The crude animation for “World of Tomorrow” seems like something that would distract from the overall experience, but thankfully Don Hertzfeldt’s short is still very powerful. The impact of the message and the ideas about time travel and unchangeable destiny still resonate, and the crude animation and simplistic voice work almost seem to compliment the abstract ideas presented here.
Playing at the Alamo Drafhouse Yonkers, January 17th
New teacher Andrew Norris is fighting the rising tide of what would later become the future of the youth. “We are the future,” chants leader Stegman with his gang of punks. “I am your future,” he consistently tells Mr. Norris, and whodathunk he’d be correct? In “Class of 1984” (the prophetic remake of “Blackboard Jungle”) envisions a not too far future where the youth have all but spiraled out of control and our schools are now warzones with the potential for death at every turn. In 1982, “Class of 1984” was something of an exploitation revenge film, but decades later after utterly horrific accounts of school shootings, and students victimizing their teachers, “Class of 1984” is actually ahead of its time.
Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown.
For the special occasion of the 150th issue of the award winning comic series that conceived a pop culture phenomenon, Robert Kirkman delivers one of the bigger turning points in his comic book series, by delving more in to why Rick Grimes is almost unstoppable at this point. If you’ve been keeping up, the Whisperers have an army of stealth warriors that don the skins of the walkers, and are posing a severe threat on Alexandria. The loss of many key residents doesn’t just have everyone in fear, but has also caused everyone to question what kind of leader Rick Grimes.
I have to admit, 2015 was a great year for movies. We saw a huge glut in horror films, the welcome ongoing resurgence of the anthology film, Tarantino smashed in to theaters with his new film, and audiences told Hollywood which type of nostalgia is genuine, and which is just exploitative crap trying to take our cash. Some nostalgia like “Creed” and “Goosebumps” were a success, while other efforts like “Jem and the Holograms,” and “Tomorrowland” bombed big time inspiring groans and eye rolls. Most of all we saw the return of “Star Wars,” the “Jurassic Park” series, and the Western. To add some pleasing news to the latter, Kurt Russell was a part of two of the most talked about Western entries of the year. Long live Snake Plissken.
As always our commitment to covering the indie film world has prevented us from watching every movie in 2015. Especially now with many films available on various formats in digital and physical form. It’s tough to keep up. But out of the large array of films we saw in 2015, these were the best.
GREAT MOVIES that almost made the cut includes the horrific We Are Still Here, the darkly funny and creepy The Visit, the underdog superhero flick Ant-Man, another Marvel Cinematic Universe installment The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the shocking and haunting dramatic thriller The Gift, the meta horror comedy adventure Goosebumps, the wonderful feature film adaptation of Charles Shulz’s comic strip The Peanuts Movie, the beautiful Pixar animated drama Inside Out, the gory Tarantino mystery The Hateful Eight, the sequels Fast and Furious 7 and Mission Impossible Rogue Nation, the entertaining horror anthology Tales of Halloween, the gripping documentary Call Me Lucky, and Ridley Scott’s exciting survival drama The Martian. Now on to the Top 10…
After many years of the “Star Wars” franchise remaining stagnant and relatively convoluted, “The Force Awakens” has come to simplify and completely re-think the movie series. JJ Abrams introduction to his bold new vision for “Star Wars” is a one hundred percent faithful visit to a galaxy far, far away that functions as a platform for a new series, a sequel, and a love letter to the simpler, episodic days of “Star Wars” where every film was an ode to the classic movie serials of the golden age of cinema. This time around “The Force Awakens” actively works in fixing many of the mistakes made in the original six films, by actively casting a wide array of heroes and villains to present a more humanistic environment we can dive in to. And I’m not speaking about a wider array of aliens, but racially diverse characters, all of whom have something to contribute.
It’s mostly known as “Ghost Warrior,” but I think I prefer the alternate title “Swordkill.” While “Ghost Warrior” is given an insightful and meaningful definition during the narrative, “Swordkill” just makes the movie sound cheap and silly. I’d love to know who thought the title “Swordkill” was a proper summary of what is a dramatic fish out of water film. J. Larry Carroll’s “Ghost Warrior” is a surprisingly straight faced tale of a warrior placed out of his time, who finds that living in mid eighties Los Angeles kind of sucks. The movie is admittedly thin on narrative, but works for the most part as a series of unfortunate events Yoshimitsu experiences. Life sure does suck for the master samurai.
There’s been a lot of talk about movie anniversaries this year, but two of the movies that have been left out of the discussion are two of my childhood favorites. There’s the 1995 teen drama “Angus,” and the 1980 “My Bodyguard.” Oddly enough, both films deal with the idea of coming of age, surviving high school, and learning to deal with a specific kind of bully. Both films also confront the idea that sometimes staring down the bullies is a right of passage we all must confront at one time or another. And yet, both films have been off the radar for a very long time.