The Battery (2012) [Blu-ray]

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

After a zombie apocalypse has overtaken most of the country including New England, former baseball players Ben and Mickey have found themselves stuck together. They’re too frightened to be alone, and yet don’t like one another enough to stay together. Thus they form an uneasy pact with one another, roaming the more desolate landscape of New England looking for food, shelter, and new means to keep themselves from going absolutely stir crazy. With the rising population of the dead, and the lack of human contact, it’s becoming a task that’s increasingly difficult to conquer day by day.

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I Declare War (2014)

Posted on September 10, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

I guess you can make the argument that “I Declare War” is something of a variation of The Stanford Prison Experiment where we’re given a glimpse in to set roles and the extremes taken with them. Instead “I Declare War” is filled with nothing but preteens and some teenagers and presents a very deceitful set up. While it’s true the film is about a bunch of kids playing war in the woods, the film is not for all ages. It’s a very adult film, and that’s one of the reasons why I wasn’t quick to give up on it once it ran out of steam mid-way. This is how kids act. They’re violent, and swear a lot. They’re wiser than anyone thinks, they can be vulnerable, and courageous, and through and through, they have their own personal rivalries with one another that can take a turn for the disturbing.

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Strongest of Lotus (2014)

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Director Patcharaphon Napapornpipat’s short film about a disabled young girl finding her voice is a sweet if short slice of life that really lends credence to the idea of music changing the way we live and interact. Lalita Srisuka plays a disabled young girl whose life is filled with stares and ostracizing from people around her, including her own classmates. The only time she’s capable of escaping is when she retreats to her music, which allows her to block out reality and lose herself in the world she creates.

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Water Dogs (2014)

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Director Matthew Slamowitz’s short film “Water Dogs” isn’t so much about the beauty of New York, but about good luck and learning to pay that luck forward. “Water Dogs” is a compelling and very entertaining short dramedy about a homeless man who gets the chance to make a life for himself when events occur that drops everything in to place before his eyes. The trick behind this odd good luck is how he’s going to choose to use it in the long run.

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Rocks in My Pockets (2014)

Posted on September 8, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Director Signe Baumane’s animated film about her family history and mental illness exemplifies how difficult it is to fight what’s been so sewn in to a family bloodline. While inherent traits and gifts can be passed down genetically, mental illness can also carry with it a vicious legacy that can be carried in to every generation. Baumane’s “Rocks in my Pockets” confronts a topic all too familiar, in which she tries to piece together the history of the women in her family, and how mental illness affected them, since she feels the pressing weight of the illness on her shoulders. “Rocks in my Pockets” feels more like a power point presentation more than a film.

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The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story (2014)

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

Movies about celebrity scandal, even pseudo-celebrity scandal are pretty much bullet proof and critic proof. They’re trashy on purpose, deliberately badly acted, and perhaps about ten percent of what we see claimed is true. Likely less. The same could be said for “The Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Story,” which is not so much trashy as it is forgettable and kind of dull. If not based on accounts and centered on actual people, the movie would just be another goofy tale of the perils of fame. Hedonism, egomania, love triangles, scandals, resentment, it’s all here, and there’s nothing remotely shocking about what transpires. Mainly it’s just a goofy dramatic moaner devoted to how battered and misunderstood Dustin Diamond was, more than the conception of the show and its influence on teenage America. Unless you consider Gosselaar dying his hair frantically behind stage as scandalous and worth talking about.

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Point of No Return (1993)

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Felix Vasquez

The biggest difference that sets John Badham’s remake apart from Luc Besson’s original “La Femme Nikita” is the context of the decade. Even set in the late eighties to early nineties, Besson’s original has a very timeless appeal to it and is still a template for many action films. John Badham’s remake though is very soaked in nineties ephemera, to the point where you can almost hear “90210” playing in the background of every scene. Thus it distracts from the story Badham is trying to tell. Which is a stacked deck, considering “Point of No Return” is a weak retread of an action masterpiece.

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