Movie Review: Come Out and Play

In 1976 there was a movie released called Who Can Kill a Child?, it has had a few other names over the years, but this is the title that I saw it under. I saw it projected (digitally) about a year ago, it left me shaken and a little stirred. It was not a perfect movie, but it is an unsettling one that asks some tough questions and does not offer much in the way of answers. Now, this year I have come across a movie called Come Out and Play, which is as close as a shot for shot remake as you can get this side of Gus Van Sant's Psycho.

Movie Review: Stitches

There have been some great some great killer clown movies over the years. At the top of the pile has to be It, but then you have the likes of Killer Klowns from Outer Space, and perhaps Amusement, The Houses October Built, and even Killjoy (as uneven and low budget as the series is). Then you have your films with influential clown elements, like Poltergeist, Zombieland, and House of 1000 Corpses. Now we have a new contender on the battle for killer clown supremacy with Stitches. I doubt it will ever be able to climb to the top of the heap, but there is no denying the entertainment value and the effort put on display here.

Critical Capsule: Wrong

I am not exactly the smartest guy on the block, far from it. This being the case, it is not uncommon for me to be unable to pick up on certain messages and meanings in some movies. In some ways I have found this to be rather freeing. For example, Wrong is a movie that comes across to me as being from way out in left field, a movie that makes little sense, yet flows perfectly well. What is writer/director Quentin Dupieux trying to say? I am really not sure, maybe give it another ten watches and I might get something.

Movie Review: Bad Ass (2012)

There is an interesting subset of the “based on a true story” movies. Rather than a person, or time period, or some other broad event, there are a few that take a small incident and build around that. This would include movies like Compliance and Stuck, both interesting films that you should look into. The latest entry to this subset of movies is called Bad Ass. These are movies that take headlines and events and build a movie around them. They do not purport to be entirely true, instead they use the real elements as a launching point for their story.

Blu-ray Review: Skyfall

We are know six years removed from the introduction of the new Bond and onto his third outing. It is true when they say third times the charm as this movie is bigger, better, bolder, and perhaps a touch more familiar than they have been in years. This 23rd film in the official series feels very much like one of the classics, yet has a certain infusion of genuine emotion and character that is not seen all that often at this level. It is a fusion of the current run of grittier superhero tales (specifically Nolan's Batman run) and post-i revisionist spy tale. The result is something familiar, easy enough to digest, but still offers a complexity worth spending some time with.

Blu-ray: Doomsday Book

Doomsday Book is an anthology film hailing from South Korea. It was originally conceived as a film bringing together three futuristic visions from three of Korea's top filmmakers. Unfortunately, that is not how it went down. Filming began in 2006 and two of the three segments were completed, but Han Jae-Rim's (The Show Must Go On) segment fell through and he left the project. It was not until a few years later that funding was available to make a third segment, a role stepped into by Yim Pil-Sung, who had directed one of the other segments. Now, with a completed film it has now been unleashed upon the world.

Blu-ray Review: Tai Chi Zero

Billed as steampunk kung fu, Tai Chi Zero looks to shake up the standard martial arts flick by spicing up some of the visual style in a genre mash up. Unfortunately, while the movie proves to be modestly entertaining, the idea of bringing the steampunk aesthetic to the world of martial arts fails to truly come together. Tai Chi Zero is a tale of style over substance. Style wins, but it is not for a lack of trying. Director Stephen Fung (House of Fury) throws everything but the kitchen sink at the screen.

Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

Well, Zero Dark Thirty has arrived in my town, with all the critical fanfare in tow. The film has been one of 2012's most anticipated and now that it's release is going wider, we can all get a peek and see if it is truly worthy of he heaps of praise. Not to mention, we can see if it is worthy of the political outcry over how the events leading to the climax truly went down. It also happens to be director Kathryn Bigelow's first feature since her Oscar win for The Hurt Locker.

Blu-ray Review: Hit and Run

Hit and Run is a movie that is not terribly deep and not exactly insightful. It is the kind of movie that arrives with low expectations, does not exactly light up the box office, and disappears from the public eye, destined to be little more than a footnote for all involved. That probably sounds harsh but I believe it deserves a better fate than that. This movie is actually pretty good and while it may not have much to say, it is a fun, in the moment kind of flick. I could think of worse ways to spend an evening.

Critical Capsule: This is 40

I am a fan of Judd Apatow, he makes funny films that have a certain level of intelligence to them. It seems like the vast majority of films that he makes, and a number that come from his relative stable, are funny, real, and touch on actual humanity. He takes real world possibility, injects a dose of absurdist, yet still makes the final movie relatable and laugh out loud funny. They tend to touch on real world issues, deal with them in a serious fashion while making you laugh the whole time.

