Tag Archives: S

Sinister (2012)

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Ethan Hawke plays Ellison Oswalt, a successful crime author whose last book was a hit and garnered him a lot of hatred from folks surrounding the murders. Desperate for another hit book, Ellison moves his family in to the house where a vicious murder was committed in hopes of finding out why the family was murdered, and where their daughter Stephanie disappeared to. The explanation that he moves them in to the house where the murders ensued should be a clue that Ellison isn’t very smart. Hawke is a very good performer capable of conveying desperation and torment, but he’s given the task of turning Ellison in to an empathetic protagonist. Which is tough considering the more we know about Ellison the less likable he is, and when the screws finally turn on him, we’re not too saddened by it.

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Static (2013)

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Todd Levin’s “Static” would work a lot better if it were shorter, better paced, and didn’t give away the surprise ending in the opening seconds. Seriously, if you’ve seen this type of film with this kind of set up before, you’ll catch on to where the entire premise is going. I figured it for a home invasion thriller like “Ils Them,” but then I eventually pinpointed where they were headed once Sara Paxton reared her gorgeous face.

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Steps (2013)

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“Steps” from director Josef Rodriguez has a lot more coherency than “Take It Back” does, but it is still a work in progress. “Steps” is a short with a lot of potential to be a funny look at a jerk’s punishment when he crosses a girl at a party. When he’s kicked out, he realizes he has to pee and there’s not a bathroom in sight.

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Storage 24 (2013)

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Despite being featured in an article as one of the lowest grossing movies of the year (It premiered in one theater), “Storage 24” is actually a solid monster movie. If you want to see a vicious monster murdering thirty something Brits, this is the movie you’ll want to watch. Director Johannes Roberts‘ genre entry is a film with big ambitions, but a small budget, so he uses the creature effects wisely and pays off with vicious violence, and a pretty interesting finale. I’m not about to call “Storage 24” a masterpiece, as Roberts film takes too much of its time on back story and set up.

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Sidekicks (1992)

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Sidekicks (1992)

In a movie directed by Aaron Norris, younger brother of Chuck Norris comes “Sidekicks,” a movie about Chuck Norris, co-starring Chuck Norris who plays none other than Chuck Norris. Did I mention Chuck Norris is God? “Sidekicks” is one of the many goofy “Karate Kid” knock offs of the nineties, where Chuck Norris is given a virtual platform to show everyone in America how utterly amazing he is. So amazing is he, he even stars in a young man’s homoerotic fantasies so frequently, it borders on creepy. Bow to Chuck Norris’s Norrisness.

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Sleepers (1996)

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Director Barry Levinson’s 1996 “Sleepers” is a rich and compelling movie that straddles many genres from the coming of age, to courtroom, to the thriller, to revenge. “Sleepers” is a movie for anyone with a taste for cinema that explore childhood innocence and the end of it at the hands of pure evil. Director Levinson’s film tells the story of young boys in the 1960’s slums of Hell’s Kitchen in Queens. Bonded due to their religious loyalties and their relationship with patriarchal Father Bobby (DeNiro in one of the last great roles of his career), they often find themselves constantly walking the line between saintly and pure criminal.

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The Starving Games (2013)

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Friedberg and Seltzer’s “The Starving Games,” because we haven’t seen enough fucking jokes about “the most interesting man in the world”! The only advantage to watching “The Starving Games” (beyond Maiara Walsh) is that the Beavis and Butthead of comedy film making seem to be operating on a lower budget, thus the piss poor effects perfectly reflect the utterly piss poor comedy.

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