Out in Theaters: THE TRANSPORTER REFUELED

September 3, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Camille Delamarre, Ed Skrein, Jason Statham, Loan Chabanol, Luc Besson, Radivoje Bukvic, Ray Stevenson, Transporter Leave a comment

To say that no one asked for a Transporter reboot is putting things lightly. The franchise in which Jason Statham rose to fame hardly lit up the box office when it set off in 2002, barely crossing the 25 million dollar marker on a 21 million dollar budget. The second installment hardly fared better, scraping up 43 on 32 and by movie numero three, the second-rate action/car staple was hardly scraping by. 7 years later, we have the latest addition to the “Why In Hell Was This Rebooted?” pool in The Transporter Refueled, a near abomination of filmmaking, barely held together by flashy Audi commercial tie-ins, gratuitous sexual violence and Ray Stevenson’s equally flashy grin. At least Ray’s having some fun. We in the audience though are not privy to such leisure. Read More

The Deepest Cuts: DEADLY FRIEND (1986)

September 2, 2015 by Madelyn Sutton Posted in Retrospectives Tagged Deadly Friend, Horror, The Deepest Cuts, Wes Craven Leave a comment

The Deepest Cuts is a weekly invitation into some of the sleaziest, goriest, most under-explored corners of horror and cult film online. Every title will be streamable and totally NSFW. Whether it’s a 1960s grindhouse masterpiece, something schlocky from the 90s, or hardcore horror from around the world, these films are guaranteed to shock, disturb, tickle, or generally blow your mind.

In honor of the now-late, inarguably great Wes Craven, let’s get into one of his films that even longtime fans of Craven are often unaware of: Deadly Friend. The film is a unique mixture of after-school-special and science fiction, with a little splash of gore mixed in – a one-of-a-kind film for the true Craven connoisseur.

Out in Theaters: A WALK IN THE WOODS

September 1, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged A Walk in the Woods, Bill Bryson, Emma Thompson, Ken Kwapis, Michael Arndt, Nick Nolte, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Robert Redford Leave a comment

*This is a reprint of our 2015 Sundance review.

Robert Redford‘s adaptation of Bill Bryson‘s popular 1998 memoir A Walk In the Woods is an unremarkable journey with a short sprinkling of low-key chuckles and a heaving dose of schmaltzy sentiment. As Redford’s travel companion, co-star Nick Nolte manages to give this low-percolating buddy comedy/road-movie-on-foot at least some minor footing, but its not enough to balance the overwrought equilibrium. Mining the material for all its geriatric sitcom worth, director Ken Kwapis‘ internal clock ticks with the fervor of a retiree, as he fails to charge the material with any sense of driving momentum. As much as Nolte’s character drags his feet, it’s Kwapis who lags most. For a film all about the journey forward, that presents a major problem. Read More

Portland Film Festival Review: BIRDS OF NEPTUNE

September 1, 2015 by J Simpson Posted in Festival Coverage, Festival Reviews Tagged Birds Of Neptune, Britt Harris, Christian Blaire, Erik Blood, Kevin O'Conner, Kurt Conroyd, Molly Elizabeth Parker, Pacific Northwest, Portland, Portland Film Festival, Ryan Mauk, Stephen Richter 1 Comment

It is the challenge of every young person to find and define their own selves, apart from expectations from society, family, friends, & personal history. This is, unfortunately, exponentially more true for women of all ages, but particularly young women, with everyone having opinions about their bodies, their style, even their mood (you’d be prettier if you smiled more). Birds Of Neptune, director Stephen Richter’s English-language debut after the Portuguese Center Of Gravity, investigates this battle for self-identification, by following two eccentric young sisters, Rachel and Mona, chilling portrayed by Britt Harris and Molly Elizabeth Parker. Read More

Portland Film Festival Review: GRU-PDX

September 1, 2015 by J Simpson Posted in Festival Coverage, Festival Reviews Tagged Daniel Barosa, Documentary, GRU-PDX, Music, Portland, Portland Film Festival, Quatro Negro 2 Comments

