joke.  But Grillo is talented and looks like he's seen some shit in his day.  The rest of the cast does good work as well, making you care for them and not wanna see them killed, a vast difference from the first movie.  The movie has good action in a real world way, nothing big or CGI filled.  It also has so many cool little details to fill out the world that I really want more.  I need another one that goes bigger, especially with a subplot that shows up in this.  Not only is it a fun genre flick, it has more on its mind than violence.  It may be as subtle as a sledgehammer, but being mindful sets it apart from the vast majority of mainstream genre fare made these days.  This is essentially the true Escape From LA, and I'm ok with that.  Now, all they need to do is get Carpenter to do a sequel or a movie set in the world and I'll be as happy as a pig in shit.

Rating: 9/10

Snowpiercer (July 23rd, 2014)
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Starring: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, John Hurt, and Tilda Swinton

I thought The Purge: Anarchy was gonna be the best genre movie I saw this year.  Well, I was really fucking wrong.  Holy shit is this movie off the wall great.  This is true sci fi, something Rod Serling would really like.  Taking a crazy premise of a dead world and the remaining civilization living on a train, with each car a level of the class system, and making it feel not only real but possible.  Evans is the leader of the poor car, planning to lead a revolt and take the train for his people.  And that is all I'm gonna tell you guys.  Because the twists and turns in this movie really need to be seen fresh so you can truly admire the brilliance on display.  Evans shows how great an actor he really is and how he's kinda wasted as Captain America.  I really hope he doesn't retire from acting after Avengers 3.  The rest of the cast is good, but you guys need to see them for yourself.  The real star though is Ho, directing this with a level of talent usually unseen in sci fi these days.  The world starts off absolutely filthy in the train car, then gets more decadent the further up the train you go.  He brings alot of dynamism to the action, a hard task since it's on a train.  It may not be Gareth Evans level, but it's great in its own right.  And much like The Purge, it has a lot on its mind.  Some stuff it shares with The Purge, but it goes about it in such different ways and in a more subdued way that it couldn't be any different.  I'm gonna cut this short now and just say this movie must be seen if you love sci fi or action.  This is only one of 2 movies so far this year with the rating I've given it.  I find it hard to believe that any movie released later this year can top it (even harder to top The Raid 2).  A true masterpiece and another great genre flick released this year.

Rating: 10/10

Much Ado About Nothing (July 25th, 2014)
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Amy Acker, Alexis Denisof, Clark Gregg, and Nathan Fillion


This movie was a bit hard to watch for me.  Not because it was bad or anything.  It's a problem I have with every Shakespeare movie.  I'm kinda tone deaf when it comes to his dialogue.  It's kinda like it goes in through one ear and out the other without touching my brain.  I usually figure out whats going on, but it's like translating another language.  Either way, the movie itself was good.  Decent enough.  Its very Shakespeare, with a lot of double crossing and plotting.  But there's love going on without threat of suicide, so it's fresh in that regard instead of another version of Romeo and Juliet.  Whedon handles the material well enough, giving it a nice light touch.  Visually its fine, like his normal stuff.  Very TV looking.  The cast is good.  It's just very light and hasn't stuck with me.  But it's fine enough.  It's more a good way to see what Whedon can do not in a genre setting, like The Avengers or Serenity.  Not even close to his best work, but for a nice little time you could do much worse.  PS. Nathan Fillion steals the show.

Rating: 7/10

Ginger Snaps (July 26th, 2014)
Director: John Fawcett
Starring: Katherine Isabelle, Emily Perkins, Kris Lemche, and Mimi Rogers

There's a very unique sub genre within the horror field, and that is the supernatual as metaphor for puberty genre.  Like Carrie using telekinesis before it, this flick uses lycanthropy (werewolves for the cheap seaters).  Isabelle and Perkins play really weird sisters, obsessed with death and have a suicide pact.  But when Isabelle is attacked by what turns out to be a werewolf, shit goes sideways.  This was a nice little surprise.  I've heard good things, but I get wary off werewolf movies.  There's two good ones.  So that I would like it was not a guarantee.  But I did.  The girls do good work, starting off as annoying little creeps and growing on you as the problems grow.  It's not a big movie, only getting to see Isabelle go full werewolf till the end.  But it has nice twists on the genre, with her slowly turning before a full moon makes her go full wolf.  For a low budget Canadian film, it looks like a real flick.  Nothing really low fi about it.  Maybe some of the werewolf stuff at the end, but nothing so mindblowingly bad that you laugh it off.  A good little horror movie about the horrors of growing up, and I'm glad to have been able to see it.

