Cherry Tree (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Faith has an as-close-to-normal life as her circumstances allow. Her father in in remission from leukemia and there is not mother to speak of. She goes to a good school with her best friend, gets bullied, has a crush on the cute new boy, … Nothing to see here, just life as almost usual for most 15 to 16 year olds. That is until her father’s leukemia comes back and threatens to throw her world upside down. Luckily, her new field hockey coach, Sissy, can help save her father in exchange for Faith’s help in having a child. Faith agrees to carry a child for Sissy for her father’s healing to take place. Little does she know, Sissy has very dark plans for both.

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The Top Ten Most Shocking Moments of “The Walking Dead” Season FIve

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AMC’s “The Walking Dead” steam rolls on as a pop culture phenomenon and has gained incredible momentum since season four. It’s almost as if the producers have rebooted the series, and it shows as season five has a different energy a new sense of urgency, and adheres much more to the comics than ever before. Sure it is still its own animal from the comics, but there are many recognizable elements and storylines in season five fans of the comics will recognize immediately. Season five is now available on Blu-Ray and DVD, and it’s a bang up season of a show that just gets better and better every year. To celebrate the release of season five, we give you the ten most shocking moments of “The Walking Dead” season five. Warning: There are massive spoilers to every episode discussed, so be cautious.

What were some of your favorite moments of season five?

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Orion (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Orion starts with a prophecy to which the film comes back a few times, a prophecy about a virgin mother giving birth to a child who will become a tree and about a traveler who will change the course of things. The movie starts with the traveler seemingly going from place to place aimlessly and the virgin mother giving birth only for the magician to plan her baby to her dismay. She wants to leave but has little hope for survival, until the traveler comes upon their door in need of shelter and food and the magician decides to take him in for the night, and then commences the long process of saving her and himself from the magician who, according to rumors, cannot be killed. All of this happens in a desolate wasteland after what looks to have been an apocalypse.

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Tales of Halloween (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

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FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

10 tales, 11 filmmakers, tons of mayhem and fun, Tales of Halloween is set one Halloween night in a suburb where all kinds of scary, funny, spooky things go down. In this anthology, the near-perfection radio host talking us from story to story, played by Adrienne Barbeau in a part so close to her role in The Fog, one could think it was the very same character which is most likely very intentional. The 10 short stories contained here vary widely from urban legend come to life to revenge story to alien invasion to neighborhood battles and everything in between. The Decalogue of stories all connect at one point or another through characters passing into other stories or by location choices.

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On Vacation August 23rd – September 5th

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August 26th I’m celebrating my birthday, so we’re taking a long needed hiatus until September 5th. Until then updates on the site will be very slim and almost non-existent. We plan to re-charge, relax, and prepare for October festivities coming right around the corner.

If you wish to get your friendly neighborhood movie critic a gift, feel free to buy his book The Genesis Exiles, now on Kindle, Smashwords, and Paperback for a low price.

Until September, we’ll be seeing you! Have a great rest of the summer, and be good to one another.

Blade Squad (1998)

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1998 was a big year for FOX television. Despite handing audiences turkey after turkey (Nick Fury Agents of Shield, anyone?), you have to appreciate their relentless pursuit to deliver genre fare. “Blade Squad” is one of the many failed attempts to build a show out of a TV movie that works as a glorified pilot. As a kid I spent a lot of time in front of the television, and I caught “Blade Squad” one dull Friday night. Suffice it to say despite its interesting concept, “Blade Squad” is a missed opportunity and really dull execution. It’s also a really unique artifact of a decade obsessed with futuristic punk and neon colored dystopias.

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Turbo Kid (2015)

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It’s “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” meets “Mad Max” with what is one of the most entertaining and fantastic indie films of the year. The trio of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell channels the magic of nostalgia to create a world that’s both perilous but compelling. “Turbo Kid” is painted as a love letter to all things eighties and nineties, but thankfully never loses itself in the winks and nods. It implements pop culture to create a well rounded world and they succeed beautifully. Through and through it’s a soulful and very exciting coming of age tale set in the post apocalypse.

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