Thursday, April 30, 2015

My Tops of 2015 - April




IT FOLLOWS wasn't as fantastic as I wished it to be but the amazing lead performance, electronic score, and creepy visuals made it a real sleeper hit.




FURIOUS 7 was a blast but just another entry in the action franchise. Its tribute to Paul Walker was a bit corny but effective.




UNFRIENDED ends the same way as all found footage horror movies but it was a surprisingly entertaining little film, able to escape the curse of previous Skype-based movies.


Get ready for the summer movie season!


Worst Films of 2015


1. Fifty Shades of Grey

Friday, April 24, 2015

What's Next on Netflix? - Week 16 of 2015



Want to find out what movies are heading to Netflix Streaming? I got your back.


Upcoming Netflix Streaming Titles

4/25 - Watchers of the Sky

4/26 - Chef's Table (Netflix Original Series), The Nutty Professor (2008)

4/27 - National Treasure*

5/1 - Beyond Clueless, Jimi: All Is By My Side, Joe Dirt, The Last Waltz, Legally Blonde, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, No No: A Dockumnetary, Payback, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio; Underclassman

5/3 - Anita: Speaking Truth to Power

5/5 - A Few Best Men

5/6 - The Longest Week*

5/8 - Grace and Frankie (Netflix Original Series), Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas

5/9 - Happy Valley, Jinn, The Liberator

5/12 - Extraterrestrial*, Fruitvale Station, Magical Universe*

5/13 - The Identical

5/14 - Corky Romano

5/15 - Cyber-Seniors, Dawg Fight*, Give Me Shelter

5/16 - First Period (2013)

5/17 - Tinker Bell: Legend of the NeverBeast

5/19 - Before I Disappear*, Girlhood*, Zombeavers*

5/22 - Inglourious Basterds*, The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir

5/23 - Antarctica: A Year On Ice*, The Boxtrolls*

5/24 - Love and Honor*, Welcome to the Punch*

5/27 - Before I Go To Sleep*

5/29 - Hot Girls Wanted*

6/5 - Sense8 (Netflix Original Series)

6/12 - Orange is the New Black (Season 3)

6/26 - What Happened, Nina Simone?

7/10 - Chris Tucker Live

7/17 - Wet Hot American Summer: First Day At Camp (Netflix Original Series)



What to Watch This Week

There's literally nothing to truly recommend as this week is practically bare. Even Watchers of the Sky, the only worthwhile title, is a hard one to push on to you, as it is a documentary on the origin of the word "genocide" and the current authority figures who are trying to erase it from modern society. Not exactly the perfect film for the weekend.


New Streaming Titles I Previously Forgot to Mention

Nothing!


I'll see you again next Friday.

Friday, April 17, 2015

What's Next on Netflix? - Week 15 of 2015



Want to find out what movies are heading to Netflix Streaming? I got your back.


Upcoming Netflix Streaming Titles

4/17 - Fed Up, They Came Together

4/18 - Noah

4/21 - A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

4/23 - The Humbling

4/25 - Watchers of the Sky

4/26 - Chef's Table (Netflix Original Series), The Nutty Professor (2008)

4/27 - National Treasure*

5/1 - Jimi: All Is By My Side, Joe Dirt, Payback

5/8 - Grace and Frankie (Netflix Original Series)

5/9 - Happy Valley, Jinn

5/14 - Corky Romano

5/22 - The Other One: The Long Strange Trip of Bob Weir

6/5 - Sense8 (Netflix Original Series)

6/12 - Orange is the New Black (Season 3)

6/26 - What Happened, Nina Simone?

7/10 - Chris Tucker Live

7/17 - Wet Hot American Summer: First Day At Camp (Netflix Original Series)




What to Watch This Week

I really liked the rom-com mockery They Came Together but it's widely disliked by general audiences and polarizing even among David Wain fans, so your mileage may vary. Darren Aronofsky's Noah is the big release for the week but again, you'll either find it to be a beautiful epic or pretentiously insane. And art fans will be rejoices for the premiere of A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night, which was a sleeper from last year and labelled as "The First Iranian Vampire Western."




New Streaming Titles I Previously Forgot to Mention

French fashion history is artfully shown in the biopic Yves Saint Laurent; Mia Wasikowska stars in the other 2014 biopic about a woman walking through nature, Tracks; the BP oil-rig disaster is reexamined in The Great Invisible; Mike Myers steps into the director's chair with the music doc Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon; the return of the cult documentary Winnebago Man; and Asylum Films churns out their version of 50 Shades of Grey with the lesbian-less kinkfest Bound.


I'll see you again next Friday.

Friday, April 10, 2015

What's Next on Netflix? - Week 14 of 2015



Want to find out what movies are heading to Netflix Streaming? I got your back.