Sometimes, to really appreciate what you have, you have to view it through someone else’s eyes. GRU-PDX, which opens the third installation of the Portland Film Festival, is filmmaker Daniel Barosa‘s loving glimpse into Portland’s underground music scene, with all of its quirks. In 2013, the atmospheric indie rock duo Quatro Negro flew to Portland, Or. to make a record with The Helio Sequence. While GRU-PDX started out to document the record-making process, it quickly expanded outward to gaze at Portland’s music scene, both over- and under-ground, looking at the way it’s changed in the wake of the “Portlandia”-hype. Read More

Wes Craven: Horror High and Low

September 1, 2015 by Madelyn Sutton Posted in Retrospectives Tagged Horror, In Memoriam, The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wes Craven Leave a comment

Wes Craven (1939-2015) was famous to horror fans and general cinephiles alike for popular, well-made horror films like A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream, both of which achieved broad critical and financial success. His films’ popularity can be attributed to their effective scares and original imagery, but they also often share a real depth of conceptual underpinning. Many of Cravens’ fans may not know that he held a Master’s degree in Philosophy and Writing and taught as a Humanities professor before embarking on his filmmaking career, and that this background contributed significantly to many of his films. Read More

Portland Film Festival Returns! Sept. 1 – 7 Preview

September 1, 2015 by J Simpson Posted in Festival Coverage Tagged Documentary, Film Festivals, George C. Romero, Music, Northwestern Premier, PFF15, Portland Film Festival, Wendy Froud, Will Vinton, Workshops, World Premier, Zombies Leave a comment

Zombies! Madness! Faeries! Reggae!

Portland Film Fest returns, in its 3rd incarnation, cementing its place as a cultural tour de force and earning its reputation as one of the “Top 25 Coolest Film Festivals In The World 2014” from MovieMaker Magazine. Portland is at an interesting crossroads in its cultural evolution. On one hand, it is the run-down, rusted, gloomy, economically-depressed and overly-tattoed old school version of itself, which we all know and love. On the other, it is a shining mecca for the 21st Century, a beacon of progressiveness, DIY ethos, and collaborative creative communities. Read More

Fall 2015 Film Preview – 22 Films To Buy Tickets for Now

September 1, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Lists Tagged Beasts of No Nation, Black Mass, Bridge of Spies, Carol, Creed, Crimson Peak, Everest, Fall Movie Preview, Goodnight Mommy, Pan, Sicario, Sleeping With Other People, Spectre, Steve Jobs, Suffragette, The Danish Girl, The Good Dinosaur, The Green Inferno, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, The Martian, The Night Before, The Visit, Trumbo 1 Comment

September is upon us as summer creeps into the rear view. Torrential rains, blistering cold spells and the grotesqueries of changing leaf colors is set to drive the masses into the theaters. But is there anything worth seeing? But of course there is! We’ve compiled our Fall 2015 Film Preview to get the ticket-buying ball rolling and your film nerd anticipation building. Right up until an absolutely action-packed Holiday movie season, there’s a bounty of cinema that’s geared up to do nothing short of blow the doors off. If everything pans out as it should, we ought to be seeing some of the year’s first viable Oscar films as well as some of the year’s biggest blockbusters. Read More

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Blu-Ray Review

August 31, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Blu-Ray/DVD Reviews Tagged DVD/Blu-Ray Review, George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road, Nicholas Hoult, Tom Hardy 2 Comments

Synopsis: “Years after the collapse of civilization, the tyrannical Immortan Joe enslaves apocalypse survivors inside the desert fortress the Citadel. When the warrior Imperator Furiosa (Charlize Theron) leads the despot’s five wives in a daring escape, she forges an alliance with Max Rockatansky (Tom Hardy), a loner and former captive. Fortified in the massive, armored truck the War Rig, they try to outrun the ruthless warlord and his henchmen in a deadly high-speed chase through the Wasteland.” Read More

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD “So Close, Yet So Far” Recap/Review

August 31, 2015 by J Simpson Posted in TV Reviews Tagged Alycia Debnam-Carey, Cliff Curtis, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Fear The Walking Dead, Frank Dillane, Kim Dickens, TV Recaps, Zombies 3 Comments

“Can I have my knife back now?” – Tobias

The action heats up quick, like a saucepan full of nitroglycerin on the stovetop, as the contagion begin to spread. And we haven’t seen anything yet. “So Close, Yet So Far” leaves behind the family melodrama of “Pilot”, or rather, it imports it into this new world that is beginning to form as the old one decays, both with a bang and a whimper. Read More