Rating: 8/10

Insomnia (July 26th, 2014)
Director: Erik Skjoldbjerg
Starring: Stellan Skarsgard, Sverre Anker Ousdal, Maria Mathiesen, and Gisken Armand

I've been waiting to see this movie for a good long while, ever since seeing Christopher Nolans remake of it.  And while Nolans movie wasn't his best, it still hooked me as an interesting little mystery.  So now seeing the Norwegian original, I have a better idea of what was done differently, and in some ways better.  Following two detectives as they investigate a baffling murder in a small Norwegian town and the way everything starts to go wrong for the main detective, played by Skarsgard.  It is a time of year when the Sun is up all day for a while.  So Skarsgard is dealing with Insomnia, and then he has to deal with accidentally killing his partner when trying to catch the killer.  So he is dealing with slowly losing his mind while trying to catch the killer he was brought in to catch.  The movie is well shot, bringing a nice icy and dreary tone to the film that it needs.  Skarsgard is good as the very repressed and delirious detective.  The killer is also suitably creepy in a low key way.  But I gotta say, I think Nolans was better in almost every regard.  Aside from the wrap up with the killer, Nolan did a lot of nice things to change the story up a bit and make the narrative a bit cleaner.  If thats my biggest problem with the movie, is that it isn't the cleanest narrative in the world.  It's a bit choppy.  And the reasoning for Skarsgard covering up the murder is a bit silly, where Nolan adds a good reason behind it.  Robin Williams was also a better antagonist than this ones.  This wasn't a bad movie by any stretch. But it's an interesting case of seeing the differences in where and how it was made.  So I recommend it for those who saw the remake, and for those that haven't I still would but only with the caveat of watching the remake after.

Rating: 8/10






Best Movies

1. Snowpiercer
2. The Purge: Anarchy
3. Ginger Snaps
4. Trance
5. Insomnia 
6. Much Ado About Nothing
7. Don Jon


Top 5 Performances

1.  Chris Evans - Snowpiercer
2. Frank Grillo - The Purge: Anarchy
3. Emily Perkins - Ginger Snaps 
4. James MacAvoy - Trance
5.  Scarlett Johanson - Don Jon





Top 5 Moments

1. Gun Check - Snowpiercer
2. Sarge Saves The Girls - The Purge: Anarchy
3. "Do You Know Why I Hate Myself?" - Snowpiercer
4. Ginger Gets Attacked - Ginger Snaps
5. Nathan Fillion Gets Into A Slap Fight - Much Ado About Nothing

- Tom Lorenzo

The Punisher

When someone mentions comic books, pretty much everybody has the same basic ideas in their head.  They think of super power, bright clothes and a good set of morals for the main guys, while the villains are over the top and cartoonishly evil.  That is a a decent idea for the most part, without any of the subtlety that makes the best characters really rise to the top.  These guys usually are super powered/aliens, save for a Batman or Hawkeye.  So it would seem like a near impossibility for a character to come about that has no powers, is very drab, with down to earth villains and who not only has no problem with mass murder, but actively takes part in it weekly.  Right?

Around 1974, Gerry Conway was writing The Amazing Spider-Man.  He had a habit of making sketches of potential characters to work on.  And it was this way that he drew a man with a skull on his chest.  Handing it off to John Romita Sr., we ended up with the very famous costume of a black outfit with a giant skull emblazoned on it.  Then with Conway writing and Ross Andru drawing, issue #129 of The Amazing Spider-Man saw the debut of comics most famous mass murdering anti hero, The Punisher.  

Initially appearing as a foil to Spider-Man, The Punisher was a big hit with fans and ended up appearing in many titles as a supporting player throughout 70s and early 80s, even appearing in Frank Millers groundbreaking run on Daredevil.  Then around the mid 1980s, it was proposed that the man would get his own series.  And in 1986, the world got it’s first taste with a miniseries.  Then in 1987, we were introduced to The Punisher, initially headed by writer Mike Baron and artist Klaus Janson.  This lead to other series for the killer, from The Punisher: War Journal and The Punisher: War Zone.  A big hit throughout the late 80s and early 90s, he suffered a big decline like many other titles.  His titles were cancelled and he disappeared as a main man for a while.  But like any good harbinger of death, he was hard to keep down.  

Frank Castle was gone for a while, but it took a hot writer to see the potential in him and bring him back, both barrels blasting.  Garth Ennis, of Preacher and Hellblazer, came in and completely made The Punisher hotter than ever.  With a stripping down of who the character is and a focus on sharp writing and black humor, Ennis went on a monumental run with Castle.  Not just in one title.  No, he had two titles with The Punisher, most famously being The Punisher Max run.  

