Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List (2015)

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I’m surprised at how much I enjoyed “Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List”; it begins as an insufferable Diablo Cody hipster fest, but manages to redeem itself quite well by the second act. My initial draw to the film is Victoria Justice (who I’ll watch in anything), but through her basic name recognition is a pretty charming and complex tale about co-dependency and realizing that nothing is forever. Not even friendship. Naomi and Ely are best friends and neighbors inflicted with some rather immense and damaging psychoses and unresolved issues. After Ely came out of the closet as a young man, his mom also came out and married a woman. Naomi’s father happened to cheat on her mother with Ely’s mom, prompting a terrible conflict.

Continue reading →

The Green Inferno (2015)

Posted on November 16, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

You’d assume ten years in to one’s career that a filmmaker would begin to mature as a storyteller. But here we are in 2015, and Eli Roth is still telling the same story. A bunch of inept Americans go in to a foreign country and get brutally massacred. It’s the same xenophobic, sophomoric, silly slop that Roth’s been feeding audiences since “Hostel,” and he doesn’t seem intent on changing the formula any time soon. Roth at heart is still a fan boy stealing from his favorite horror movies, while directing tonally uneven and ridiculous schlock with the intent to shock first and foremost. Really, the intent is to shock and nothing else.

Continue reading →

Puppet Master 4: When Bad Puppets Turn Good (1993) [Blu-ray]

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

As we saw from the chronological mythology that unfolded in the first half of the “Puppet Master” series, the puppets owned by Toulon were once kind and heroic. The puppets were the products of a man kind at heart, whose own lust for vengeance and hatred for the Nazis turned him evil. And in effect, he transformed his puppets in to evil beings that did his bidding. Toulon was once a nice man, and evil transformed him in to the villain we eventually met in “Puppet Master 2.” The third film, which is my favorite by far, features the origin of the puppets and how they were just beings living and doing their own thing until they found an inherent purpose in snuffing out the ugliness in humanity.

Continue reading →

#Horror (2015)

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Emilie Black

Bullying is horrible, we all agree on this, at times it can lead to terrible consequences. In #horror, a story based on true events, first time writer and director Tara Subkoff shows what happens when the bullying of one girl by her rich friends goes too far. Here we are shown teen girls mercilessly taunting and verbally abusing each other over and over again. But it’s ok, because you laughed…

Continue reading →

La Belle et La Bête (2014)

Posted on November 12, 2015 by Emilie Black

In this telling of the tale as old as time, Belle lives with her salesman father, three troublemaker brothers, and two greedy sisters. Belle prefers to lead a calmer, simpler life than her siblings. As her father’s business goes badly and her brother loses a lot of money gambling, the father becomes indebted to the Beast and so in a trade, Belle agrees to live with the Beast. Once at the castle, she is cared for by a group of tadums, fairy tale animals who look a bit like dogs. She is given all that she could need and more, she however, has to have dinner with the Beast every single night, which does not go well at first. With time and patience, Belle and the Beast become closer and closer.

Continue reading →

The Final Girls (2015)

Posted on November 11, 2015 by Emilie Black

After her mother’s death, Max has difficulty re-adjusting to life without her. As she grieves, she’s invited to a screening of 80s slasher Camp Bloodbath in which her mother starred. Against what might be her better judgment, she decides to go with her friends. Once there, an incident pushes the group into the film itself, Last Action Hero style, where they face off with its masked baddie Billy Murphy and try to save themselves, the cast, and Max’s mother.

Continue reading →

The Gift (2015) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

Posted on November 10, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Joel Edgerton’s “The Gift” is this year’s “Gone Girl.” It’s one of the most irredeemably dark and nasty thrillers made in years and one of the best films of 2015, easily. It’s packed to the brim with morbid undertones, despicable circumstances, and characters that always walk in shades of grey. Despite audiences being able to identify who the protagonists are, they’re brutally unlikable people that all pretty much build the foundation for truly dire consequences. I highly suggest to audiences that love a good mystery, that they completely avoid any and all spoilers, and really absorb the message and dread soaked mystery behind “The Gift” for themselves.

Continue reading →