Archive for the 'Movie Reviews' Category
May 4th, 2017 by Aaron Neuwirth
There’s something quite commendable about the minimalist nature of The Wall. Seeing director Doug Liman come down from films such as Edge of Tomorrow Live. Die. Repeat. and Jumper for a claustrophobic thriller may or may not just be something of a stylistic exercise in between Tom Cruise adventures, but it is certainly entertaining. Armed with one desert local, minimal production design, two actors and a disembodied voice, here’s a film that manages to stretch a simple premise into pulpy cat and mouse game. Hiding a genre film under the guise of a war movie makes it all the more intriguing.
Continue reading ‘Intense Mind Games Found Behind ‘The Wall’ (Movie Review)’
May 4th, 2017 by Jason Coleman
A handful of indie flicks counter the big budget Guardian weekend to varying results. (There’s yet another five-star flick this week – no great cinema!) Artists who push the creative line, bad guys gone good, fancy meals complete with a side of guilt, military men leading multiple lives and an ode to all things mom covers the crop of this weeks smaller film hopefuls. Check out the Encapsulated Movie Reviews of Burden, Black Site Delta, The Dinner, The Shadow Effect and Mom & Me all below.
Continue reading ‘Encapsulated Movie Reviews – Five New Indie Titles’
May 4th, 2017 by Brian White
The first Guardians of the Galaxy holds a special place in our hearts within our household. It’s how we found our son. His name is Star-Lord. Wait! Let me back up and catch you up to speed here. It was my 40th birthday, August 31, 2014. Like usual here in Austin, TX we could not find anything to do. Our friend Serena was in town visiting too. She had never been to an Alamo Drafthouse before and likes to drink so we took her there. I think she was apprehensive at first not really wanting to see Guardians, but I digress as that’s not important. My fiancée and I had already seen it twice and we loved it. Nevertheless Serena ended up liking it too. However, the crux of my story revolves around us walking out of the screening and into the theater lobby. I spotted what I thought to be the cutest little puppy I ever seen and muttered my famous words “hey Kori look at the puppy.” That was it. We ended up talking to an Asian woman who held the little guy. She said she found him crying, left for dead in the dumpster behind the nearby grocery store. His rear leg was wounded and his whiskers were all tinged off, burnt obviously. She was trying to find a good home for him. And that’s ladies and gentlemen how we ended up with my son, our little Star-Lord. Continue reading ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: I Am Groot (Movie Review)’
May 1st, 2017 by Jason Coleman
So many amazing film fests – so little time! The recent star-studded 17th Annual Beverly Hills Film Festival happened this past week (at the famed TLC Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood!) and it was a massive five day movie event indeed. Not only were there amazing docs and features, but also a slew of short films in various genres guaranteed to please every moviegoers. (There were a whopping 87 competition films!) Of course it’s impossible to check out everything (again, I’m only a single movie geek!), but the power of a passionate one still prevails as I managed to check out eight feature film hopefuls. From flicks about the pleasure of dream life and not giving up to docs about tigers, underdogs, former movie moguls and Aussie hotshots, we’re hitting the films of the BHFF fest hard and fast to provide some cinematic insight into what to possibly seek out in the future. Check out the Encapsulated Movie Reviews of Zen Dog, The Girl Who Invented Kissing, John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs, Mable, Mable, Tiger Trainer, Golan A Farewell To Mr. Cinema, Rod Taylor: Pulling No Punches, Gun and Legendary AD below! Continue reading ‘Beverly Hills Film Fest 2017 – Eight Feature Film Reviews’
April 29th, 2017 by Aaron Neuwirth
It’s fitting that mixtapes play a pivotal role in these Guardians of the Galaxy films. Like the first movie, Vol. 2 continues to mix a variety of different styles into one enjoyable cinematic playlist that will easily entertain the huge audience ready to hop into Star-Lord’s Milano and go for a ride. Writer/director James Gunn delivered something special back in 2014, and he’s now returned to provide more for this group of a-holes to do. An added level of confidence, as well as a boost in ambition and budget, allows the film to deliver some wild space opera pyrotechnics while doubling down on the character interaction and sarcastic bent that helped separate the first from the rest of the MCU. It’s a shame the actual plot is not more compelling or propulsive, but when you have this much fun watching these characters, that only matters so much.