A completely stripped down version of the man and set in a different continuity, The Punisher Max focusing on realism and grittiness, Ennis once again revamped the man.  Taking him out of the black tights and the go go boots, putting him into combat pants and a t shirt with a leather jacket, this is now the go to version of the man.  So much so that he has now taken on this look in the regular Marvel universe.  

How has Frank Castle lasted so long, despite being a cold blooded mad man with a penchant for the brutal murder of any criminal he sees, leaving him almost no continuous villain? It’s because he stands out from the other Marvel titles, even DC.  He is completely and utterly a dime store crime novel in comic form, with a big dose of PTSD.  Castle saw his family get gunned down by gangsters accidentally during a shootout.  This is a man who was a world class soldier and was helpless to protect his family.  We get to watch a man who shares many attributes with other heroes, but has taken it to an absolutely final outcome.  That in and of itself is another reason we love to see him around.  

Readers love to see him interact with the likes of Daredevil and Captain America, men who essentially share the same goal.  But whereas Cap and Daredevil try to let the justice system do their job, Castle is not interested in the broken justice system.  He believes these men have made their bed and have to sleep in it.  No more, no less.  The best parts in Marvels last good event series, Civil War, involves Castle. Spider-Man is getting pummeled in the sewers and is saved by The Punisher.  He couldn’t care less about the costumes Civil War, only saving Spidey because he saw the criminals and just acted.  And he gets further involved because he idolizes Captain America, but is almost killed by Cap when he guns down some villains trying to join their side.  And Castle won’t fight back because it’s Cap.  If there is absolutely one reason people keep going back to Castle, it’s because he is completely set in his ways.  The world is black and white, and we never have to worry about any existential problems with him.  He is what he is.  

Now, while The Punisher has endured as a popular character, he hasn’t seen much success on the big screen the way others have.  First suffering indignity in a 80s action movie with Dolph Lundgren.  Then he was pretty decently played by Thomas Jane in a 2004 movie that wasn’t successful enough to keep it going in a pre Avengers world.  Then the character may have had a bullet put in his cinematic head when Ray Stevenson played the character in the abysmal The Punisher: War Zone in 2008.  There are always rumor he might show up again, now that Marvel now has the movie rights back.  But there’s the distinct possibility that Marvel just doesn’t wanna touch a character with such a failed history.  Then again, we may be getting the Punisher movie we always wanted, without actually being the Punisher.  

This month sees the release of the horror sequel, The Purge: Anarchy.  Now while the first one set up an interesting premise for a sci fi esque movie, it squander it on a basic home invasion premise.  But this movie seems to be what that first movie should have been, a bunch of people stuck in the city while all crime is legal for the day.  Why bring this up?  Because there is a character in this movie, as played by Frank Grillo, who is pretty much The Punisher.  His son is killed by a drunk driver, so he is going to use the Purge to legally seek revenge.  Now, that wouldn’t be too explicit if he wasn’t essentially wearing his damn revamped, leather jacket uniform without the white skull.  Also, judging from the trailers, his morality forces him to help innocents from criminals.  If Marvel was smart, they’d be looking right at this guy to play the character in their world.  Either as a supporting guy in the movies or on the Netflix shows, or give him his own movie/show.  

How could he fit in this world after so many failed attempts to connect?  There’s a few ways.  Introduce him the way he was in the comics, as the “villain” out to kill one of the heroes because he has bad info.  Have him go after Banner for breaking Harlem or go after Ant-Man for being a thief.  Then in that way, you can introduce him in a way that shows the comic roots, while comparing his brutal ways to the other characters ways.  Another way to get him into this is by having him show up in the Daredevil show, or the other Netflix ground level shows.  Especially Daredevil, as they are pretty much diametrically opposite of each other despite similar goals.  He may be too human to go against the Avengers right off the bat, so bring him down to the level of Matt Murdock or Luke Cage.  Show that even people on the street aren’t for his almost serial killer-esque antics.  The best way though might be to just give him his own show, maybe the most easily adaptable to the TV model, with a crime of the week element that also has an overarching villain.  Hell, that’s another way to interlock the worlds.  Have Castle going after a crime boss the whole season, and that ends up being Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin which then in fact ties him into Daredevil.  That would be great too, as Castle sometimes can be too good at his job, so give him a villain that manages to survive his attacks despite a season of him killing everyone in sight.  

