The Stepford Wives (1975)

An “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” for the feminist era, novelist Ira Levin’s horror science fiction thriller is an ode to the fear of feminism, the unwelcome reception it received by old fashioned men who grew up in a society predominantly ruled by subservient women and a bit of a paranoid fantasy that takes the best of feminism and matches it with the male ego that ultimately attempts to snuff out the girl power movement enacted by women after the sixties and take it in to an era where women were soon relegated to tools and props as status symbols for men unwilling to submit to a woman who was well spoken, intelligent, and always anxious to give their men hell for making decisions that they didn’t approve with. Sure it’s an anti-male diatribe, but so what? “The Stepford Wives” original as directed by Bryan Forbes is a reflection on a society that wants to have it both ways.

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The Odd Squad #1 [of 3]

Devil’s Due’s newest series “The Odd Squad” is like The X-Files is headed by two of the three chicks from “Mean Girls,” and yet in spite of my inherent annoyance with the trite dialogue and cheesy pop culture references, I really enjoyed it.

As a guilty pleasure, “The Odd Squad” is a routine science fiction supernatural comedy series about a bubbly blond and her equally bubbly blonde sister who are asked to head a branch of the Office of Dimensional Defense to investigate the paranormal. Charlotte Springs is a simple college professor who isn’t as dumb as she looks, and she is forced to work with Frank Flood, a local stiff working for the government who has to team with both sisters to explore why the president’s son is turning in to a beast during the night. And by beast, I mean literal bipedal hairy beast.

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London Betty (2009)

londonbettyThis is the same dude who did “Bikini Bloodbath”? While I’m always up for comedies that dare to be anything but the same old indie comedy crap, Thomas Edward Seymour can never really decide what kind of movie he’s making. At times he strives for Troma gross out comedy, then he tries for inexplicable touching sub-plots and then he’ll go for the bargain basement slapstick that was a lot funnier in his previous film. “London Betty” isn’t the worst movie I’ve ever seen, but I was definitely counting the minutes and waiting for it to end.

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Dark City (1998) (Director's Cut DVD)

dark_city_brdLet’s be honest kiddies, “Dark City” was “The Matrix” before “The Matrix” was ever in the pop culture lexicon, and Alex Proyas simply gets zero credit for ever bringing this concept to the forefront with his own Neo set amidst an unreal world where time is an illusion, and the thirties are ever lasting. One of the most underrated and under credited science fiction films of all time proved that Alex Proyas wasn’t simply a one trick pony directing “The Crow.” Filled with a beautiful view of a city on the borderline of illusion and pure nightmares, “Dark City” is a world that really may not be all that we see it for. The characters in this world are all living in a gritty, dank, and dreary series of landscapes that engulf one another in to an abyss where the puppet masters named The Strangers drift in the darkness preparing to change the landscape at a moments notice.

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Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008)

lost-boys-2-01You know originally there was supposed to be a sequel to “The Lost Boys” or at least an allusion to one in the original script for Schumacher’s vampire comedy that revealed the origins of Max, and that there were many, many more lost boys and girls out there looking to do his death some justice. Frankly, I would have preferred “The Lost Girls” a movie I pictured as a vampire thriller with less comedy and an all star cast of young female actresses currently taking Hollywood by storm. That was about six years ago. “Lost Boys: The Tribe” is that sequel I wouldn’t have completely wanted, but found reason to anticipate it anyway. I think that there could have been much more added to “The Tribe” to make it feel fresh and unique.

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Batman: Gotham Knight (2008) (Two-Disc Special Edition)

batmangkSo it’s finally here, the long awaited mid-quel to “Batman Begins” that leads right in to “The Dark Knight.” While Warner is taking a fantastic approach to this mid-quel by enlisting a host of top notch cutting edge animators and keeping true to the dark adult nature of the movies, even casting the one and only Kevin Conroy to voice Batman yet again (and he doesn’t miss a beat), “Gotham Knight” feels more like a template of which Christopher Nolan could expand upon should he decide to continue the series after “The Dark Knight.” There are only so many rogues who can be justified on screen with realism, but “Gotham Knight” provides us with some famous villains who could excel with a big screen treatment under the right people.

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Quench (2007)

quenchTonally, “Quench” tends to be scattered and while normally that’d be cause to give this a negative marking Zack Parker’s film balances the mixture of genres, and direction so well that I really enjoyed that the film jumps from mood to mood with pure ease. “Quench” could be described as a horror movie in a way, but it’s very unlike a horror movie when it wants to be. Parker takes the underground sexually unlimited world of “Eyes Wide Shut” and mixes it with a bit of “Martin” along with a coming of age drama and really never stops there.

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