Excess Flesh (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on by

EXCESS_5

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Jill moved to Los Angeles to start her career and now lives with her friend Jennifer who she has known for a while. Jill is a bit of a shut in, not finding work, slowly falling into depression. Jennifer is a working model and a party girl who is obnoxious and mean to Jill. Jill keeps trying to get Jennifer to pay attention to her, to be her friend, but Jennifer has better things to do. Jill just wants her friend as she knew her, understanding and supportive. Jennifer is being anything but. As things escalate, Jennifer becomes flat out abusive, sleeps with the man Jill was interested in, and treats Jill like a lesser person in general. The more Jill does to be liked, the less Jennifer respects her. That is until Jill cracks, she breaks down mentally, and goes batshit insane. She chains Jennifer in her room and tortures her more sadistically as her insanity reaches new levels.

Continue reading →

Batman Unlimited: Monster Mayhem (2015) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

Posted on by

91pZxkgLZwL._SL1500_

If you can forgive the lack of compelling story, “Monster Mayhem” really is a fun animated Batman adventure with a unique elseworlds Batman universe. It has the kid like appeal of “Brave and the Bold” with the Bruce Timm sensibility, and this amalgamation works for the most part. Mainly, “Monster Mayhem” is a toy commercial, as everything in the movie is purely toyetic, from Batman’s robot wolf that transforms in to a bat cycle, right down to the Joker’s slick motorcycle. It pretty much comes with the territory with almost any animated series, since every company (especially Warner) wants to sell toys along with tell a good story.

Continue reading →

Kuffs (1992)

Posted on by

w964

I have a long history with “Kuffs.” Back when I was a kid I didn’t have cable so I watched movies on local television. “Kuffs” was one of my favorite movies as a child. It was that kind of kick ass crime thriller and buddy comedy that I loved. I must have seen it a thousand times as a child, and I loved how bad ass Christian Slater was in it. He was just so cocky and charismatic that it always kept me coming back again and again. Yeats later, watching “Kuffs” without the nostalgia glasses on, it’s a movie that’s just… pretty okay. It’s not a masterpiece, but it has its merits.

Continue reading →

Fast & Furious 7 (2015)

Posted on by

Furious-7

“It’s never goodbye…”

It’s shocking that not only is “Fast & Furious 7” not only the best entry in the series yet, but it’s also one of the best movies of the year. It’s exciting, it’s engrossing, it’s fun, and goddamn, it’s a heartbreaking last go around for Paul Walker. I say this as someone who openly hated these movies after the first film, but here I am years later, getting teary eyed at the end of a “Fast & Furious” film. In fact, this is also one of the most human sequels of the series, since it deals a lot with consequence, and revenge. Shortly after “Fast 6,” the group finds out that their latest heist has granted them a death ticket. The brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) has come to wreak unholy vengeance on Dominic Toretto and his crew.

Continue reading →

Bikini Avengers (2015)

Posted on by

71LfftNbNLL._SY550_

There’s just something not quite right about “Bikini Avengers.” Technically it should have been a fun and funny spoof of superhero movies, but going in to it, I was pretty bored and altogether it felt like one big missed opportunity. Normally bad acting and pretty shitty budgets don’t affect these kinds of soft core spoof films, but for “Bikini Avengers,” it pretty much bogs down what could have been a fun movie. There’s also the humor which really does miss the mark quite often.

Continue reading →

Fast & Furious 6 (2013)

Posted on by

fast-furious-6-12

Unlike “The Expendables,” which purports to bring all stars together and pit them against perilous circumstances, “Fast and the Furious” is the film accomplishing the concept. It’s rid itself of the pretenses of being a franchise, and has embraced the fact that each movie is just a two hour episode of an extended series, and has brought together all of the best stars from the previous movies of the “Fast and the Furious” movies. It even has its own opening credits. And what’s more is that the stakes are raised more and more with each movie right down to the potential for a child’s life being risked.

Continue reading →

I Am Thor (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on by

i-am-thor

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Are you familiar with the 80’s metal band THOR? Yes? No? Do you need some inspiration to never give up? Of course you do! Then you need to see the documentary about Jon Mickl Thor and his band called I Am Thor. It follows his attempt at a comeback over many years though the losses and the wins, the failures and the accomplishments the man was put through and got while keeping his dream of rocking alive. In this documentary, the history of Jon Mickl Thor and eventually of the band THOR is shown in clips and through retellings by the lead singer and those close to him. It’s at times uplifting, at times infuriating, touching and inspiring.

Continue reading →