Now, those were ideas for TV or supporting roles.  But movies could theoretically support him.  There are two ways about it that would be different than the others and ties them into the world at large.  Both ideas would have to start with him already being The Punisher.  Make him elemental, the shark in the water, death incarnate.  He is mythical, even in a world with a Norse God.  One idea would be to have a procedural of sorts, with him looking into missing kids which then in turn leads him to a Hyrda conspiracy.  The second idea is pretty bold but pretty great.  Make him the villain of the movie, but not like the comic introduction he had.  Make it a slasher movie, with him as the killer in the shadows and the teens are actually mafioso.  Make one of the Mafioso an undercover agent, either Hawkeye or Black Widow, or even someone else they want to bring out.  See the devastation that Castle can unleash from a new perspective, seeing the damage that he is actually capable of.  Have someone who is used to this violent world, and see the storm that is Frank. Make this character try to recruit Castle.  It would make the ground level heroes more important to the world at large, that even Super Heroes look at a simple man with a wary eye, with fear in their minds.  More so than Daredevil or Luke Cage or Iron Fist.  Castle is truly street level, with only his wits and his psychotic dedication to keep him going.  

Frank Castle will always be around.  Even if sales slip, he will always be around the Marvel universe.  He is too unique and interesting a presence to not use.  He’s the wild card with a bullet in a world where a green rage monster exists.  As long as great writers keep writing him, he will always be around.  The talent he has seen is only reserved for those worthy.  Talent such as Jim Lee, Garth Ennis, Tim Bradstreet, Jason Aaron, John Romita Sr. and Jr., and current writer and up and coming talent Nathan Edmonson amongst many others.  The Punisher is an anomaly who manages to be the easiest character to write in Marvel, yet also the hardest.  The proper balance needs to be struck or you end up with alot of his 90s run.  He can be too dark, or too comedic.  But with the right balance, he is a fantastic character with a great potential.  Castle needs to be brought back to life by Marvel Studios, to truly lend some dynamism to the world.  They have technology, super science, aliens, and upcoming mysticism.  But to truly get every angle, they need a man on the fringes.  A man who isn’t really a man, who is more an idea.  That the justice system is broken and someone needs to fight the good fight.  That man is Frank Castle.  And chances are, if you see him coming, he’s the last sight you will ever see.  

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched The Week of 7/13 - 7/19

WELCOME!  Back again with some new entries for ya, this was a wild week.  I thought I'd just go through the old Apes movies, and I started that way.  But then I said fuck it, I wanna see some other shit.  Majority of the week was sci fi, but then I got into an ambitious coming of age story and a real life comedy.  It's a solid week.  I'm also doing something new at the end of the article with some listings, give a bit more credit to the movies.  Hopefully I can do it again with as wide a variety to choose from.  Either way, enjoy and see ya soon.

Planet of The Apes (July 13th, 2014)

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner 

Starring: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, and Maurice Evans

The movie that accidentally started a 8 movie deep, still running franchise.  The crazy thing though is it wasn't meant to launch a franchise, but the instantly iconic ending added so much history and so many questions, a sequel and now prequels were almost obvious in hindsight.  Now, this was a movie I had seen a long time ago and didn't much care for.  But as time went on, I got much more interested in Sci Fi and more specifically The Twilight Zone.  Which is a good thing, because this is a feature length Sci Fi edition of The Twilight Zone, since Rod Serling had a big hand in the making, the ending being the most obvious element.  For those uninitiated (which, wtf are you doing reading this) the movie is about a crew of astronauts ending up 2000 years in the future and crash landing on what they think is an alien planet in a far off galaxy.  Then they see the planet is run by super intelligent Apes, with humans being thoughtless slaves.  After being attacked, the only survivor is Charlton Heston, who is one of the ugliest men ever made a Hollywood star. After trying to escape the maniacal grasp of the planets scientists to be dissected, he does and ends up realizing that the planet is actually Earth in the future, destroyed by the arrogance of man.  Now the movie was made in 1968, so it has some dated elements.  Heston was okayed to be a star back then, somehow, seeing as he is a grotesque man who acts like William Shatners acting coach.  But like Shatner, you can't help but watch him.  There's a certain charisma that is very helpful, because the way the character is written, he could have been a real pain to watch.  The makeup effects, which were revolutionary at the time (and are still pretty good all things considered), are kinda off.  It may because the makeup in the vastly shittier remake by Tim Burton was actually really good (the only good thing), or that the work being done with Andy Serkis makes it look so much more outdated.  But it also doesn't help that the ape effects make the actors have to be a bit bigger so we can see movements in the face.  So the acting, while not bad, comes off a little broad.  It's the Serling aspects of the movie that keep it great today, even relevant.  This is a movie with a message, an unsubtle one like many a Twilight Zone.  Basically, any intelligent life is just doomed to repeat history and destroy itself.  We see what the humans left behind and see that the Apes are on the same path in a way.  And really, it's the twist.  That twist, a Twilight Zone special of "they were on Earth the whole time", gets a nice big screen update.  The Statue of Liberty, destroyed and beached on shore.  But not only is it a gut punch and nails the message, it adds alot more history and mystery to the world.  What happened for the humans to destroy the world?  How did the apes get to this place?  Why are they so hateful of humans?  The movie got a big dose of interesting with that ending, so much so that it spawning a franchise isn't surprising.  Not to mention that the prequels are a lot more interesting that a prequel should have the right to be, since aside from great technical aspects with Andy Serkis and Matt Reeves, the movies were sort of gift wrapped an interesting concept.  With a timeless message, a cool world and a great twist, the movie has stood the test of time and rightfully so.  A classic in many sense, and not even close to matched or topped in 46 years.

