The Sacrament (2014)

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

It’s really tough in this day and age to come up with new insight in to the mindset of the cult. Director Ti West manages to accomplish such a feat during the narrative of “The Sacrament” where he not only explores the facade of the utopian cult that many flock to, but the inherent mind set behind the structure of the cult. “Many people come here out of desperation,” explains character Sam, thus it’s apparent why community Eden Parish is able to thrive and live for so long without being disturbed. Even though many of the leaders of these cults are conmen, on occasion they’re also desperate individuals seeking isolation and a like minded civilization they can rule, or destroy in one fell swoop.

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Fallout (2011)

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

I’m not entirely sure what “Fall Out” was aiming for from minute one. All I know is that director Derek Dubois keeps the audience in the dark, providing a narrative that’s about eighty percent ambiguous. And I was okay with that. If you can’t really offer a larger exploration of the world you’ve built, especially considering when it’s set during the apocalypse, the best thing to do is focus on getting us to know the characters in this situation, and director Dubois accomplishes that in spades.

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Different Drum (2014)

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

I had such a good time with Kevin Chenault’s road trip dramedy. It’s spewing indie flavor with a lot of its narrative very much in the vein of Wes Anderson. It’s surreal without ever being pretentious, and it’s about two wandering souls questioning their own lives, but never gets saccharine at any moment. I was just won over by minute one, and had a great time watching these two individuals face a harsh world side by side, and travel in to a weird land.

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Doc of the Dead (2014)

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Whether you love or hate George Romero and his films, there’s no denying that without his zombie movies there wouldn’t be the zombie culture we know today. Surely we might have two or three zombie movies concerning the sleepy servants of voodoo masters, but we wouldn’t have the flesh eating hordes that are currently consuming pop culture and the world as we know it. There’s also a very good interview where filmmaker Alex Cox notes that were it not for “Night of the Living Dead” becoming public domain, there likely would not have been inspiration for filmmakers to offer their own zombie entertainment for horror fans.

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Little Man of Steel (2013)

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Weird, I always assumed Lana Lang took Clark Kent’s virginity, but that’s a mere nitpick for “Little Man of Steel.” Director Larry Zeigelman explores the more private side of the greatest superhero in DC. Set during a random night in Metropolis, Clark and Lois enter a local pharmacy after a seemingly hot date and Lois is very anxious to seal the deal with Clark. Clark is very hesitant though, and looks for many ways to stall the inevitable. He even zaps away repeatedly to stop a world crisis as Lois waits by the condom aisle.

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The Image Revolution (2014)

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Director Patrick Meaney’s chronicle of the group of innovative artists that gave Marvel and DC the collective bird and took control of their own lives is a wonderful insight and word of warning at what happens when there are too many cooks in the kitchen. Surely, no one person is to blame for helping Image nearly drop out of the scope of pop culture and crash, but when you team a group of artists together who could walk the walk and talk the talk, there is bound to be conflict and inevitable resentment. I consider myself lucky enough to have grown up during the Image Revolution, where most of my money was spent on DC and Marvel, and immediately went over to Image. I bought titles like “Prophet,” “Youngblood,” and “WildCATS” religiously, while cutting my teeth in Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld’s art for many years.

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Adjust Your Tracking: The Untold Story of the VHS Collector (2013)

Posted on March 18, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Dan M. Kinem and Levi Peretic really manage to pay amazing respect to VHS collectors with “Adjust Your Tracking,” an entertaining and raucous documentary that chronicles the joys and pitfalls of VHS collecting. Kinem and Peretic are the founders of one of my favorite websites “VHShitfest” and put their rabid love for the VHS format to use by profiling some of the most hardcore VHS collectors in America. The interviews and glimpses in to the collecting of the arguably defunct format never lull, and directors Kinem and Peretic manage to really give audiences a look at why this is such an appealing past time.

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