Director E.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Josh Flowers’s “A Handful of Pennies” is a very entertaining and morbid crime short that demonstrates the classic concept behind the gangster picture. Someone did something wrong, they’ve been caught, and they’re paying for their crimes. In this instance, gangster Lyle has his prey in his hands and is not going to be satisfied until he garners information from the poor bastard named Arnold, who is strapped to a chair.
Category Archives: Movie Reviews
Dr. Easy (2013)
Shynola directs “Dr. Easy” in hopes of fueling a feature length film in the future, so “Dr. Easy” in its ten minute length is described as a prologue to the bigger narrative. On its own though, “Dr. Easy” is a wonderful and stark look at the future and out absolute dependence on technology and how it will do the work for human beings.
21st Century Barry (2013)
Who among us hasn’t been there? We buy a new computer part, we begin hooking it up, and for some reason the back of our desk has become the amazon filled with a slew of rubber wires that look like vines. But really, who wants to spend all their time sorting wires and color coding them? I sure don’t.
Stoker (2013)
Gifted auteur Chan-wook Park has made his US cinematic debut with “Stoker,” a film that is easily one of the most brilliant horror films of 2013. Park is one of the few Asian imports that’s managed to really debut with a bang, and “Stoker” shows that Park is well worth making it to the states. As well, he has potential to deliver a high pedigree of genre films if he has the chance.
Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013)
Director Cullen Hoback’s “Terms and Conditions May Apply” is one of the most important films made in years. It is also the most important film made this year. In an age where everyone and their grandparents are connected to some form of personal computers and are freely relinquishing personal information for the sake of using some novelty program, director Cullen Hoback explores in his film how the click of one button will destroy not just your freedom, but the entire world’s freedom.
Decadent Evil (2005)
Hey did you see “The Vampire Journals” from Full Moon? Yes? Well, prepare to watch it again, but in a ten minute nutshell version. On par with much of Full Moon’s corner cutting productions, “Decadent Evil” is mostly just nothing but filler, with clips to the days of Full Moon Entertainment when they were actually trying. “Decadent Evil” is barely eighty minutes in length, and counting the opening clip show, and credits, it’s only about an hour of actual movie. All of which is contrived and based heavily around the hope that you’ve seen and remember “The Vampire Journals” fondly.
The Wizard (1989)
In 1990, my brother and I watched 1989’s “The Wizard” about thirty times a day and loved the movie every single time we popped it in to the VCR. When I was seven, I dreamed of two things. I dreamed of entering a video game competition and playing Super Mario 3, and travelling around the country with the gorgeous Jenny Lewis. Mostly I wanted the second, but playing Super Mario 3 was also a great prospect. There’s no way to discuss “The Wizard” without seeing it through nostalgia tinted glasses, but while most people claim “The Wizard” is nothing but a ninety minute commercial for Nintendo, I wouldn’t so much call it a commercial so much as a mirror on the culture in the eighties. In the late eighties and most of the nineties, Nintendo simply dominated the world.