Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) (DVD)

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If you wanted Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, damn it all it’s what you get with this new crossover. Like most films of this ilk, you’re mainly tuning in to watch a lot of really obnoxious characters die brutal deaths, it’s just a shame a lot of it is off screen. Perhaps that’s because this is primarily a TV movie, but I was disappointed to see a lot of the deaths were cut aways and mostly kept sanitary; when you have a giant crocodile and giant snake chomping down on gorgeous sorority girls, that’s just downright criminal. With a movie like this you can’t expect a masterpiece, and oddly enough I went in to it with rock bottom expectations. Did that mean it pleased me proficiently? Not really.

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Big Sky (2015)

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“Big Sky” really isn’t that bad a picture until it decides to start getting surreal and existentialist. You figure a movie about survival would keep it simple, but Jorge Michael Grau tries to play the narrative with much more depth. That said, “Big Sky” is a perfectly fine thriller with a solid cast. It kept me invested, and it’s always fun to see child stars evolve in to more unique performers. This is one of the few roles Bella Thorne has taken on in her adult career where she’s not a shrew, and she plays the heroine very well.

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Big Hero 6 (2014)

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I really enjoy it when Disney tends to think outside the box in the realm of a certain genre. While “Big Hero 6” is definitely a Marvel and superhero movie, it’s also a really bold and off the wall tale about revenge, family, and the very thin line between justice and pure evil. “Big Hero 6” is an underrated feature from the Marvel canon that I really hope garners a sequel because the material here is just too ripe for a one and done feature film. The characters are just too damn interesting and by the time the film was done I wanted more from this rag tag group of geniuses. And that’s what I also enjoyed about “Big Hero 6” is that our heroes have a clear moral code they operate by and they do it with their brains.

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Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection “F” (2015)

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“Dragon Ball Z” is back and it’s about as niche as ever! Which is to say that only hardcore fans of the series will love with “Resurrection ‘F’” has to offer them; everyone else will likely just appreciate the animation. It’s a truncated and very fast paced feature length film and one that I quite enjoyed. While I’ve always been hard on the series over the years, “Resurrection ‘F’” was a slimmed down and very breezy action film that reminded me why I was a fan such a long time ago. It also has a really good sense of humor about itself with folks like Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan settled in their domesticated roles, forced in to combat with a superior foe.

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Synchronicity (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Jacob Gentry’s “Synchronicity” is the kind of film I really do enjoy. It’s non-linear, it has a taste of noir within it, and it’s filled with existentialist themes about parallel worlds and wormholes that dare to challenge its audience. “Synchronicity” is the kind of challenging fiction that will spark conversations among its audience and leave them pondering on the bigger questions that it poses right through to the end. I didn’t quite understand what was happening in the film for the first half, but Gentry really brings all of the narrative together making what seems like a scattershot series of events feel like one giant master plan. It’s a film in the tradition of “Memento” sparking brilliant visuals and a vivid world where nothing is ever really what it seems.

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Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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Peter Pau and Zhao Tianyu’s “Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal” is nothing short of a mesmerizing and surreal romance epic. It’s a marvel for the eyes, and the ears, and provides one of the most engrossing tales of good versus evil I’ve seen in a long time. “Snow Girl and the Dark Crystal” has a meaty narrative that requires a lot of back tracking and flashbacks, but thankfully the sharp writing prevents the narrative from falling apart by the second half. I was worried I was losing track of the story but the movie would always come full circle and really explain a lot of the twists, leaving no loose ends.

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Crumbs (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

It’s amazing how a film like “Crumbs” is only an hour or so in length and can feel like an eternity. Goodness knows how much I love post apocalyptic films, but “Crumbs” ventures for surrealism and often too strange for its own good. Judging by the research I’ve performed online, the confusing material and disjointed story is intentional and director Miguel Llanso really had no answers for the symbolism in the film any more than the audience.

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