Rating: 8/10

Beneath The Planet of The Apes (July 14th, 2014)
Director: Ted Post
Starring: James Franciscus, Linda Harrison, Maurice Evans, and Charlton Heston

The first sequel to the classic, it isn't as bad as one would think.  It suffers a bit from sequelitis, where the plot is a little too close to the first one, with a protagonist that is too similar to Heston.  Dealing with the fear of the Apes scientific curiosity and the realization of the setting.  But then it goes further and takes the concept handed to them and goes big.  Not necessarily in a good way, but it goes for it.  It deals with super advanced humans with mental powers that worship a nuclear bomb, lead an underground rebellion and have no skin.  They go big.  And the ending is even more nihilistic than the first, with the entire world being nuked to other side by a pissed off and dying Heston.  This is really only for those that are interested in the world and wanna see more Apes.  It's fine enough and comes in a box set that is running $20 bucks at Best Buy, so it makes it easier to get informed.  Recommended at your own discretion.

Rating: 7/10

Scanners (July 17th, 2014)
Director: David Cronenberg
Starring: Steven Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Jennifer O'Neill, and Michael Ironside

I really don't get how Cronenberg could have the balls to shit talk Comic Book movies when he's, 1. Made one (A History of Violence), and 2. made this which is like a low key knockoff of the X Men.  It has to be him just trying to stir shit up to get attention, because it would be really disappointing to know he's just a crotchety old man.  And while this isn't the greatest movie in the world, it has it's elements to make it worthwhile.  In this world, there is a group of people called Scanners.  They can connect their minds to others and affect changes.  There is a weapons company trying to help some of these people control it so they can use them, but there is a man named Darryl Revok (Ironside) who is a Scanner himself and is out to seemingly stop them.  But when someone at the company (McGoohan) uses the last scanner he has (Lack) to find and stop Revok, a lot of history comes to light.  Now, the worst aspect of the movie is Lack.  He isn't a very interesting presence.  Blandness seems to be his stock in trade.  But he is offset and overshadowed completely by Ironside, who steals the show.  Completely menacing and interesting, he is much better than he is needed to be.  The plot is interesting in it's twists and turns enough to keep you intrigued to see where Cronenberg is gonna take us.  The effects are the star of the show though, with the iconic head exploding scene and the final battle.  That final battle could be hard to swallow for people, seeing as it's just two guys making weird faces at each other while their bodies morph.  Now while this doesn't reach the heights of Cronenbergs other works, or the height of the other 80s sci fi and action maestro John Carpenter, it is a highlight of the 80s B movie scene.  Recommended for all sci fi fans and those to see Cronenbergs early days.

Rating: 8/10

Boyhood (July 18th, 2014)
Director: Richard Linklater
Starring: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke, and Lorelei Linklater


