Screamfest 2020 – Sunday Shorts Reviews (Thirty-One)
It’s the last day of the weekend fright fans and you know what that means – it’s Sunday Shorts Review Day! That’s right genre fans we’re taking all the shorts that have been seen thus far via the SCREAMFEST HORROR DRIVE IN FILM FESTIVAL 2020 (go to www.screamfestla.com for more details!) currently taking place October 6th – 15th right from the safety and comfort of your own car at the Regency Theatres – The Plant Drive In (7876 Van Nuys Blvd, Van Nuys CA 91402) and putting them on the skinny review (matching their equally short running time!) chopping block for your carnal convenience. And there are a whopping thirty-one below – so let’s get started. Time for…Sunday Shorts – 31 Reviews!
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Prior to taking in Chelsea Christer’s energetic and enduring documentary, Bleeding Audio, I had no awareness of the pop punk quartet known as The Matches. Originating in Oakland in 1997 (as then, The Locals), the group hit the road hard. While finding success in their shows, signing to a record label and releasing 3 albums, they were never able to commercially take off as many industry scouts might have hoped. Continuing the push for 12 years, The Matches finally lost their spark and went their separate ways in 2009. With time passed, they found themselves rekindling and putting together some reunion shows years later to surprising resurgence. Bleeding Audio takes us through this frantic journey with the band, the people who supported them, collaborated with them and their fans.
Unhinged will go down in the record books as the first new studio film to open with a wide release since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down everything five months ago.
Walt Disney Studios isn’t the only animation department crafting fairy tale princess franchises these days. Sony Pictures has had their own animation and own princess franchise going for a while now. Granted, its much less high profile and well, its very much straight to video on demand services, but it exists nonetheless. I’m referring to The Swan Princess. Through my research, since rebooting the film with new animation in 2014 (Originally a Sony hand drawn animated film back 1994), there have been a handful of entries in this magical world of a princess that once took the form of a swan. This latest entry, The Swan Princess: A Royal Wedding, arrived for consumption on August 4th. This latest entry give focus less on our Swan Princess and introduces us to a Japanese princess Mei Li and her struggles against sorcery and transformations. 
Trying to do my critical part during this time of quarantine and no open theaters, I thought it proper to take a gander at the wave of indie flicks hitting home for those in need of some good movie comfort. And despite the lack of current productions, there are still a massive amount of movies hitting various services to help those with a hankering for their film fix. I weed through a whopping nine titles, from well-woven dramas about father and daughters to horror outings set down under, I brave a batch of nine hopefuls to give you the skinny on what’s hot and not. Check out the Encapsulated Movie Reviews for Guest of Honour, YES, GOD, YES, Relic, Two Heads Creek, We Are Little Zombies, Parallax, All Hail The Popcorn King, The Beach House and Superhuman: The Invisible Made Visible below!
We recently lost someone who in my humble movie opinion was a filmmaker who possessed a distinctive style and a definitive movie magic quality – Director 
As movie theaters are on the advent of opening in the very near future, one could not squander an opportunity for something new until that happens. The German film 7500 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, 500 Days of Summer) was actually released in 2019 but is just now making its way to North America. Directed and co-written by Patrick Vollrath (Ketchup Kid), the 92-minute drama features a minimal cast on a short budget, though it manages to make the most out of everything.
We Summon The Darkness was a Fantastic Fest hit last year, a new entry to the ever growing list of quality indie horror comedies we’ve seen in the last few years. It boasts a cast of the Alexandra Daddario and Johnny Knoxville and nifty spin on common horror plots/twists/turns. The Blu-ray is coming on June 9th, so let this digital review promote that a bit as the COVID-19 pandemic has prevented review copies of this film from going out or being easily feasible. The digital release was on April 10, so you can rent or buy it now for pretty solid, affordable pricing. Hell, the Blu-ray is only currently $16.99 to pre-order, so maybe you just jump on it (Though my review, while positive, may tell you otherwise). However, you may choose, one of the ways to watch is on Amazon Prime, and it helps the site a little when you use the Amazon Associates paid link below to do so. But, it is also available via Vudu, AppleTV and FandangoNow if those are your preferred avenues. 
Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker is already available on digital streaming video on demand platforms and will be available on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD in a myriad of stand-alone releases and ‘The Skywalker Saga’ 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray box set (a Best Buy/Amazon UK exclusive). One of the bonus features found on the release is ‘The Skywalker Legacy’, a feature-length (Over 2 hours) documentary chronicling the production of The Rise Of Skywalker, complete with interviews and behind the scenes footage. Every Star Wars Disney film during their run has included a documentary like this, so its no different in that regard. When I sat down to watch this for my upcoming 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray review, I had too many thoughts on this documentary (And kind of the angle they have played on these as a whole) to limit it just a few sentences recap in my extras section. So, here we are, a bonus feature for a disc getting its own film review aside from the the release. But I figured it was worth the exploration and discussion. 
Back in 1989, a startup comic book publisher known as Valiant had arrived on the scene. The company made it a point to offer up characters a little more complex than your average super hero as these newly developed personalities had allegiances and demeanors that were not always so clear cut. Some of their more premier characters and successful titles include X-O Manowar, Ninjak, Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and one in particular known as Bloodshot. The story of Bloodshot featured an expert soldier maimed by war and reclaimed by science only to build a better soldier. With a repeatedly wiped memory and the ability to take a ridiculously inhuman beating, Bloodshot has become the first Valiant character to hit the big screen.
Since the get go I was saying that this film looked like Netflix’s original movie Bright (2017). Bright (2017) was directed by David Ayer and goes pretty much the same way that all of David Ayer films go, except with fairytale creatures. While the concept of Bright (2017) is brilliant the execution falls very flat. Bright (2017) was cringe-worthy, superficial, and just overall a not-so-good film. Either way we are not here to tear a part Bright (2017). We are here to discuss its lighthearted, whimsical, and much better counterpart, Onward (2020). I remember seeing the first teaser for Onward (2020) and thinking that this is essentially Bright (2017), but with people who actually know what they are doing. I promise, that was the last dig at Bright (2017). Now with Pixar at the helm can we get an epic, modern day, medieval quest movie? Saddle your steed and sheath your blades comrades because we are going on a quest! 
Howl there everybody! If you guys couldn’t tell I went to see the screening for The Call of the Wild (2020) last week. My anticipation for this movie was through the roof! I am actually being somewhat sincere about this. The preview for The Call of the Wild (2020), if I’m not mistaken, came on before the screening of Dolittle (2020) back in January. This was a rare occasion. The good friend of mine I went to see Dolittle (2020) with can attest to this. After viewing the trailer for The Call of the Wild (2020) my friend and I had concluded that this “live action” film was made almost entirely of CG. Now this is not a terrible thing. Most films will have a considerable amount of CG put into them whether it be for vast and lavish landscapes or even to the tiniest grain of sand. However, my main concern was “will this film feel somewhat convincing?” Well I’m here to tell you guys all about it. Let’s embark! 
