Director Lloyd Kaufman leaves no stone unturned with his return to Tromaville, as he revives his iconic “Nuke Em High” series, except for a modern age. Though it’s teeming with eighties flavor, including mutant punks that delight in mutilating unfortunate victims, Kaufman has a blast destroying most of society’s quirks and obnoxious qualities, including veganism, the obsession over social media, and how political movements are about being trendy and not actually caring. Despite many years to polish their films, and hone their craft, the return to Nuke ‘Em High is still an ugly and offensive film, but damned funny to boot.
Afflicted (2014)
Clif Prowse and Derek Lee’s “Afflicted” is a mix of “Innocent Blood,” and Cronenberg’s “The Fly,” with a hefty injection of “Chronicle.” It’s rife with cliches, predictable plot twists, and is about ten minutes too long. But in spite of all of that, I’d definitely suggest “Afflicted” to horror fans. Because while it’s retreaded horror fodder, it’s well directed, tightly edited, and solidly performed horror fodder to say the least. I knew what was coming, but I was also very much invested in the characters. I also really enjoyed the special effects.
Beanstalk (1994)
Director Michael Davis’ “Beanstalk” has a lot of balls in the air. It wants to squeeze in so many ideas and sub-plots and can never find a proper way to bring them all in to one coherent kids film. There’s a boy named Jack who lives with his mother and discovers large beans that form a humongous beanstalk. Meanwhile, Jack’s mom is going to lose her house, prompting Jack and his mom to go homeless. Meanwhile, there’s a nutty doctor (Margot Kidder is barely recognizable) who believes the mother goose tales to be real, and is preparing to climb the beanstalk, while an evil land developer is planning to knock down the beanstalk, steal Jack’s house, and develop land over the his neighborhood. That’s a lot story, for a movie barely eighty minutes in length!
The PC Thug: Image Comics and Spawn
I was glad to see the documentary “The Image Revolution.” Seriously, if you grew up during the nineties, you’ll fondly remember how Image dominated pop culture for a while. They were so popular even Marvel and DC began imitating them, even though Image primarily trotted out Marvel clones when they ran out of ideas. Which is not a statement meant to devalue their influence or impact, but come on.
Bienvenida (Welcome) (2014)
Even in Mexico, opportunities are always there if you look hard enough. Director Chuy Sánchez apparently based his short film “Bienvenida” on real events, and though the film lacks a resolution, it has an interesting message about opportunity and chances. Elizabeth Valdez is very good as the young woman who ventures in to Mexico looking for a new life, and finds it is more difficult than she ever imagined.
Captain America (1979)
Oh Reb Brown, where would cinema be without you? Without Brown, we wouldn’t have had the 1979 Television movie “Captain America,” a movie so inept, it can’t even mimic Evel Knievel well. Brown is Steve Rogers for some reason, who came back from the war, and now drives around in a very kick ass van that also sports his favorite motorcycle. He’s a an ex-Marine/surfer/artist/motorcycle racer who also happens to be involved with a scientist developing a new formula for super strength (with the acronym F.L.A.G.), so while he’s helping develop a potentially groundbreaking formula for humanity, he is constantly moping around about the war and his lack of money. The sad fact is that the serum can only work for the Rogers blood line. Why? Because it’s a Captain America movie.
Fargo (1996)
Leave it to the Coen Brothers to provide movie audiences with a crime heroine that we’d never really see coming at some of the worst criminals around. Marge Gunderson is not your typical gumshoe and probably never really desired to be one growing up. She’s a small town simple woman who is about to give birth to a baby, and only really works until she is able to head off to the hospital. But things go from mundane to extraordinary when what seems like a random series of homicides on a snowy road side turns in to a very disastrous plot to extort and embezzle money out of a car dealership.