Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

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.

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Caesar and Otto’s Paranormal Halloween (2015)

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I admit I’ve always enjoyed Dave Campfield’s horror series “Caesar and Otto” despite the duo delivering hit or miss adventures. Every film since their introduction has been one self contained ode to some facet of horror, and Campfield has a surefire love for the genre of horror and comedy that he tries to bring to the forefront with his characters of Caesar and Otto. With “Paranormal Halloween” I think Campfield is at his best, because with the misadventures of Caesar and Otto comes bit of scorn that emanates through every moment of the film. Campfield is always self aware but in “Paranormal Halloween,” Campfield seems to have reached the point where he’s delivering his own idea of great horror, and is trying to figure out how to hit the right note and deliver something for a wider audience.

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Aloha (2015)

Posted on December 15, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

One thing I can say for “Aloha” is that it’s a beautiful film. If you put it on mute and watch it the whole way through, you can at least appreciate the lovely sights of Hawaii and Emma Stone, with her piercing large eyes, and adorable lisp that rival anything in Hawaii. With the volume on, it’s a horrendous mess that Cameron Crowe bungles up. It’s jumbled, hard to follow, and ultimately feels like three pretty mediocre movies mashed in to one trifecta of incoherence, sugar coated by a great cast, a killer soundtrack, and wonderful cinematography.

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The Car (1977) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

1977’s “The Car” is very much a product of its decade. It’s a silly tale with a narrative involving something about Satanism or pure Evil, while fancying itself as something of a different take on “Jaws.” Rather than Roy Scheider as a small town sheriff and his allies trying to take down a giant shark with almost supernatural predatory abilities, this time we have James Brolin as a small town sheriff who is facing off against a giant black Sedan with the supernatural abilities to hunt down and murder people on the roads and on highways.

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Batman: The Complete Third Season (DVD)

Posted on December 8, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I’m no longer sorry I didn’t fork down almost three hundred smackers on the “Batman” series starring Adam West. While the series will always have a place in my heart for being one of the gateways in to my obsession with superheroes, the nostalgia for the show is fuzzy at best. Watching it as five year old, compared to watching it twenty seven years later is a vast difference. I can appreciate the show for its camp and surreal take on Batman, but I can’t argue for its quality. Especially considering that season three is when the writers and producers began scrambling to inject some new blood in to the series. As with most series involving superheroes, you either have to keep thinking of new ideas, or you will dip in ratings and risk repeating yourself.

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Spotlight (2015)

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

One of the most important cinematic accounts of journalism changing corruption since “All the President’s Men,” director Thomas McCarthy’s “Spotlight” garners an understated brilliance in where it explores a long legacy of corruption that’s not only been widely under reported but somewhat accepted. McCarthy manages to draw immense thrills and paranoia from a film that’s very much the antithesis of sensationalism. “Spotlight” is a gut wrenching and mind blowing account of a group of reporters tasked with uncovering one of the largest scandals in world history, a scandal that’s left thousands of victims in its wake.

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A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

“A Christmas Horror Story” tries to do for Christmas that “Trick r Treat” did for Halloween, and really just ends as a mediocre effort with best intentions. While the efforts of the collective filmmakers to deliver a Christmas anthology for the horror crowd isn’t an awful movie by any means, it’s still a mixed bag of stories, all of which vary in tone and leave the overall film feeling bipolar in some respects. It even reaches for a clever surprise ending that just felt like a cheat for the sake of an obligatory “Gotcha!”

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