Harbinger Down (2015)

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

If John Carpenter’s “The Thing” were competently remade in 2011, “Harbinger Down” is what we’d have. I imagine Alec Gillis’ monster feature will be placed alongside Carpenter’s masterpiece as a double feature for many years, and why shouldn’t it? It’s a strong and very entertaining tribute that can also work as a companion piece. “Harbinger Down” owes a lot of its material to John Carpenter, posing much of the same scenarios from the aforementioned film. There’s a group of workers stuck in the middle of a desolate wasteland, a creature hunting everyone down and taking different forms, and an inevitable fight for survival.

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Fantastic Four (2015)

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I’m not one of the people who were hoping for “Fantastic Four” to be a bad movie, but I’m not surprised it’s a bad movie. FOX has proven to be so embarrassed by Marvel’s original property, that I’m actually surprised “Fantastic Four” isn’t simply called “The Four.” It takes all opportunities to rework the source material, so who’s to say this wasn’t suggested at some point? When you fail to properly adapt source material (that I still say is impossible to adapt in to a good film), you can’t really be surprised when too many cooks feed us “Fantastic Four.” It goes without saying that “Fantastic Four” is a lousy movie. It’s a movie about four people whose worst enemies are themselves, and face off against a foe that looks like HR Giger’s version of OZ’s the Tin Man.

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Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015) [Blu-Ray/DVD/Digital]

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Sue me but it’s pretty cool to be seeing a Hispanic man playing Superman for once; if only for one time in an Elseworlds tale. “Gods and Monsters” is set in an alternate DC Universe that has its own Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, and damn it they’re not the clean cut superheroes and titans we know them as. Imagine an alternate fate for the trio of titans. What if Zod programmed his DNA in to Superman and Superman was taken in by a Mexican farming couple rather than Kansas farmers. Imagine if Wonder Woman was from the new gods, and Batman was actually a bat like man who sucked people’s blood.

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Lake Placid vs. Anaconda (2015) (DVD)

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

If you wanted Lake Placid vs. Anaconda, damn it all it’s what you get with this new crossover. Like most films of this ilk, you’re mainly tuning in to watch a lot of really obnoxious characters die brutal deaths, it’s just a shame a lot of it is off screen. Perhaps that’s because this is primarily a TV movie, but I was disappointed to see a lot of the deaths were cut aways and mostly kept sanitary; when you have a giant crocodile and giant snake chomping down on gorgeous sorority girls, that’s just downright criminal. With a movie like this you can’t expect a masterpiece, and oddly enough I went in to it with rock bottom expectations. Did that mean it pleased me proficiently? Not really.

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Big Hero 6 (2014)

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I really enjoy it when Disney tends to think outside the box in the realm of a certain genre. While “Big Hero 6” is definitely a Marvel and superhero movie, it’s also a really bold and off the wall tale about revenge, family, and the very thin line between justice and pure evil. “Big Hero 6” is an underrated feature from the Marvel canon that I really hope garners a sequel because the material here is just too ripe for a one and done feature film. The characters are just too damn interesting and by the time the film was done I wanted more from this rag tag group of geniuses. And that’s what I also enjoyed about “Big Hero 6” is that our heroes have a clear moral code they operate by and they do it with their brains.

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Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection “F” (2015)

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

“Dragon Ball Z” is back and it’s about as niche as ever! Which is to say that only hardcore fans of the series will love with “Resurrection ‘F’” has to offer them; everyone else will likely just appreciate the animation. It’s a truncated and very fast paced feature length film and one that I quite enjoyed. While I’ve always been hard on the series over the years, “Resurrection ‘F’” was a slimmed down and very breezy action film that reminded me why I was a fan such a long time ago. It also has a really good sense of humor about itself with folks like Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan settled in their domesticated roles, forced in to combat with a superior foe.

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Synchronicity (2015) [Fantasia Film Festival]

Posted on August 2, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL

Jacob Gentry’s “Synchronicity” is the kind of film I really do enjoy. It’s non-linear, it has a taste of noir within it, and it’s filled with existentialist themes about parallel worlds and wormholes that dare to challenge its audience. “Synchronicity” is the kind of challenging fiction that will spark conversations among its audience and leave them pondering on the bigger questions that it poses right through to the end. I didn’t quite understand what was happening in the film for the first half, but Gentry really brings all of the narrative together making what seems like a scattershot series of events feel like one giant master plan. It’s a film in the tradition of “Memento” sparking brilliant visuals and a vivid world where nothing is ever really what it seems.

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