Continue reading ‘‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Episode II: Attack Of The Groot (Movie Review)’
April 28th, 2017 by Jason Coleman
Feeling strangely movie academic this week leads us to a past picture selection that helps both educate and entertain…welcome to Forgotten Friday Flick! Today we’re hitting the books and heading to class for a cinematic story about the ups, downs and student clowns that make up one ruckus high school. It’s a dramatic yet comically caustic look at one wild inner city institution from both the scholar and pupil perspective. Faculty fights over the copy machine (ink will fly!), student stab wounds, teachers getting bit by undergrads and hallway streaking all in the name of standing up for yourself – and the bell hasn’t even rung yet! We learn it all from those marvelous mentors known as…Teachers!
Continue reading ‘Forgotten Friday Flick – “Teachers”’
April 28th, 2017 by Aaron Neuwirth
Closing out the 18th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival is The Exception, a World War II drama that may as well be called The Good Nazi. Adapted from the novel “The Kaiser’s Last Kiss” by Alan Judd, the film tells the story of a German Nazi Captain who falls in love with a Jewish Dutch spy. The conceit is pulpy enough to fit right in with Paul Verhoeven’s great 2006 WWII thriller Black Book, but there is a major problem in the film’s attempt to be anything more than serviceable at best. Leave it to star Jai Courtney to make a film like this duller than it ought to be.
Continue reading ‘NBFF 2017 Review: The Exception’
April 27th, 2017 by Jason Coleman
Hitting local film fests and book reviews hard (that are all on the horizon!), there was only time for four little indie flick sneak peaks this week. A sexy and sensual forbidden love story with serious heat, a harrowing kidnapping terror tale outing that has equal parts strange and sci-fi, a contained catastrophe where everyone in the room is packing and a fish out of water cop caper with a muscle bound man at the helm thrill the themes of the crop below. Check out all four of the Encapsulated Movie Reviews that include Below Her Mouth, Rupture, Free Fire and Black Rose.
Continue reading ‘Encapsulated Movie Reviews – Four New Indie Titles’
April 23rd, 2017 by Aaron Neuwirth
I love seeing various action movies that show you two extremes. On the one side, you get a vintage John Woo flick like Hard Boiled, where Chow Yun-fat can equip himself with dual pistols and slide down a staircase banister while hitting plenty of bad guys. The other side leads something like one of my favorites, The Way of the Gun or the subject of this review, Free Fire, where people are terrible at shooting guns, regardless of distance and it’s a complicated process in order to actually put someone down for good. This action-comedy from director Ben Wheatley delivers on its simple premise, making for an incredibly entertaining ride through one sloppy shootout.
Continue reading ‘The Darkly Comedic ‘Free Fire’ Shows You The Way Of The Gun (Movie Review)’
April 23rd, 2017 by Aaron Neuwirth
One of the advantages of seeing smaller films touring around festivals is having a chance to see character actors in lead roles. The Hero provides the great Sam Elliot this chance and it’s a joy to watch. No stranger to cinema, Elliot has been a stable presence in many films and TV shows for over 40 years. Here’s a film that gets to play with his image, while also challenging the man to be more than just a mustachioed character actor with a deep and wonderful voice.
Continue reading ‘NBFF 2017 Review: The Hero’
April 22nd, 2017 by Aaron Neuwirth
There is a lot to get out of films surrounding family secrets. Ideally, you are gradually drawn into learning about who a family is, establishing various personas, only to have things turn around on you thanks to sudden reveals. It’s not a cheat to make these sort of twists, as you’ve been effectively coerced into feeling like a part of the family. The Scent of Rain and Lightning is a modern western with a mystery at its core. We are well aware that something bad happened early on, but the film wants us to continue questioning the validity of this fact throughout. Unfortunately, the results are not as effective as they could be, due to a disjointed narrative.
Continue reading ‘NBFF 2017 Review: The Scent Of Rain And Lightning’
April 21st, 2017 by Jason Coleman
Since anarchy for a good cause seems to be a popular past picture theme for us, we’re keeping the bucking the system cinema going with another lesser known hidden gem – welcome to Forgotten Friday Flick! Today we’re taking on big government all in the name of a little guy who is in need of some respect. Seems a determined young man feels his injured on the job older brother is being ignored by the powers that be and decides to do something about it. Painting, sand blasting, bridge light adjusting and a little graffiti are all part of the raise a little hell plan of the infamous…Turk 182!
