Tag Archives: Drama

“Dirty Dancing” 2017: A Truly Awful Remake in an Increasingly Tired Trend

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ABC Television’s remake of “Dirty Dancing” is a god awful and ill conceived version of the eighties classic. I don’t say that as a fan of the original, or an eighties kid, but as someone who just can’t abide a truly awful reworking for a film that didn’t need it. Did we forget “Havana Nights” already? ABC goes for an over two and a half hour remake that is just about as listless and ridiculous as you can imagine. For some reason the writers thought it’d be a good idea to add a story frame for the actual story that ensues between Baby and Johnny.

Then there’s a verbatim remake of the original, a goofy melodrama about Baby coming of age, and a musical that stages a bunch of forgettable tunes. Not to mention a relationship drama about Baby’s parents experiencing a crossroads in their marriage. Lest we forget an interracial romance with Baby’s sister falling in love with an African American singer for the country resort, and the steamy torrid love affair between Johnny and a local middle aged resort guest (as played by Katey Segal).

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Dearest Sister (2016) [Stranger With My Face International Film Festival 2017]

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A young woman leaves home to go work for her cousin the city as this one is gradually going blind.  As the cousin’s sight leaves her, she get a gift of being able to see and communicate with the dead.  Her newly arrived cousin has difficulty adapting and may not be going about things the best way.

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Violet (2017)

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A teen witnesses a murder and must come to terms with what he saw.  Through his interactions with friends and family, he attempts to but can’t seem to find the way.

Violet was written and directed by Bas Devos, for whom this is a first feature according to IMDB.  This film is interesting in terms of how it develops around the lead that saw the murder.  It’s a simple story with strong emotional impact in terms of a teen dealing with grief, survivor guilt, and other hard feelings to handle at such at any age, especially as a teen.  The film explores this with mostly following the lead’s daily life and what he sees while trying to work through this.  The story has good, interesting elements but what really shine are the lead, its actor, and the visuals.

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Outer Rim – (A Star Wars Fanfilm For The Rest of the Empire) (2017)

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We don’t often think about every character standing outside of the big stories in major fantasy or science fiction, because we assume it’s just not interesting. Director Thomas R. Wood delivers a short but very unique tale of two working joes that are spending their days just doing their job. They are in the middle of the desert and unbeknownst to them there is a massive war taking place around them.

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Dear White People (2014)

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It’s daunting how predictable we’ve become when it comes to discourse about race relations and politics. In response to 2014’s “Dear White People” becoming a series, an angry user on Twitter asked “Why is there no “Dear Black People”?” In the very first scenes of the movie, while Samantha White is recording her college radio show “Dear White People,” character Kurt calls in asking “Where is there no “Dear Black People”?” Justin Simien’s “Dear White People” plays with perceptions of events, and ideas of chaos, by toying with our frustration with the normality of racial incidents, and stages a racial war that unfolds within the seemingly monotonous underbelly of Winchester College.

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Phantasm (1979): Remastered [Blu-Ray/DVD]

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I first saw “Phantasm” thirteen years ago and it’s one of the more mind blowing horror films I’ve ever seen. It surely holds up better than the sequels, all of which I’d seen way before ever watching the original film. While “Phantasm” is still a bit of a goofy horror film in some instances, it’s also an entertaining one with some great moments of atmosphere and eeriness. Director Coscarelli is never afraid to stretch the limits of his premise, making “Phantasm” feel like some surreal nightmare that our characters are stuck in. There’s the demonic fly, the dwarf drones, and of course one of the best scenes involving character Mike watching the Tall Man stomp through his small town.

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Stake Land II (2016) [Blu-Ray]

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Once called “Stake Lander,” the follow up to the fantastic 2011 apocalyptic vampire film may be just a TV movie, but it’s thankfully a pretty excellent follow up to the original vampire thriller. “Stake Land 2” reunites just about everyone from the original film to extend the mythology of the original film and continue the epic journey of the enigmatic Mister and his young sidekick Martin. Except now, Martin is an experienced apocalyptic hunter who has managed to settle in to a life he loves, even in the midst of the end of the world. Despite Mister venturing out on his own, Martin has established a farm as well as married and had a son.

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