Upcoming Netflix Streaming Titles

4/10 - Daredevil (Netflix Original Series)

4/11 - The Lookalike

4/12 - The Identical*

4/14 - The Babadook, Goodbye To Language, Kink, The Man With the Iron Fists 2

4/16 - Hot Fuzz

4/17 - They Came Together

4/18 - Noah

4/21 - A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

4/26 - Chef's Table (Netflix Original Series), The Nutty Professor (2008)

4/27 - National Treasure*

5/1 - Jimi: All Is By My Side, Joe Dirt

5/8 - Grace and Frankie (Netflix Original Series)

5/14 - Corky Romano

6/5 - Sense8 (Netflix Original Series)

6/12 - Orange is the New Black (Season 3)

6/26 - What Happened, Nina Simone?

7/10 - Chris Tucker Live

7/17 - Wet Hot American Summer: First Day At Camp (Netflix Original Series)




What to Watch This Week

Everybody, especially those hyped for Avengers 2, will be binging on the first of Netflix's deal with Marvel: the new original series Daredevil. Next Tuesday bequeaths many interesting for art and indie fans, with the big one being the so-named "Best Horror Movie of 2014", The Babadook. And it will be good to end this week's block of titles by re-watching Edgar Wright's subversive cop comedy Hot Fuzz on Thursday.



New Streaming Titles I Previously Forgot to Mention

Former actress Brandy Burre, best known for her work in The Wire, is profiled in Actress; Underrated or a terrible show? you can decide for yourself with the first season of AMC's Halt Catch Fire; and one of the worst films of 2014 that narrowly escaped from my judgment, the putrid documentary America: Imagine The World Without Her.


I'll see you again next Friday.

Friday, April 3, 2015

What's Next on Netflix? - Week 13 of 2015



Want to find out what movies are heading to Netflix Streaming? I got your back.


Upcoming Netflix Streaming Titles

4/3 - The Circle, The Quiet Ones, Starry Eyes

4/4 - Delta Farce

4/7 - Preservation

4/9 - Crank, Pioneer

4/10 - Daredevil (Netflix Original Series)

4/12 - The Identical*

4/14 - The Babadook, Goodbye To Language, Kink

4/16 - Hot Fuzz

4/17 - They Came Together

4/18 - Noah

4/21 - A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

4/26 - The Nutty Professor (2008)

4/27 - National Treasure*

5/8 - Grace and Frankie (Netflix Original Series)

6/5 - Sense8 (Netflix Original Series)

6/12 - Orange is the New Black (Season 3)

7/10 - Chris Tucker Live

7/17 - Wet Hot American Summer: First Day At Camp (Netflix Original Series)




What to Watch This Week

Barebones for the next week. Horror fans should enjoy this weekend with two offerings from last year, first with the very mediocre The Quiet Ones and the more acclaimed indie Starry Eyes. And on the upcoming Thursday, you just have to partake on Crank. Insanely fun and boffo gonzo.




New Streaming Titles I Previously Forgot to Mention

Netflix's rebirth of Inspector Gadget; there's a horror-hound in blue running around town in Wolfcop; the mystery of the landfill of E.T. video games is solved in Atari: Game Over; The Iron Sheik is profiled in The Sheik; the Stephen King classic The Dead Zone; Rob Zombie's one hit wonder The Devil's Rejects; the unwanted sequel to a classic kid's movie, The Sandlot 2; re-watch the movie that gave Christian Bale his breakout adult role, American Psycho, and then watch the sequel that nearly destroyed Mila Kunis' career, American Psycho 2; medieval times and religious hypocrisy collide in Paul Verhoeven's Flesh + Blood; millenials can relate to Noah Baumbach's Gen X dramedy Kicking and Screaming; and get strung out with the polarizing Natural Born Killers.


I'll see you again next Friday.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Robert Z'Dar - RIP




Robert Z'Dar has died. He was 64 years old.

Z'Dar wasn't one of the most beautiful actors to appear on screen but he always stole the spotlight thanks to his sheer presence and, of course, his massive jaw. This unique look allowed him to find steady work in Hollywood, appearing in a ton of films and television shows, where he was most often cast as a giant thug or as an imposing boss for the main heroes to somehow defeat.




His most famous role was as Officer Matthew Cordell a.k.a. the titled character in the Maniac Cop trilogy. His character was one of the most distinctive antagonists of the slasher genre, as he went around killing innocents in full police garb, before then bringing down the big heat on his former brothers in blue.




For general film fans, Z'Dar is best known for facing off against Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell as, well, "Face" in the 1989 cult action classic Tango & Cash. Other purveyors of HBO will recognize him in the brat pack crime flick Mobsters.




In recent years, thanks to the plethora of internet review shows, Z'Dar was further spotlighted in many of the cheesy and downright terrible movies he took part in. The most infamous of these is Samurai Cop, where he starred as the villianous Yamashita, a bearded white "samurai" who partakes in an unfortunate sex scene and promises to lay the hero's head on his boss' piano. Additional lowlights included Killing American Style, the Roddy Piper-less Frogtown II and the sheer incomprehensible Pocket Ninjas.




Finally, I can't end this obituary without mentioning his appearances on MST3K. Two of his films were lampooned by Mike & The Bots in the show's last season: the sci-fi disasterpiece Future War, where he only had a brief role as a badly constructed cyborg, and Soultaker, where he turns up as an ambiguous grim reaper.

He will be missed.