TRUE DETECTIVE Season 2 Episode 8 Review “Omega Station”

August 11, 2015 by Eric Brown Posted in TV Reviews Tagged Collin Farell, Rachel McAdams, Taylor Kitsch, True Detective Season 2, TV Recaps, Vince Vaughn Leave a comment

Another way of understanding the existential undertow of the flat circle and how it particularly drove this season’s narrative is a simple application of physics: an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Can a subsequent generation will itself out of the inertia spun onto it by its predecessor? Perhaps it can, as the Omega Station has been reached with an answer to the series’ ongoing thesis: only the right people in our lives can alter our directed courses. Read More

DVD Review: MATCH

August 11, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Blu-Ray/DVD Reviews Tagged DVD Review, Match, Patrick Stewart, Steve Belber Leave a comment

Synopsis: “A successful Manhattan ballet instructor and former dancer must confront his past when two fans with mysterious motives display some fancy footwork in the compelling drama Match. Steve Belber’s film, based on his Tony-nominated play, stars Patrick Stewart, Carla Gugino and Matthew Lillard who each give captivating performances in this witty, emotionally gripping adaptation of the play. Stewart stars as Tobi, an eccentric, pot-smoking Manhattan ballet instructor whose quiet life is interrupted by the arrival of a young couple from Seattle. They are presumably there to interview Tobi about his colorful life as a dancer in the 1960s. But as Tobi spins salacious tales from his early days, an ulterior motive for the couple’s visit emerges, forcing the trio to confront a secret that may connect them all.” Read More

DVD Review: INNER DEMONS

August 11, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Blu-Ray/DVD Reviews Tagged DVD Reviews, Horror, Lara Vosburgh, Seth Grossman Leave a comment

Synopsis: “When Carson (mesmerizing newcomer Lara Vosburgh), the teenaged daughter of a religious family, transforms from straight-A student into heroin addict, her parents agree to allow a reality TV show crew to stage an intervention and document her recovery. But what they don’t know is that she has been taking drugs to deal with the unnatural, evil feelings that have been growing inside of her. And when she agrees to rehab, with no drugs to suppress that malevolent force, she and everyone around her will find themselves in mortal danger from an entity far worse than they could ever imagine. From Seth Grossman, director of The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations and producer of the reality show Intervention, INNER DEMONS explores the blurry lines between addiction, possession and mental illness, and refreshes the horror genre with a grounded, layered story of a girl’s battle against demonic possession.” Read More

Out in Theaters: ASSASSINATION

August 7, 2015 by Madelyn Sutton Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Assassination, Choi Dong-hoon, Out in Theaters, Reviews 56 Comments

Assassination came in with Korea’s second-highest box office in 2015 for a locally-produced film, preceded only by the worldwide smash, Avengers: Age of Ultron. They’re both action films featuring a large cast of talented fighters/killers, but beyond these very general similarities and their overwhelmingly positive reception in Korea, the films couldn’t be more different – especially in that you really need to see Assassination.
Read More

Documentary Dossier: SNEAKERHEADZ

August 7, 2015 by Brittany Cullen Posted in Documentaries, Out in Theaters Tagged David T. Friendly, Documentaries, Mick Partridge, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Sneakerheadz Leave a comment

Sneakerheadz documents the intricate cultural and economic customs of Sneakerdom: an ever-expanding realm where a pair of second hand shoes (namely those of the Air Jordan variety) can fetch resellers up to $100,000. Mick Partridge and Little Miss Sunshine’s David T. Friendly trace the sneaker’s step from the retro-Converse soles of basketball legends competing at Rucker Park, to feet featuring on the runways of Paris Fashion Week. Read More

Documentary Dossier: CALL ME LUCKY

August 7, 2015 by Madelyn Sutton Posted in Documentaries, Out in Theaters Tagged Barry Crimmins, Bobcat Goldthwait, Call Me Lucky, Out in Theaters, Reviews Leave a comment

The name “Barry Crimmins” may sound vaguely familiar, but there aren’t many non-comedians who know Crimmins’ story – at least not the whole story. It’s arguable that this is reason enough for the film to have been made and for as many people as possible to watch it. His is a unique story of personal discovery and public achievement that rewards as it educates, and director Bobcat Goldthwait’s love and admiration for his subject pervades the film. Read More

Out In Theaters: THE GIFT

August 6, 2015 by J Simpson Posted in Out in Theaters, Reviews Tagged Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton, Out in Theaters, Rebecca Hall, Reviews, The Gift 2 Comments

Joel Edgerton‘s edgy horror/psychological thriller unravels the commitment-phobic fears of modern living, turning the clear divisions between protagonist/antagonist on its head in the process.

Have you ever run into an old school chum, perhaps while visiting your hometown? This old friend seems way more invested, eager to “catch up” and pick up where you left off, oblivious of the fact that you may have a wife, kids, a job, commitments a-plenty, and just don’t have time to kick back and spark one up on the couch, reflecting on old times? But what if your old friend is going through a rough patch and just needs a friendly face and a sympathetic ear? Here’s your chance to do the right thing and be a true friend, but too often, we falter, succumbing to the fear of wasting our precious, precious time. Read More

Out in Theaters: FANTASTIC FOUR

August 6, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Jamie Bell, Josh Trank, Kate Mara, Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Out in Theaters, Reg E. Cathey, Reviews, The Fantastic Four, Toby Kebbell Leave a comment

My feelings for Fox’s rebooted Fantastic Four property, much like the film itself, are all over the place. With director Josh Trank squaring the focus on the men and women (or, in this case, boys and girls) behind the powers, Fantastic Four had the opportunity to be, at the very least, something different from the crop of annual superhero movies, those with their quick quips and even quicker action beats hogging the entirety of the run time. If they got it right, you leave the theater wide-eyed and sugar rushing, “When’s the next one?” Fantastic Four is not that movie…until it is. And then it tries so hard to be just that that it ends up cutting its nose to spite its face. Read More

Out in Theaters: DARK PLACES

August 6, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Charlize Theron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christina Hendricks, Corey Stoll, Dark Places, Gilles Paquet-Brenner, Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Tye Sheridan 3 Comments

The charge for any movie based upon a popular novel is two-fold. First, they must remain faithful to the source material. You can’t have a writer bandying critical alterations in plot or character, lest they invite the chagrin of a million swarming fanboys, ready with pitchforks and sub-reddit comments. Secondly, they must inject some modicum of vision into the material. To transform a novel into a film without tact or some place of purpose is to present an audience with a run-down of in-book events without much-needed personality or intent. Think James Franco adapting Faulkner or Angelina Jolie taking on “Unbroken”. They failed because they were “adaptations” and nothing more; they changed the medium, but lost the soul. Read More

Talking With Jason Segel of THE END OF THE TOUR

August 5, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Interviews Tagged David Foster Wallace, End of the Tour, Interviews, James Ponsoldt, Jason Segel Leave a comment

At the risk of forever emasculating myself, I’ll admit that after seeing the End of the Tour, I wept. I broke down into meaty sobs on the blustery streets of Park City, Utah. There was this pounding feeling of despair that washed over me that I just couldn’t shake. Bleary-eyed and shell-shocked, I wept for humanity, and it’s all James Ponsoldt and Jason Segel’s fault. Read More