Out in Theaters: ‘STONEWALL’

September 24, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Jeremy Irvine, Jonny Beauchamp, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Stonewall 1 Comment

Stonewall is the perfect example of a film whose subject I knew very little about going in (I welcome any scorn or derision aroused by this statement and deflect it with my proud shield of historical ignorance). Coming out of the film, I felt like I hadn’t learned much. My minor due diligence (Wikipedia to the rescue) reported that Stonewall was historical hallowed grounds; a staging area for the first major gay rights protests in the late 1960s. Positively glowing with awards potential, the Stonewall plot could have made for one of this year’s celebrated historic biographies. Rather, the film is decidedly more Newsies than Milk. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘TIME OUT OF MIND’

September 24, 2015 by Eric Brown Posted in Out in Theaters, Reviews Tagged Ben Vereen, Jena Malone, Out in Theaters, Reviews, Richard Gere, Steve Buscemi, Time Out of Mind Leave a comment

Time Out of Mind is about a reconciliation between a homeless man and his estranged daughter. The homeless man, George, (Richard Gere) has been a bum loafing around the last ten years absent from his daughter’s life. After a building superintendent (Steve Buscemi) kicks him out of an empty apartment — and later, the same building — where George squatted, he’s left in the cold, so he makes a desperate reach to see his daughter, Maggie (Jena Malone), a young bartender. Read More

The Deepest Cuts: ‘SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE’ (1982)

September 23, 2015 by Madelyn Sutton Posted in Retrospectives Tagged Horror, Slumber Party Massacre, The Deepest Cuts 2 Comments

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.

Movie nerds of a certain age will recall fondly the days of wandering the aisles of their local video store, pondering the VHS tapes on the “Staff Picks” shelf and pining for a glimpse into that forbidden zone, the “adults only” back room. In the horror section, some of the cover art is planted so firmly in the horror fan’s psyche, it’s a wonder the films themselves aren’t viewed more often, from the painted decomposing, disembodied hand ringing the doorbell on the cover of House, or the demonic-looking monkey-and-cymbals toy of Monkey Shines. One of the most memorable, for me, has always been Slumber Party Massacre. With a title like that, and the image of scantily-clad teens cringing up at an drill-wielding killer, all in colors reminiscent of a Babysitter’s Club cover design, it should be immediately obvious that Slumber Party Massacre is not your typical slasher film.

FEAR THE WALKING DEAD “Not Fade Away” Review

September 22, 2015 by J Simpson Posted in Television, TV Reviews, Uncategorized Tagged Alycia Debnam-Carey, Cliff Curtis, Fear The Walking Dead, Frank Dillane, Jamie McShane, Kim Dickens, Patricia Reyes Spíndola, Rubén Blades, TV Recaps, TV Reviews 2 Comments

The action heats up and starts to boil up on “Not Fade Away”, despite the calm on the surface and a decided dearth of Walkers.

Fear The Walking Dead has been a slow burn, thus far, taking the time to develop characters and establish the tension that ultimately makes it so successful. While many have criticized Fear The Walking Dead for being a “family drama with zombies”, that’s exactly what the creators were going for. It provides a necessary emotional subtext to really feel the onset of Armageddon. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘GOODNIGHT MOMMY’

September 21, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Elias and Lucas Schwarz, Goodnight Mommy, Horror, Olga Neuwirth, Reviews, Severin Fiala, Susanne Wuest, Veronika Franz Leave a comment

A midnight masterstroke of paranoia and syngenesophobia, Goodnight Mommy toys with the brittle psyches of a nuclear family like a child toasting ants with his magnifying glass. Tensions reach a fever-pitch as roguish twins, suspecting their mother fresh home from cosmetic surgery is not who she claims to be, decide to launch all-out warfare. The ensuing chronicling of domestic distrust is taken to fiery extremes; the fallout will no doubt prove hard to bear for some viewers – both for its graphic depictions of violence and for the film’s deliberate pacing – but those willing to wait it out are in store for a nasty slice of psychological horror pie.
Read More

September 21, 2015 by Master Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Elias and Lucas Schwarz, Goodnight Mommy, Horror, Olga Neuwirth, Reviews, Severin Fiala, Susanne Wuest, Veronika Franz Leave a comment

Out in Theaters: ‘COOTIES’

September 18, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Cooties, Elijah Wood, Horror, Jack McBrayer, Jorge Garcia, Leigh Whannell, Out in Theaters, Rainn Wilson, Reviews Leave a comment

Cooties is Children of the Corn by way of Daddy Day Care. A tactless, haphazardly unfunny, totally DOA clunker, horror-comedy Cooties is the brainchild of “that guy” Leigh Whannell (of the Insidious and Saw franchises) and a severely handicapped brainchild it is. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘GRANDMA’

September 18, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Grandma, Judy Greer, Julia Garner, Laverne Cox, Lily Tomlin, Marcia Gay Harden, Nat Wolff, Out in Theaters, Paul Weitz, Reviews, Sam Elliot Leave a comment

“Time passes – that’s for sure” – an Eileen Myles quote that opens the film Grandma and could have just as easily come spilling from the churlish mouth of Lily Tomlin’s titular character. After all, Tomlin’s Elle Reid is no stranger to her own passing time. In her words, “I’m rapidly approaching 50” (Elle’s deadpan is matched only by her sense of irony – Tomlin has around rounded her third quarter-century.) Her thick sheen of sarcasm is persistently cutting and deeply riotous and between the sharp writing and Tomlin’s pitch-perfect comic timing, there’s many good reasons to see Grandma. Forget that Tomlin’s name will be thrown all up and down the Oscar buzz aisle because award or no, her presence here is absolutely aces. Read More

Out in Theaters: ‘PAWN SACRIFICE’

September 17, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Bobby Fischer, Edward Zwick, Michael Stuhlbarg, Out in Theaters, Pawn Sacrifice, Peter Sarsgaard, Reviews, Steven Knight, Tobey Maguire Leave a comment

Chess players be mad crazy. This is the conceit of Edward Zwick’s latest film, Pawn Sacrifice. Telling the tale of Bobby Fischer‘s rise to the title of Chess World Champion, Zwick washes away the taste of Bobby Fischer the puny, prodigal chessmaster like with a mind-erasing swill of Everclear, replacing it with Bobby Fischer, megalomaniac, paranoid, delusional, dedicated anti-Semite. His competition, Boris Spassky, does not fare much better. These dudes ‘r’ nuts. Read More

SOUTH PARK “Stunning and Brave” Recap

September 17, 2015 by Brittany Cullen Posted in TV Reviews Tagged South Park, Stunning and Brave, TV Reviews 3 Comments

This week on South Park: Principal Victoria is fired after one of her elementary student’s refers to the act of rape as a “hot Cosby”. Addressing a cafeteria packed with parents and students, Victoria’s replacement, PC Principal, vows to clamp down on the school’s rampant bigotry whilst calling out Mr. Garrison for telling his 4^th grade class that women without wombs should get AIDS tests (in Mr. Garrison’s defense, he was a lesbian when he said that). Read More