This may sound hyperbolic, but this is very well the most ambitious movie ever made.  Doubt me?  Where are all the special effects and giant robot testicles? None to be found.  This is a simple movie about growing up and realizing the harsh realities of life.  How can that be ambitious?  Try filming a few days a year for 12 years with the same cast, watching them actually grow without makeup effects or recasting.  We see Ethan Hawke waltz right off the set Training Day, till the end where he walked right off the set of The Purge.  The main star of the show, Coltrane, goes from a precocious little 6 year old until age 18, having aged into Ethan Hawke in Reality Bites.  This is the grand thesis of Linklaters career, a man who has been very interested in the passage of time.  The Before trilogy was his most ambitious idea before this, but that wasn't filmed in such a crazy way.  Now, this is more of a series of shorts merged into a feature, so it doesn't have a real narrative thrust.  And with the anthological aspect of the story, some parts work better than others.  The beginning seems to have some straining going along, as it's finding its footing.  But as it goes along, it becomes much more confident and transcendent.  It also becomes more and more a Linklater movie, as the older Coltrane gets, the more philosophical he gets, much like Hawke in his other work with Linklater.  The biggest miracle of the movie is not just keeping the same 4 main cast members the whole time, it's that Coltrane is a really solid actor.  Being cast at 6 didn't really give anyone the confidence he'd grow into so well, but he luckily did.  He carries the movie and gives the movie it's soul.  Arquette has done career best work, surprising anyone who saw her in True Romance. She brings the strength and sadness to a woman who tries her best to protect her family but keeps picking the wrong men.   Hawke does good work too, but not as good as the Before movies, mainly because he isn't in this as much as those movies.  He is a bit of a breathe of fresh air, as the irresponsible Dad who is more realistically irresponsible.  Instead of being a jerk or a alcoholic or having any other cliche bad dad traits, he's just not mature enough at the beginning.  But we chart his growth until he actually becomes a grown up.  Lorelei is good as the sister, but doesn't really have as much to do as the other three.  She just plays moody girl.  She does it fine, but the other three have such juicy parts that she kinda sticks out.  But this is a movie that is more than the disparate parts.  It is a transcendent work and it is something that will probably never be duplicated again.  Linklater may have done better work with the Before movies, but he'll never do anything so innovative again.  A real magical piece of work, I highly recommend.

Rating: 9/10

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (July 19th, 2014)
Director: Jeff Tremaine
Starring: Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll

And after the real and beautiful work that is Boyhood, we lead into Bad Grandpa, a movie that starts with Knoxville dressed as an old man who gets his dick stuck in a vending machine.  No, they did not rip off Sacha Baron Cohen with this.  The idea of getting dressed up and fucking with the public has been done before, and they were doing it on Jackass long before Borat got blown into oblivion.  Following Knoxville as Irving Zissman and his "grandson" played by Jackson Nicoll as they drive across country to deliver the kid to his "Dad".  The movie is really just about doing some wild shit and seeing the reactions of people, almost coming very close to violence some times.  They have a narrative running through it, but only as a way to make it like a real movie in between the comedic bits.  Knoxville is a better actor than he gets credit for and is still as game as he used to be, even if he's a little more worse for wear.  Nicoll is a funny little kid too, fitting right into the Jackass world.  This is a movie that is content with making people laugh and it does so.  Not as funny as Jackass 2 or 3, but it wrings some humor out of ya.

Rating: 8/10




Weekly Rankings


Best Movies

1. Boyhood
2. Planet of The Apes
3. Scanners
4. Bad Grandpa
5. Beneath The Planet of The Apes




Top 5 Performances Performances

1. Ellar Coltrane
2. Michael Ironside
3. Charlton Heston
4. Johnny Knoxville
5. Ethan Hawke




Top 5 Moments

1. The Statue of Liberty - Planet of The Apes
2. Mason Jr goes to College - Boyhood
3. Head Goes Kablooey - Scanners
4. Gets Your Stinking Paws off Me - Planet of The Apes
5. Iriving In The Strip Club - Bad Grandpa

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched 7/6 - 7/12

WELCOME!  A nice little week here, with the majority being movies released in the last year.  So as a way to balance that, I watched a movie that's older than my Dad.  It's a good week, that gets better as it goes along, than takes a slight dip.  A nice varied week again, its a fun week.  Give it a read and enjoy.  Stay tuned for more updates coming at ya soon.

Carrie (July 6th, 2014)

Director: Kimberly Peirce 

Starring: Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Ansel Elgort, and Gabriella Wilde

I really wanted this to be great.  I loved the book and found the original movie by DePalma lacking.  And when those working on the movie said the book was more a basis than the original movie, I got excited.  It may have taken me a while to finally see it, but I did.  And I didn't hate it.  Chloe Moretz is a better Carrie than Sissy Spacek was.  Moore was also better as Margaret White than Piper Laurie.  So when it was dealing with them on screen, I was into it.  I believed Carries and Margarets journey more.  Moretz may not be a fat, ugly little duckling like King described her in the book, but neither was Spacek.  Moretz managed to portray the wallflower, repressed aspects of Carrie better than Spacek, who only managed to be weird because she looked weird.  And Moore had an easy job, for me at least, because all she had to do was not be a cartoon mess of a woman like Laurie.  Luckily she was also good as the insanely devout woman who has to struggle with herself to kill her daughter.  The biggest problem with the movie is the lack of anyone interesting aside from those two.  None of the cast really shine or make an impression, some of them being bad. So it's essentially the horror movie problem of having to like the characters, but you don't so you want to see them die.  Another big problem was Pierce shows her lack of experience with big effects work, because they sometimes seem a bit off, like she didn't know how to film it.  There are moments when it's really good, but the rest is lacking.  Now, there's the part of me that has a grudge against this movie for not being closer to the book, being that I've read the book.  This is closer to the original movie, so the pre release talk was all bull shit.  If it wanted to be like the book, it would have been like a docudrama in a sense, with a big apocalyptic ending.  But I have to ignore that.  As a movie, it works well enough.  It doesn't soar, but it's a good enough way to pass the time.  

