Class of 1984 (1982)

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Playing at the Alamo Drafhouse Yonkers, January 17th

New teacher Andrew Norris is fighting the rising tide of what would later become the future of the youth. “We are the future,” chants leader Stegman with his gang of punks. “I am your future,” he consistently tells Mr. Norris, and whodathunk he’d be correct? In “Class of 1984” (the prophetic remake of “Blackboard Jungle”) envisions a not too far future where the youth have all but spiraled out of control and our schools are now warzones with the potential for death at every turn. In 1982, “Class of 1984” was something of an exploitation revenge film, but decades later after utterly horrific accounts of school shootings, and students victimizing their teachers, “Class of 1984” is actually ahead of its time.

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The Walking Dead #150

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Felix Vasquez

Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown.

For the special occasion of the 150th issue of the award winning comic series that conceived a pop culture phenomenon, Robert Kirkman delivers one of the bigger turning points in his comic book series, by delving more in to why Rick Grimes is almost unstoppable at this point. If you’ve been keeping up, the Whisperers have an army of stealth warriors that don the skins of the walkers, and are posing a severe threat on Alexandria. The loss of many key residents doesn’t just have everyone in fear, but has also caused everyone to question what kind of leader Rick Grimes.

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Our Top 10 Films of 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I have to admit, 2015 was a great year for movies. We saw a huge glut in horror films, the welcome ongoing resurgence of the anthology film, Tarantino smashed in to theaters with his new film, and audiences told Hollywood which type of nostalgia is genuine, and which is just exploitative crap trying to take our cash. Some nostalgia like “Creed” and “Goosebumps” were a success, while other efforts like “Jem and the Holograms,” and “Tomorrowland” bombed big time inspiring groans and eye rolls. Most of all we saw the return of “Star Wars,” the “Jurassic Park” series, and the Western. To add some pleasing news to the latter, Kurt Russell was a part of two of the most talked about Western entries of the year. Long live Snake Plissken.

As always our commitment to covering the indie film world has prevented us from watching every movie in 2015. Especially now with many films available on various formats in digital and physical form. It’s tough to keep up. But out of the large array of films we saw in 2015, these were the best.

GREAT MOVIES that almost made the cut includes the horrific We Are Still Here, the darkly funny and creepy The Visit, the underdog superhero flick Ant-Man, another Marvel Cinematic Universe installment The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the shocking and haunting dramatic thriller The Gift, the meta horror comedy adventure Goosebumps, the wonderful feature film adaptation of Charles Shulz’s comic strip The Peanuts Movie, the beautiful Pixar animated drama Inside Out, the gory Tarantino mystery The Hateful Eight, the sequels Fast and Furious 7 and Mission Impossible Rogue Nation, the entertaining horror anthology Tales of Halloween, the gripping documentary Call Me Lucky, and Ridley Scott’s exciting survival drama The Martian. Now on to the Top 10…

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Our 5 Choice Indies of 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Cinema Crazed is pretty much a one man operation, so as always, we weren’t able to watch every single film sent to us this year. We have so much to do, and so little time to do it in, but we try our damndest to watch everything that comes down our pipe. The year has been good for indie filmmaking, as Hollywood are taking more and more chances on indie filmmakers and budding storytellers.

As with every year, this is a list of the five best Indies we saw in 2015. While there were many A+ Indies, these five stood out and stuck with us for a long time.

While a few of these movies can be viewed online legally for free, we encourage you to buy these films. Buying them helps the filmmakers, it helps them go on to make another movie you might enjoy, and it helps the small companies that are funding these directors and excellent storytellers. The indie film community needs as much support as it can muster up. Without Further ado… Continue reading →

The Brain that Wouldn’t Die (1962) [Blu-Ray]

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Ah blatant proud misogyny, you truly are something to watch. Never has there been such a misogynistic and anti-woman film as “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die,” the movie that ponder how hard it is to find the right body for your dismembered wife’s head. How does a severed head talk without lungs? Uh—science! I’d definitely call “The Brain that Wouldn’t Die” a bad movie, but only because it’s so painfully up front about its attitude toward women, I had a tough time through most of it.

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Ghost Warrior (1984)

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

It’s mostly known as “Ghost Warrior,” but I think I prefer the alternate title “Swordkill.” While “Ghost Warrior” is given an insightful and meaningful definition during the narrative, “Swordkill” just makes the movie sound cheap and silly. I’d love to know who thought the title “Swordkill” was a proper summary of what is a dramatic fish out of water film. J. Larry Carroll’s “Ghost Warrior” is a surprisingly straight faced tale of a warrior placed out of his time, who finds that living in mid eighties Los Angeles kind of sucks. The movie is admittedly thin on narrative, but works for the most part as a series of unfortunate events Yoshimitsu experiences. Life sure does suck for the master samurai.

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