Critical Capsule: Jack Reacher

When I first saw the trailer for Jack Reacher I laughed. Seriously, I couldn't help it. Listening to Tom Cruise using his tough guy voice is funny to me. Don't get me wrong, I like Cruise movies, sure he is an odd guy, but so what? Still, seeing him play the bad ass in this trailer just did not seem right. My first thought was that Kurt Russell could have pulled that off with ease. Also, I was completely unaware of the Lee Childs' long running series of novels based on the titular character Anyway, I went into Jack Reacher with no expectations and walked out pleasantly surprised.

Critical Capsule: Hitchcock (2012)

Is kind of funny. I have seen my tastes change this year and I have often talked about how I am not so much a fan of real world stories adapted to the big screen or watching stars mimic familiar figures. I respect and enjoy performances like Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash, and even Josh Brolin as Dubya, but I am much more likely to appreciate a performance that requires the actor to create something. Now, along comes Hitchcock and I have to rethink everything.

Blu-ray Review: Kill 'Em All

If you are looking for a mindless actioner to waste an evening with, Kill 'Em All may just be what you are looking for. This is a no-nonsense brawler that plays out like a video game. It is a martial arts movie that has very little need for story. As it stands, there is very little exposition and what story there is is pretty much saved for the final act as it barrels towards its conclusion. It is not a bad movie, per se, but it is one that requires a certain mindset to enjoy.

Movie Review: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey (HFR)

I have always been more Star Wars than Lord of he Rings, my reading habits growing up leaned more towards Asimov and King than Tolkien and Goodkind. With that said, The Lord of the Rings trilogy was an amazing cinematic experience. It was a massive undertaking that revealed itself masterfully on the big screen. Following its success questions arose of whether director Peter Jackson would return to the franchise for The Hobbit. Well, after years of wrangling, it has finally arrived on the screen. Was it worth the wait?

Blu-ray Review: Wu Dang

Wu Dang is a Hong Kong martial arts fantasy/adventure set in the 1920's. It plays out like a cross between Indiana Jones and Enter the Dragon while being nowhere near as good as either one of those films. What it is, is a modestly entertaining movie that never really goes anywhere or says anything, a mash up that never comes together. It is a movie that is more cinematic time waster than it is an engrossing martial arts yarn.

Movie Review: The Collection

Way back in 2009 I wrote about a little horror movie called The Collector. It was a terrible piece of trash. I recall saying ow bad it was, how illogical it was, how annoying it was, but how decent the gore effects were. I felt like a collection of leftover Saw traps, which makes sense since it came from the guys who made a few of the latter sequels. Anyway, somebody must have made a couple of bucks it as we are now faced with its sequel, The Collection.

Blu-ray Review: ParaNorman

For years it seemed like Tim Burton was the only filmmaker taking chances by infusing horror into the family friendly genre of animation with the likes of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Then Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman gave us Coraline, which is a wonderful horror movie for kids, beautiful to watch, cleverly told, and just a touch scary. Now we have some new players in the game and a wonderful new movie. The movie is ParaNorman and the players are Chris Butler and Sam Fell, they have delivered delightful film and given us another movie that successfully brings horror into the world of animation.

Blu-ray Review: The Day (2012)

WWE Studios was founded in 2002, in the ten years they have existed, a number of films have been produced for the theatrical and home video market based around wrestling personalities. None of them have been particularly great, but they do offer a certain amount of fun, like See No Evil (featuring Kane) and The Condemned (with Stone Cold Steve Austin). With The Day, we have the first WWE production that does not feature any wrestlers. It may also be their best movie yet.

Movie Review: Red Dawn (2012)

In 1984 writer/director John Milius followed up his epic Conan the Barbarian with a "what if" tale of an invasion of the US by a foreign army, Red Dawn. It is something that has never happened in the modern age. During the Cold War it was a real fear, it may not have been one talked about much, but it was a possibility. That movie saw the forces of Soviet Russia and Cuba invade America. Now, the movie had a healthy dose of cinematic bravado and was ultimately just an entertainment, but it had a certain believability about it. Now we have the remake, rejiggered for 2012 (well, 2009, when it was shot).

Blu-ray Review: Wrong Turn 5 - Bloodlines

I have to be honest, I had no idea there were five Wrong Turn movies. The original 2003 movie, starring Eliza Dushku, was a solid horror film, but I never looked at it as a franchise starter. I guess somebody above my pay grade saw it as the perfect vehicle to launch a direct to video series. I cannot say I am against the idea, but most of them have slipped past me. With that said, Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines is over the top fun and does not seem to require any previous knowledge of the series.