Rating: 7/10

22 Jump Street (July 9th, 2014)
Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Starring: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube, and Wyatt Russell

Ice Cube steals the movie.  It's gotta be put up front.  He single handedly steals the movie from the on point Tatum and the still over rated, barely funny Hill.  Now that we got past that, the movie is pretty funny.  A sequel that manages to be an overtly meta take down on sequels, it pulls of quite a tough balancing act.  I don't find Hill particularly funny, but Tatum is even better than the last time.  He is perfectly harnessing the stiff, dumb ass persona that he has and it's great.  Add the bromance he gets into with Wyatt Russell (Kurts son, who looks way too much like him) is really funny, adding some "aren't buddy movies kinda gay" humor to the movie.  The plot itself is almost an exact copy of the last one, but it being a sequel, it has a twist to not be exact.  The movie can kinda be a little too much if you aren't into such winking material.  I did for the most part, but I won't say it's a classic.  It's on the same level as the first, and I hope they don't come back to the well.  The credits of the movie make it perfectly clear it wouldn't be a good idea.

Rating: 8/10

Dawn of The Planet of The Apes (July 11th, 2014)
Director: Matt Reeves
Starring: Andy Serkis, Toby Kebbell, Jason Clarke, and Gary Oldman

This movie may be the biggest surprise of the summer.  The last Apes movie was good, but it had a good deal of flaws.  Mainly the humans in the movie were absolutely worthless and kinda terribly performed.  But all the stuff with Serkis as Caesar was great.  It left room for a sequel with a lot of potential, but I did not think that they would come back this strong.  I've never loved an Apes movie (a rewatch of the original and a viewing of the sequels is imminent), but I loved this one.  The biggest improvement and the element that elevates it too greatness is the humans are actually really good in this.  Clarke is a good focal point for the humans, a man trying to protect his loved ones and who sees the good in the Apes.  Oldman, who in a lesser movie would be the moustache twirling villain, is just a man who is trying to protect his people and doesn't have all the knowledge of the Apes and Caesar to trust them.  Even the supporting actors bring some good work to the movie, specifically Keri Russell and Kodi Smit McPhee as Clarkes family.   And the Apes, great in the last movie, are even better this time out.  Because not only do we get Serkis doing even better work as Caesar, we get Kebbell as Koba.  Koba is essentially the villain of the movie.  But you understand why he does what he does.  One of the things that sets this apart from most other blockbusters and sci fi movies is that we understand everyone, and nobody is pure evil.   We don't want violence to break out, because we know the toll will be terrible.  Reeves has taken a huge leap here, completely elevating the game.  He shames the rest of the years blockbusters with mature and smart directing.  I can't really speak much higher about the movie.  All that's left to say is it needs to be seen.  Highly recommended.

Rating: 9.5/10

Throne of Blood (July 12th, 2014)
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune

It's Kurosawa doing the samurai version of MacBeth, with Mifune as the warrior himself.  It was gonna be good no matter what.  And it is.  Most know the story of MacBeth so I'll keep it simple.  This is a good adaptation of the play. Mifune is phenomenal as usual as the main man himself.  The paranoia and guilt just drips off him.  His wife, the most hideous woman I have ever had the displeasure of laying eyes on, is good as Lady MacBeth.  The whole movie is good, simply put.  It lacks a bit of meat on the bones, not being as fleshed out as the play it's based on.  But that's fine, it's the 50s and Kurosawa wrings out alot of good from what he's got.  It is a top tier movie from one of the best film makers ever.  Give it a shot and watch a master at work.

Rating: 9/10

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched The Week of 6/29 - 7/5

Welcome to the newest, 4th of July weekend special edition of my blog post.  Nothing was watched to actually tie into the festivities, but the movies I watched were actually released while I was alive, so there is a theme in there.  Not a great week, but serviceable nonetheless.  So give it a read before the work week starts back up, and I'll see ya soon.

