The 5 Best Moments of Marvel’s “Daredevil” Season One

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

There’s always been something about me and underdogs. I love rooting for the underdogs. Even as a kid who loved comic books, while my friends were buying Punisher, Wolverine, and Batman, I was spending my time on Darkhawk, War Machine, Night Thrasher and Superman. The last character is iconic and a household name, sure, but he wasn’t in regular circulation in my circle of friends that collected comic books. It’s been hell being a fan of “Daredevil” for many years without proper justice paid to him. Surely, Frank Miller did an amazing job with him for a few years, but watching other characters get big screen treatments while Daredevil literally got short handed was irritating.

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Inside the Box (2013)

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Matt is literally running on borrowed time. After a morning spent completely dismissing his wife who craves intimacy, he’s confronted by a local internal affairs worker Stephanie Miles (Regina King). Said worker is insistent on interviewing Matt about an incident he had with a perpetrator at a bar one night. Matt is very cryptic about what went down that night, despite eyewitness reports, and that’s when things begin to unravel. Ms. Miles has pictures and concrete reports of what occurred between Matt and the drunk, and this resulted in a violent confrontation that may have involved an exchange of bodily fluids. The problem is the suspect is infected with HIV and it may have been transmitted to Matt.

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Run, Hide, Die (2015) (DVD)

Posted on September 21, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I’m a little exhausted with indie filmmakers setting every horror film in the eighties based on some hope that if it’s set in a nostalgic decade, the film will in effect be a gem. It’s not enough to show characters playing classic Nintendo, and walking around with neon colors. “Run, Hide, Die” garners a lot of inexplicable elements, from the eighties setting that adds nothing to the overall narrative, right down to the title that in no way reflects the film at al. It adds up to a pretty miserable dramatic thriller that poses as a horror film, and fails to deliver on every aspect. It spends too much time on characterization, offers no interesting villain, and just delights in being melodramatic when it should be terrifying.

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Gotham: The Complete First Season [Blu-Ray/Digital]

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

What do you do when you want a Batman series but can’t actually feature the character? Sometimes the networks get creative and give us “Arrow.” Other times, they belly flop disastrously and hand us “Gotham.” Essentially “Gotham” is a crime drama set in Gotham City that’s basically either an Elseworlds tale, or a prequel. The series never can decide. It’s a lot like “Smallville” in that it features a world before the superhero came to fight for justice. And much like “Smallville,” the series pretty much stinks from the word “go.” Granted, “Gotham” is a good idea for a series. Who wouldn’t want to see what Gotham was like before the Batman came along? The problem is “Gotham” is so concerned with lip service to Batman rogues, and paying tribute to the fans that it never actually comes together to form an entertaining series.

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Cruel (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on September 3, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Pierre Tardieu lives a quiet life in Toulouse. He does day labor work and goes home to his ailing father at night. Visits to the book store seem to be his only escape along with reading to his father. That is, besides being a calculated serial killer. Pierre picks his victims randomly to purposefully not establish a pattern. He follows them first, and then brings them home where he feeds them and talks to them for a few days before murdering them. One day, as he goes to the bookstore to buy some notebooks, he meets Laure with whom he eventually falls in love. As their relationship blossoms, the cops are moving in on Pierre, not having any proof but strong suspicions as to his possible involvement in disappearances and murders in the city. Laure supports him through this not knowing all that is involved while working on getting his life better.

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Cash Only (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on September 1, 2015 by Emilie Black

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Elvis Martini owes money, a lot of money, to a dog-fighting ring running psychopath Dino who has kidnapped his daughter for ransom. Elvis does everything he can to save her as she is all he has following the loss of his wife, her mother. He must find an insanely high amount of money to pay Dino back for stealing the money the madman sees as his that was stashed in one of the tenants’ place in Elvis’ building. The father will stop at absolutely nothing to save his child.

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Blade Squad (1998)

Posted on August 22, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

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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