One of the most important cinematic accounts of journalism changing corruption since “All the President’s Men,” director Thomas McCarthy’s “Spotlight” garners an understated brilliance in where it explores a long legacy of corruption that’s not only been widely under reported but somewhat accepted. McCarthy manages to draw immense thrills and paranoia from a film that’s very much the antithesis of sensationalism. “Spotlight” is a gut wrenching and mind blowing account of a group of reporters tasked with uncovering one of the largest scandals in world history, a scandal that’s left thousands of victims in its wake.
Author Archives: Felix Vasquez
Trainwreck (2015)
It’s nice to see Judd Apatow break free from his formula of a dopey slacker falling in love with the perfect woman. This time around, Apatow has the fresh mind of Amy Schumer who helps deliver one of the most human romance comedies of the year. “Trainwreck” is a film with an array of emotionally gray characters filled with flaws and scars from their youth, and still can’t quite grasp the idea of adulthood quite yet. Schumer is bold enough to take on the lead role of character Amy, a magazine writer who is comfortable in her rut, and doesn’t mind aiming for the bare minimum in both her career and her love life.
5 Reasons Why I’m Looking Forward to the Return of MST3K
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty psyched to see “Mystery Science Theater 3000” coming back. With the help of Kickstarter, fans have made their presence felt, by helping to fund a few episodes of the reboot of “Mystery Science Theater 3000.” Original creator Joel Hodgson plans to change some elements, while also keeping many concepts the exact same for devotees. Hopefully with this new series, it’ll launch a brand new series fans can enjoy, while also converting a new generation of fans that can carry the torch of MST3K for many more years to come.
This is five reasons why we’re looking forward to the return of MST3K.
We Are Your Friends (2015) (DVD)
I really like Zac Efron. I have nothing particularly against him. He’s a nice looking guy with some chops to him when pushed hard enough by a competent director. When he’s really just asked to flash his looks around and literally do nothing, we get “We Are Your Friends,” one of the stupidest, most forgettable movies of 2015. I’m glad I’m not the only person who felt this way about the film, as it was one of the bigger flops of the year. “We Are Your Friends” has no substance to it, and pretends to be about something, when it really isn’t. Deep down it’s a remake of “Saturday Night Fever” and fails to capture any of the substance and complexity that John Badham’s masterpiece obtained.
Excalibur Kid (1999)
Yet another iteration of “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court,” this time around Antony Anderson focuses on what happens when an out of time teen is set to become the king in place of King Arthur. Jason McSkimming gives a tolerable performance as young Zack, a teen who is angry about moving away from his home and longs to be a part of medieval times where honor and evil were easy to tell apart. Or some nonsense like that, I was never sure what he was rambling about. Zack is so anxious to go back in time he wills it thanks to the magic of the evil Morgause.
A Christmas Horror Story (2015)
“A Christmas Horror Story” tries to do for Christmas that “Trick r Treat” did for Halloween, and really just ends as a mediocre effort with best intentions. While the efforts of the collective filmmakers to deliver a Christmas anthology for the horror crowd isn’t an awful movie by any means, it’s still a mixed bag of stories, all of which vary in tone and leave the overall film feeling bipolar in some respects. It even reaches for a clever surprise ending that just felt like a cheat for the sake of an obligatory “Gotcha!”
The Original Christmas Classics: Anniversary Collector’s Edition [Blu-ray]
For most fans of Christmas and the holiday season, every year comes with two regular guests: Charlie Brown and Rankin Bass. For folks that love the Rankin Bass stop motion and animation features that feature a wide universe filled with characters like Frosty and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Classic Media unleashes a wonderful box set of some of their best and most aired animated classics that celebrate the spirit of Christmas and the holidays. There are seven specials total, all of which have been celebrated since their release, and they’re given another release on Blu-Ray for the sake of posterity.