The People Under The Stairs (June 29th, 2014)

Director: Wes Craven

Starring: Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, and AJ Langer

Wes Craven is an odd man.  He has, for the most part, done horror movies his entire career.  He got his start doing brutal, low budget movies with a nasty streak in them.  Hell, he made one of the best, most innovative slashers of all time with A Nightmare on Elm Street, that kept his nasty streak going but with a growing sense of smarts.  But throughout his career, he has made movies with respectable goals but just miss the mark, ending up completely goofy and being almost unwatchable.  But then he makes a movie like this, a movie thats intent is seemingly to be a bit goofy and not hardcore in the least.  Craven seems to know what he's doing here, purposefully going in a more cartoony territory.  We follow a young black kid and his uncle as they try to rob the rich landlords of the tenement that they live in, because the landlords are trying to force them out.  And right off the bat, we know the movie is gonna be a bit cartoonish, because Craven has the landlords do Ronald and Nancy Reagan impersonations.  He's not even trying to hide the fact that he thinks the Reagans are assholes who hate and live off the poor.  And while the movie may be unlike his best stuff, it's not bad.  By going into the movie with this goal, the movie actually works better for it.  It's not great, and it's barely good.  But it has enough thrills and comedic value in it to be a good time.  The landlords (McGill and Robie) are really gloriously over the top, doing brilliantly bad Reagans.  Adams is good enough as the kid sucked into a bad spot and trying to do the right thing.  But the real MVP to me is Langer, who plays the young girl kidnapped and brainwashed into believing she is the landlords child.  She is great at playing a broken and terrified little girl, nailing the PTSD elements she needs to portray.  So while them movie is far from perfect, getting a bit too silly at times, it's an entertaining watch.  To see some under the radar Craven, this might be the best of the little seen bunch.  

Rating: 7/10

Transformers: Age Of Extinction (July 4th, 2014)
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Peter Cullen, Kelsey Grammer, and Stanley Tucci

Michael Bay does not make good movies.  He makes movies that are technically impeccable.  But from a writing and performance perspective, he is tone deaf.  But he makes movies that are so gloriously stupid, with thrillingly big ideas that make almost no sense that one can't help but enjoy the audacity you see on the screen.  This movie features one of the most mindblowing subplots in a mainstream sci fi blockbuster ever, with a brilliantly insane setup for the next one.  What is that?  Robot God puts a bounty on Optimus Prime, so the next movie is gonna be Optimus searching him/them out for vengeance.  Seriously.  It's so insane, I was gonna dig the movie no matter how stupid the rest of the movie could be.  And it got stupid.  Mainly, Mark Wahlberg playing an inventor.  We know he's smart because he wears glasses.  Simple enough, Michael Bay decided to go with the go to 90s way of portraying smarts.  The actress playing his daughter isn't good, just another empty vessel for Bay to shoot like a commercial model.  Neither is the boyfriend, an absolutely worthless character overall.  But Grammer and Tucci actually do good work, with Grammer seemingly not realizing he's in a Transformers movie.  Cullen still is doing great work as Optimus, the only robot anyone actually cares about.  Although, my favorite might be the samurai robot named Drift, played by Ken Watanabe. Michael Bay is one of the most interesting directors to watch, because we just truly get to see what a sick man he actually is.  He's an auteur, where his movies just speak to how bent his world view is.  So while the Bayhem is good in this, it's still a Transformers movie.  If you don't find that or Bay interesting, nothing will change that.  But if you were on the fence, go see it.  At the very least, its so bold and stupid that it has to be seen.

Rating: 7/10

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane (July 5th, 2014)
Director: Jonathan Levine
Starring: Amber Heard, Anson Mount, and Michael Welch


This movie was shelved for about 8 years due to financial problems with its studio.  When a movie is gone that long, people think it's probably because the movie sucks.  But that wasn't true with Cabin In The Woods, and not completely the truth here.  The movie is a typical slasher movie, with asshole kids being killed because they do drugs and fuck.  But it has a nice little twist where it seems like a loser kid is doing it to the bullies, an accidentally timely movie seeing as how the MRA movement and the constant mass murders are almost constant in this country.  But then another twist breaks out and it kinda irritated me too much.  I won't spoil it but I will say it was hinted at subtly, but I still don't think it works.  The movie is shot well enough, and the performances from the three above work well.  It manages to be a nice throwback to 80s slashers without being steeped in 80s cliches or play like an homage like My Bloody Valentine 3D, or get very meta like the post Scream movies.  It's a nice little balancing act that I wish could have been used in slightly better movie.  Hell, I'd like to see this director take on a new Halloween if Patrick Lussier isn't available.  If you like horror, there are so many worse to choose from.  If you're curious, give it a look.  It's not bad, just a tad disappointing.

Rating: 7/10

- Tom Lorenzo