Author Archives: Felix Vasquez

Species II (1998) [Blu-Ray]

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Director Peter Medak follows up the somewhat tolerable original “Species” with a sequel that ups the ante in the narrative but doesn’t improve the story all that much. This time around Medak and co. completely abandon the idea of a genetically altered alien this time around for a much more traditional yet sexually charged alien invasion. When Commander Ross returns home from a space expedition with other astronaut explorers, the highly decorated man is revealed to have been taken over by an alien being. Said alien being is based around procreation. As Commander Ross slowly transforms in to an alien being, he begins scouring the city for sexual mates and turning them in to breeders for his army of off spring that begin populating the landscape.

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Disturbing Behavior (1998) [Blu-Ray]

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I’d be hard pressed to call “Disturbing Behavior” a stellar horror film, but as an artifact of the late nineties teen horror boom, it’s a worthwhile effort by an “X-Files” creative mind. “Disturbing Behavior” fosters a fascinatingly looney tone that works in favor of the premise, even when it strives for inadvertent camp. James Marsden plays Steve, a newcomer to Cradle Bay who has just move in with his family and little sister. Steve is instantly accepted in to the reject crowd of the school, as led unofficially by Nick Stahl’s character Gavin. Despite the strange rift between cliques in the local high school, Steve writes off the separation as simple pack mentality, but is told by Gavin that the popular crowd also known as “Blue Ribbons” are actually more sinister than they seem.

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Five Reasons Why You Should Buy “Freaks and Geeks”

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We “Freaks and Geeks” fans are a small but loyal community that have known who Judd Apatow and Paul Feig were before they became directors and producers of various hit theatrical comedies. Before storming the box office, Feig, with executive producer Judd Apatow, created the short lived “Freaks and Geeks” which sadly only lasted one season. Thankfully the show lived on thanks to the internet and gained a new fanbase by playing the series on cable. That’s how I discovered the series and fell in love with it.

After a campaign from fans online, “Freaks and Geeks” finally garnered a very acclaimed deluxe release on DVD, and now after many, many years, Shout! Factory is offering fans a brand new deluxe Blu-Ray release of “Freaks And Geeks.” As a fan of the series, I highly suggest it to folks that love coming of age period drama comedies as it’s right up there with “Wonder Years” and “Happy Days.” Here are five reasons why you should buy the new release if you’ve never seen the series before.

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Darth Maul: Apprentice – A Star Wars Fan Film (2016)

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As a Star Wars fan, one of the biggest disappointments of sitting through 1999’s “The Phantom Menace” was watching the creation of one of the most amazing villains of the “Star Wars” cinematic universe, only for him to show up for about five minutes, be killed, and then never spoken of again. This character that was on mugs, and t shirts, and posters was almost non-existent in future films. “Apprentice” is a fantastic and dare I say perfect, fan film that shows what would have happened if George Lucas subtracted twenty minutes of screen time from Jar Jar Binks in favor of more emphases on the sheer danger and threat that was Darth Maul. Maul should have been the recurring villain in the prequels and could have salvaged the otherwise terrible films.

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Plan 9 (2016)

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There’s a huge problem when it comes to sitting through “Plan 9.” It’s essentially a remake of the infamous but hilarious Ed Wood disasterpiece “Plan 9 from Outer Space.” While Ed Wood never intended his film to be considered a comedy it ended up being accidentally one of the funniest movies of all time due to the ineptitude of its production. So how does a filmmaker with arguably more resources approach a remake of “Plan 9”? Basically director John Johnson tries to have his cake and eat it too, giving us a movie that’s literally all over the place. Sometimes “Plan 9” is a straight faced zombie movie with real stakes. Sometimes it’s a meta-remake with dark comedy. And other times it’s a pseudo-remake tha acknowledges the original film from Ed Wood exists in this universe. The latter idea makes no real sense when you consider the ideas presented in “Plan 9.”

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Camino (2016)

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It’s pretty entertaining to see how much Zoe Bell has grown both as an actress and action star. Though “Camino” isn’t a masterpiece, Bell shines among everyone else as a vulnerable heroine who manages to make it out of a violent situation thanks to her wits and ability to endure hell in the jungle. Bell doesn’t play up the image of female Rambo this time around, opting instead for a more empathetic and layered character portrayal of a war photographer who has seen the worst of humanity, and then ends up becoming a victim of what ugliness humanity is capable of. Bell handles the role well, giving urgency to her character’s plight, and we root for her the entire way through.

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Creed (2015) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

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The Rocky saga has always been about parental issues and how parenting and lack thereof define our characters. Rocky had no real parents thus he was always thought of as a loser who gained a dad through Mickey. Adrian and Pauley were each others’ parents, while Rocky’s own son is somewhat a distant memory by the time “Creed” rolls around thanks to Rocky’s own destructive quest for glory. Despite their bonding in “Rocky Balboa” Rocky is still a lonely hermit of a man who runs a restaurant and lives in Philadelphia, still mourning the loss of wife Adrian and best friend Pauley. His effect has had more of a profound effect than he ever realized, as director Ryan Coogler reaches in to the Balboa mythology to touch on another family within the fold of the series that we rarely visited.

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