Out in Theaters: THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E.

August 12, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Alicia Vikander, Armie Hammer, Elizabeth Debicki, Guy Ritchie, Henry Cavill, Hugh Grant, Out in Theaters, Reviews, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Leave a comment

Guy Ritchie is the Rembrandt of slick action capers. His signature twisty-turny plotting suggests a much more reined-in Shyamalan while his carefully syncopated, pop-art action beats share a locker with contemporaries Zack Snyder and Matthew Vaughn. From Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels to Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Ritchie has operated within a comparable sandbox, utilizing a very similar set of stock tools within shifting budgetary constraints. With The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Ritchie has set aside his signature accoutrements for something with an embarrassment of cinematic fervor. His latest creation is chic and classic, timely yet timeless, shiny on the surface with rich characters driving the engine underneath. This much fun is rare at the theaters. Read More

The Deepest Cuts: MYSTICS IN BALI (1981)

August 12, 2015 by Madelyn Sutton Posted in Retrospectives Tagged Horror, Mystics in Bali, The Deepest Cuts 1 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.

Witchcraft, voodoo, black magic: spiritual practices which harness otherworldly powers are inherently fascinating to the outsider and have provided research material and fodder for wild and often dangerously prejudicial imaginings for centuries. Take a classic dramatic work like The Crucible or Dreyer’s Day of Wrath, in which witchcraft serves as the metaphorical fulcrum for political or moral lessons, where the existence of the supernatural is either completely discounted or irrelevant. These are important, valuable contributions to art, society, and so on. In stark contrast are just the kind of films we’re interested in, wherein the dark forces are definitely real and the only moral lesson is simple: don’t fuck with the occult. Mystics in Bali is a totally one-of-a-kind example of the latter.

Talking With Jemaine Clement of PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS

August 12, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Interviews Tagged Flight of the Conchords, Interviews, James Strouse, Jemaine Clement, People Places Things, The Big Friendly Giant, What We Do in the Shadows 1 Comment

Jemaine Clement, introverted funnyman that he is, has an awkward charm to him that escapes most of his Hollywood peers. He’s coy with his comedy, firing off in quiet bursts rather than erupting like an attention-whoring lime light volcano. In short, his timidness is his strongest weapon. Read More

Out in Theaters: PEOPLE, PLACES, THINGS

August 12, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Jemaine Clement, Jessica Williams, Jim Strouse, Michael Chernus, Out in Theaters, People Places Things, Regina Hall, Reviews 1 Comment

*This is a reprint of our 2015 Sundance review.

Having retired from his role as the Hiphopopotamus, Jemaine Clement frequents our living rooms and theaters all too infrequently. His 2014 cameo in Muppets Most Wanted didn’t nearly suffice to fill our favorite Kiwi quotient and we’ve yet to take in his lauded vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows [Editor’s note: we’ve now seen Shadows. We loved it.] Nor can we really kid ourselves into believing that Clement’s existence beyond Flight of the Concords has been far-reaching – though his role as Boris the Animal was an easy highlight of Men in Black 3 and tapped into his unrealized Hollywood potential. So it’s with a heaving sigh of relief that we can announce that Clement has finally been given a role worthy of his gawky stature in the delightful, funny and tender People, Places, Things. Read More

Out in Theaters: THE BOY

August 12, 2015 by Matt Oakes Posted in Out in Theaters Tagged Craig William Macneill, David Morse, Horror, Jared Breeze, Out in Theaters, Rainn Wilson, Reviews, The Boy Leave a comment

*This is a reprint of our SXSW 2015 review.

Ted (Jared Breeze) is a serial killer in the making. He’s only nine years old but all the warning signs are there in Craig William Macneill’s slow burning but explosively rewarding motion picture. Like the great unmade redneck prequel to The Good Son, The Boy shows the quiet transformation of ennui to psychosis as an immeasurably bored towhead graduates from coaxing animals to their death to killing them outright before finally setting his sights on his own genus and gene pool. Read More

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.
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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