V/H/S (2012)

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

It’s been a while since we’ve had a really good anthology film. Not since “Trick r Treat” have we had the horror fans had an anthology horror film that not only changed the game for the sub-genre, but made waves as a horror film, period. The Collective of indie filmmakers that team to create “V/H/S” really do resort to the found footage genre for the sake of some sense of believability. That and the format is pretty cost effective, when you think about it. In either case, The Collective is allowed to be very creative and unusual in a film about a series of short vignettes viewed through old V/H/S tapes.

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TekWar: The Movie (1994)

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Boy can your memories lie to you. I fondly remember watching “Tekwar” back in 1994 when I’d watch literally anything that was on TV. The station WPIX in New York launched a slew of television movies that were destined to become television shows in the immediate future, and “Tekwar” was one of them. Based on the novels by William Shatner, “Tekwar” began as a series of television movies, then it became a comic book series (I was never that desperate for comics), and inevitably became a television series. Since watching it twice in 1994, I only fondly remember the robotic hockey player who, at one point, has to battle Greg Evigan’s shady police officer character in a hockey rink.

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Astron-6 (DVD)

Posted on January 20, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

So Astron-6 is the indie film group who directed one of the worst movies I saw in 2012, “Father’s Day.” My feelings for that film in particular have been made, so in the interest of being more constructive than mean spirited, I’ll simply judge “Astron-6” on their own merits. Drawing interest from Lloyd Kaufman and Troma Entertainment, Astron-6 were able to release a compilation of their short films on DVD in obvious celebration of their highly touted limited theatrical film “Father’s Day.” As a compilation it’s a mixed bag, and one from an obvious group of guys that want to entertain. They love the eighties so much that every single short in the film is either a grindhouse throwback or an eighties throwback. There’s not a lot of variety to their short comedy films, except for their willingness to show themselves bare chested most of the time, and their inability to deliver simple one liners most times.

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This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

There’s a real under current of sadness and tragedy behind Rob Reiner’s “This is Spinal Tap.” As character Marty DiBergi, a commercial director looking to break in to film, Reiner stands back and films Spinal Tap, a group that is literally running against the clock to make some impact on music. Granted, the threesome of inept rock stars love music to death, but the sad fact is in all the years they’ve made music, they haven’t influenced anyone, nor have they managed to become legends like the Beatles or Led Zeppelin. Since music is an ever evolving and fickle medium, Spinal Tap has spent many decades trying to roll with the changing demand for different music and have literally lost all sense of their own identity. They produce massive presentations during concerts about druids and gothic cocoons, neither of which they have any interest in, and during desperate attempts to seem chic, they fail spectacularly.

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Seal Team 6: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden (2012) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Alas, even though there has yet to be a really world shaking event since September 11th, we’re now in an era of films where Hollywood is celebrating the government again. Starting with “Act of Valor” in 2012, in spite of the critical lambasting, the big deal is depicting events of the government where we succeeded. The big news these days is the elimination of Osama Bin Laden as an immediate threat to our country. And now with “Act of Valor” in the background, “Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden” is basically the branch off from the former, except much more Hollywoodized.

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Breeders (1986)

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Detective Dale Andriotti: Maybe when this is over, we can go out for dinner.
Dr. Gamble Pace: Okay, but I warn you right now… I have a tortured history with men.

Six minutes in, Dr. Gamble Pace as played by Teresa Farley escorts a police officer in to a young victim’s room in a hospital. The hospital room has only one small IV, no medical equipment, and the IV doesn’t seem to be hooked in to anything in particular. Obviously not holding to the discretion rules, Dr. Pace, dressed in average clothing and an awkward medical robe explains in a stilted and painfully performed monologue what the young girl experienced when attacked by a mysterious monster. While the girl is half awake an inch away. That’s about the time I thought: “Oh crap, this is going to be painful.”

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Compliance (2012) (DVD)

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Felix Vasquez

Yes. People are this stupid. Just to answer the question you’ll be asking yourself over and over while watching “Compliance,” one of the most controversial movies of 2012. Supposedly a film that inspired one woman to slap her knees, shout “Oh come on!” and storm out of the theaters, director Craig Zobel’s infuriating dramatic thriller is a film that draws inadvertent parallels to Abu Ghraib. Where most of the armed officials who took part in the humiliation and torture of prisoners on the bases that they were merely following orders, “Compliance” sheds the light on a day in a fast food restaurant where a young girl was subjected to humiliating and degrading acts of torture and pain on the bases that folks were merely following orders.

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