Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Surely, once you see “Going Clear” you’ll have no doubt that it’s a terrifying religion filled with a horrific history, but watched side by side with a film like “Jesus Camp,” and there’s not much a difference. Scientology is just an in vogue religion that’s managed to use its legal force and strong arms to keep the lid about its sordid history tight for many years. “Going Clear” is the really explosive expose of the church of Scientology, an institution that’s garnered considerable influence over the world since its inception.

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Entourage: The Movie (2015) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

“Entourage” is probably the first movie I’ve ever wanted to punch. It’s also the only movie I’m sure that if I punched, my fist would probably smell like Axe body spray for a few weeks. “Entourage” is certainly a movie. It had a beginning, a middle, and an end, and had actors in it, and a script. I’m assuming. I’ll just lay it all on the floor right now: I have never seen a single episode of “Entourage” even though I am familiar with it. For folks that would argue that you have to be a fan to understand and or enjoy this film, I would argue that that excuse only highlights how terrible this movie is.

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Inside the Box (2013)

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Matt is literally running on borrowed time. After a morning spent completely dismissing his wife who craves intimacy, he’s confronted by a local internal affairs worker Stephanie Miles (Regina King). Said worker is insistent on interviewing Matt about an incident he had with a perpetrator at a bar one night. Matt is very cryptic about what went down that night, despite eyewitness reports, and that’s when things begin to unravel. Ms. Miles has pictures and concrete reports of what occurred between Matt and the drunk, and this resulted in a violent confrontation that may have involved an exchange of bodily fluids. The problem is the suspect is infected with HIV and it may have been transmitted to Matt.

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Out of the Vault Halloween Collection (DVD)

Posted on September 22, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I can’t think of a better way to spend Halloween than with classic Nickelodeon shows. And no, I don’t mean the yellow talking sponge, either. I mean classice nineties Nickelodeon, a time where the series were just more innocent and creative. Shout! treats fans of classic Nickelodeon this year with a compilation of scary and Halloween based episodes of some of Nickelodeon’s best animated series, and it’s almost four hours of spooky fun! Featured are choice episodes of “Hey Arnold!,” “The Angry Beavers,” “Aah! Real Monsters,” “Rocko’s Modern Life,” and “Cat Dog.”

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Run, Hide, Die (2015) (DVD)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I’m a little exhausted with indie filmmakers setting every horror film in the eighties based on some hope that if it’s set in a nostalgic decade, the film will in effect be a gem. It’s not enough to show characters playing classic Nintendo, and walking around with neon colors. “Run, Hide, Die” garners a lot of inexplicable elements, from the eighties setting that adds nothing to the overall narrative, right down to the title that in no way reflects the film at al. It adds up to a pretty miserable dramatic thriller that poses as a horror film, and fails to deliver on every aspect. It spends too much time on characterization, offers no interesting villain, and just delights in being melodramatic when it should be terrifying.

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Some Kind of Hate (2015)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Adam Egypt Mortimer‘s “Some Kind of Hate” may be polarizing to some viewers, because much like its contemporaries like “Carrie,” and “The Final,” there simply are no winners or heroes in this narrative. It’s a tragic tale about people losing left and right, and the vicious cycle of bullying. Being the victim of bullying can be a stain on your persona forever, and it resonates as a horrific echo for eternity. “Some Kind of Hate” is a grim and brutally bleak horror film about bullying and how it musters up something really bad from beyond the grave. Mortimer keeps “Some Kind of Hate” consistently torturous by closing off any avenues of hope for his characters.

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The Big Bang Theory: The Complete Eighth Season [Blu-Ray/Digital]

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

What I love about “The Big Bang Theory” is that every season sees the series gradually evolve in to a new animal. The shtick about a bunch of geeky guys and their gorgeous neighbor was discarded a long time ago. Now “The Big Bang Theory” is about a group of geeky guys learning to have their love for their hobbies, while also figuring out adulthood and responsibilities. Most of all, they’re learning how to embrace reality when it comes knocking down their doors. Particularly character Howard Wolowitz. This year, actress Carol Ann Susi (also known as Howard’s mother) suffered an untimely death. The show tastefully wrote in her death and provided audiences with a multi-episode arc to allow us to deal with her passing. More so the arc has allowed Howard to grow as a person and find his footing in a new character mold.

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