Continue reading ‘Forgotten Friday Flick – “Turk 182!”’
April 21st, 2017 by Aaron Neuwirth
The tagline for this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival is “Go Deeper” and that is certainly fitting for the Opening Night premiere film. Take Every Wave: The Life of Laid Hamilton is both an extreme sports film, featuring some breathtaking footage, and a solid biographical study of big-wave surfer and ocean pioneer Laird Hamilton. This documentary from director Rory Kennedy certainly does take us deeper, as we spend nearly two hours watching the story of a fearless and quite affable athlete who has pushed himself hard to find various successes throughout his life, while also experiencing some literal and emotional tough breaks.
a Continue reading ‘NBFF 2017 Review: Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton’
April 20th, 2017 by Jason Coleman
Just a four pack of reviews ala the indie scene this week, but as usual the cinema spectrum covered runs a wide genre gamut for the film fan looking for more. Deeply dramatic docs that shed light on life changing events, a culinary legend who accepts nothing less than the best, a kid who learns to wield the bible like a psychotic dons a murder weapon and a film inspired by the work of iconic Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan make up the subjects via the Encapsulated Movie Reviews below. To get the critical skinny on Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992, Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent, The Student and Somewhere Beautiful read on. Continue reading ‘Encapsulated Movie Reviews – Four New Indie Titles’
April 20th, 2017 by Brian White
Say what you want, but I love thriller movies about scorned lovers and the psychotic crazy stuff they do to enact their revenge or misdeal with their new reality. Whether it be a woman like in Fatal Attraction or Obsessed or even a man like in The Boy Next Door it all makes for great onscreen entertainment. Now I sincerely apologize if I offended everyone with my blanket statement here. I completely understand and know this happens in the real world and for the people that have or are going through something like this my heart sincerely goes out to you. However, in the film medium stories of this nature in my opinion serve up one delicious, hot plate of entertainment to consume. I just love the crazy lengths to which people will go to when scorned. Call me a glutton for punishment. Call me what you want, but this makes great popcorn entertainment and that’s the reason I’m here to talk about one of the newest obsessed/stalker flicks dropping this April 20th, Unforgettable. Continue reading ‘Pardon The Cliche, But Unforgettable IS Rather Forgettable (Movie Review)’
April 14th, 2017 by Jason Coleman
Keeping the ‘gems you haven’t heard of’ theme going we’re heading into unknown territory for a tall tale filled with pure pulp pleasure – welcome to Forgotten Friday Flick! This week’s selection is surprisingly all about the forgotten, focusing on a former military man who goes to some drastic measures to remind people in power that selfless soldiers will not be ignored. Featuring an iconic actor in his early days and one sensational score to boot, guns, grenades, tripwires and camouflage all work in tandem to prove that…The Park Is Mine!
Continue reading ‘Forgotten Friday Flick – “The Park Is Mine”’
April 14th, 2017 by Jason Coleman
The Audience Awards Film Festival wrapped this past weekend in North Hollywood, CA and it was a real hoot. Not only did yours truly get to represent the great WhySoBlu.com by hosting and moderating a Q&A for the Project Earth Doc Challenge, but I also got to meet the illustrious Effie T. Brown and take in a gaggle of horror shorts to boot! (That’s an evening!) In any case thought I would pay tribute to the new fest by taking an “Encapsulated” look at the six flicks that made up the Horror Shorts program, give a few shout outs and post the release of the winners to which the fantastic festival gave over $100,000 in cash and prizes – read on!
Continue reading ‘Audience Awards Film Festival 2017 – Horror Shorts Reviews, Shout Outs & Award Winners Announced’
April 13th, 2017 by Jason Coleman
Eight times may be the charm for big budget flicks this week, but on the indie scene five seems to be the magic number. (There’s more of course, but hey I’m only one man!) Auteurs examined and explained, the great lengths some go to for their kids, dealing with death, organ donation from both sides of the story and animated disaster high school movie fun all bring us into the mindset of the smaller films reviewed via Encapsulated Movie Reviews this week. David Lynch: The Art Life, Graduation, Truman, Heal the Living and My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea all get their critical due below!
Continue reading ‘Encapsulated Movie Reviews – Five New Indie Titles’
There’s something quite commendable about the minimalist nature of The Wall. Seeing director Doug Liman come down from films such as 
