Dirty Grandpa (2016)

Posted on May 31, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting with DeNiro for “Dirty Grandpa”: “And so Efron comes to pick you up, and you’re lying there on your recliner masturbating in the nude to interracial porn! He screams in horror while you’re ejaculating, but you’re so cool about it, that you barely acknowledge the awkwardness. The kids will love it!” I appreciate that Robert DeNiro seems to be actively working against being typecast as some wise old grandpa or magical elderly sage.

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The Angry Birds Movie (2016)

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

I’ll just openly admit that I never played “Angry Birds.” I know it was a popular game three years ago, used on cell phones that involved animated birds being hurled in to crap, and now for some reason it’s a movie. It’s a movie that’s filled with loud noises, a warbling pop soundtrack, bright colors, and still manages to bore successfully. You can argue that this is a movie for kids, so it was obvious I wouldn’t like it. But I refuse the premise of your argument and no longer accept that cheap excuse. Kids are not this stupid. The last few years have proven kids can be given complex and rich entertainment and appreciate it completely.

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Lurking Fear (1994)

Posted on May 27, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Courtney Joyner’s “Lurking Fear” is classic Full Moon Entertainment from the nineties. It has a modicum of a budget, some great production value and a solid horror story. Thought it’s a loose adaptation of the HP Lovecraft tale, it does take the elements and combine them to form a classic folklore horror tale about greed and criminals getting their comeuppance. John Martenses is an ex convict who has just been released from prison and is seeking a new start. As well as the fortune apparently left behind by his family.

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X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

At the end of the day, “X-Men Apocalypse” is a big step up from the films in the series that preceded it, but it’s still just a Bryan Singer “X-Men” movie. Its two and a half hours of surface level action and superficial ideas that still haven’t broken in to the more complex themes of prejudice, racism, hatred, and bigotry that have made the X-Men property so beloved and widely embraced. Six movies later and only now FOX seems to be getting that a big advantage of the “X-Men” movies is that there are so many fascinating heroes and average people turned in to heroes of varied shapes, sizes, and colors. Only now that Marvel has embraced the team movie are Singer and FOX transforming the “X-Men” in to a team franchise.

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The Smiling Man (2015)

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Director A.J. Briones’ short film “The Smiling Man” is a beautifully terrifying and demented short horror film that’s centered on building terror and then delivering one of the most warped final scenes I’ve ever seen in a horror film. The whole basis around the premise of “The Smiling Man” is not so much the inevitability of doom, but how we perceive evil and how evil can perceive good.

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Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

I liked “Neighbors” for what it tried to accomplish, but in the end it wasn’t a complete home run. Considering five people worked on it, “Neighbors 2” is a shockingly superior follow up to the original 2014 comedy. While it is, in essence, a cash in, it’s also a much more socially relevant comedy that offers interesting ideas and commentary about equality of the sexes, and how the deck is stacked against young women in society. “Neighbors 2” doesn’t get preachy, but it does provide audiences with a glimpse at how young women are much more objectified and taken for granted than younger men.

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After the End (2013)

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Though many people will probably see “After the End” as a somber look at the end of life, it is in reality a very cathartic look at how death can sometimes be the beginning of a new stage in life. “After the End” is an emotional and brutally heartbreaking look at loss, and how much we’ve all come to fear death and view it as a totality. Who among us hasn’t lost a loved one in our lives? Every single one of us has suffered at least the loss of a pet that has greatly affected us and caused us to re-think and approach the rest of our days in a new respect.

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