Tag Archives: A

Accepted (2006)

Posted on by

I’ll say I had zero expectations in regards to “Accepted”, mainly because it looked so ridiculous, and vapid. And it is, but I enjoyed it, because it provides a very entertaining ninety minutes that starts out as a typical college comedy and transforms into a somewhat interesting social commentary. And it’s funny as hell. I like Justin Long a lot, I’ve liked him since “Jeepers Creepers” and in “Accepted”, he’s funny as a quasi-Ferris Bueller named Bartleby Gaines who has slacked off through high school, and to prevent breaking it to his family that he can’t get into any schools, he instead invents a school which then snowballs into a grand hoax.

Continue reading →

Amateur Porn Star Killer: The New Cut (2005)

Posted on by

This new cut of Shane Ryan’s “Amateur Pornstar Killer” (a film you must try to get a hold of) is much more sophisticated. Not only in terms of quality in which Ryan manages to improve his creation without tarnishing the original, but in technical aspects where Ryan is able to convey his story and imagery with much more coherency. While I loved the original, it was polarizing to one-minded people expecting a standard thriller and getting more of a thought provoking thriller. There’s no chase, no climactic battle, no back stories. It’s just a man running out of options and places to hide very quickly, and a young girl who gets snared in his trap. Much more is realized in this new version, and watching it a second time you begin to notice much of the nuances Ryan enlisted.

Continue reading →

Amateur Porn Star Killer (2005)

Posted on by

gzj00KlIn the opening of “Amateur Porn Star Killer”, the character Brandon travels around the dark streets looking and searching. For what? Well, it’s not that difficult to figure out. Upon his searching, in the lower right hand corner, in a small window box, a young blonde girl silently undresses and parades herself around. By this simple scene of our killer driving through the murky streets, and this young woman, we’re able to fully comprehend the extent of this man’s lunacy. The flesh is something many men crave. And the flesh is something many men would admittedly kill for.

Continue reading →

Audition (Ôdishon) (1999)

Posted on by

auditionheaderI don’t know what to say about “Audition”. For a film that’s rapidly become a standard viewing for the horror genre, I’m just dumbfounded. Why hasn’t the mainstream noticed Takashe Miike yet? I mean fully noticed. This man is a genius. He’s not just some director giving us gore, gore for no damn reason (*cough*EliRoth*cough*) but a man who provides the gore as a way of expressing his story. “Audition” is one of those films. It’s a reflection of Miike’s sick mind, a man who twists his audience in so much directions, that you leave feeling violated and stunned. With “Audition” I was offended, I was shocked, and I was stunned.

Continue reading →

Aftermath (2005)

Posted on by

Yet again, director Anthony Spaddacini smoothly tackles and assaults another common social topic concerning homosexuality in our modern age, and in many ways balances it to keep audiences from assuming this as a homosexual drama, and more just as a drama about people whom refuse to reveal secrets that could help them if not pulled out in the open. “Aftermath” is an immensely hard-edged and interesting drama that places its characters down in one room in the tradition of films like “The Big Chill” and has them force out these secrets.

Continue reading →

Alfie (2004)

Posted on by

alfie__2004__jude_lawI wasn’t a big fan of the original 1966 film starring the great Michael Caine. About a year prior to the release of the remake, I decided to give “Alfie” a watch, and really wasn’t impressed. For all whom aren’t familiar with the original, “Alfie” takes place in London, and not in New York, and it’s much darker and colder than the remake. Though, as always, movie fans will be divided with both versions, I just had to pick the remake. Granted, neither of them are masterpieces, nor are the rip-offs, but the modern “Alfie” is much more enjoyable in the long run.

Continue reading →

Afro Promo: Black Cinema Trailers 1946-76 (DVD)

Posted on by

Afro Promo” is a textured and rich compendium of Black Cinema trailers that speaks more of the depictions of African Americans on film than any documentary can really try to. There are no real interviews here, just a collection of trailers involving black actors, or starring an all African American cast. And as you’d expect we see the progression from blacks with white lips and bulging eyes, to lecherous and despicable heathens, to blaxploitation films where they were more empowered and able to decide how they wanted to be seen (they settled on “Boss Nigger”?). And every now and then we see the great Sidney Poitier, and Richard Pryor, James Earl Jones, and Pam Grier respectively.

Continue reading →