Netflix pick for 8/11/14 – ‘The Return’

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From 2003, “The Return” is a Russian drama which is great because of how simple the movie is and how compelling the drama becomes throughout. Told with confident direction, devoid of overt stylistic flourishes or any sort of reliance on gimmicky cinematic tricks, the movie works because it is all in service of an interesting story, small in scale yet resonate with emotional depth.

In this story, two young brothers are surprised to find that their father has returned home after a 12-year absence, and the oldest of the two boys is suspicious of their father while the youngest is anxious to have him back in their lives. And when ole daddy-o decides to take both kids with him on a trip, with no explanation and without telling anyone a damned thing, the oldest kid’s suspicion only intensifies, as they try to gain as much insight as possible as to whom their father is and what he wants. And when dad decides he doesn’t like his son’s wary attitude? Oh boy.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’

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Well even though this is a PG-13 film featuring numerous acts of violence and many instances of gun play, as well as a scene of general mayhem and carnage which surely and undoubtedly resulted in the deaths of numerous innocent bystanders, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” the 2014 edition is still a kids movie and it feels like bad form to just come out and shit all over a kids movie. Yet sometimes these things must be done, in the name of all that is right and most excellent.

Starting out as a satirical comic series for more adult-minded folks in the early 1980s, and then quickly becoming adapted into a television show for kids, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” has somehow managed to stick around for all of these years, constantly being reinvented, new television shows made for new generations of children, a trilogy of movies made in the 1990s and a recent animated movie, Turtle Power has turned out to be a real thing, which is pretty incredible considering how insanely ridiculous this whole mutated turtles in their teenage years using their karate skills to be ninjas concept really is. Something about it resonates though and keeps people coming back for more. Which is why we are here, in the year 2014, with a big budget live action movie featuring CG-turtles, as well as a CG-talking rat guy.Continue Reading …

#83 – Old Ancient Men

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In episode 83, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by Anthony The Black Hasselhoff Davis from FoGetDatYo Radio (www.FoGetDatYo.com)!

They review the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, there’s a new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, they see what’s coming out this weekend and so much more!Continue Reading …

The Crespodisco #11 – I Like Short Songs

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In this BONUS episode of Cinema Crespodisco, the Crespodisco features Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talking about some of their favorite short songs, like 2:30 minutes or less short, know what we mean? Spanning decades and multiple genres, it is quite something how much can be derived from such short songs. Enjoy!

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Netflix pick for 8/4/14 – ‘Tetro’

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Francis Ford Coppola, he of “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” and “The Conversation” and “Apocalypse Now,” after spending some time not making movies and out of the business, instead manufacturing wine to the delight of the masses, found that he could tell some crazy stories that he always wanted to tell thanks to the new age of digital cinema, a liberating time in which anyone with a few bucks and a proper digital camera and make an entire movie easier than ever. And with this new found digital freedom, Coppola made “Tetro,” an operatic family drama about reunited brothers and the weird past which unites them.

Vincent Gallo (yes, VINCENT GALLO) plays the eponymous Tetro, an artist who suffers for his work and has some serious baggage that he is trying to sort through, and Alden Ehrenreich plays his younger brother who arrives unannounced, looking to reunite with his big bro after a decade apart. Shot in black and white (and looking gorgeous), Coppola is an old school filmmaker, one who not only knows his film history but also contributed to it already, and here he is definitely throwing it back to the black and white noirs of the 1940 and 1950s, with lots of very strong shadows and scenes swathed in intense blacks and extreme lighting. And the family drama is very operatic, building up to a pretty explosive final ten minutes or so, making the admittedly somewhat uneven though still interesting journey fully worthwhile.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’

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For a good while there, “Guardians of the Galaxy” has more in common with sci-fi space epics than it does with the other Marvel comic book superhero action movies and that is definitely a good thing.  It is a fun, joke-filled romp through some crazy locations, like a space jail filled with all sorts of beasts and the inside of a huge, floating, severed head of an ancient space god. There are different alien species and kooky technology and a walking tree and a talking raccoon and for the most part it all makes for a pretty damn good time at the movies.

So why does “Guardians of the Galaxy” feel a little hollow?

Because make no mistake, there is plenty of entertainment to be had from this thing, as it has an irreverent tone and sense of whimsy that has definitely been missing in this day and age of the brooding blockbuster. This movie doesn’t take itself seriously (except for the couple of scenes that we ARE supposed to take seriously), it has a fun 70’s pop soundtrack that keeps heads bopping and toes tapping, there are more special effects and huge action scenes than you can shake a stick at (if that’s the kinda stuff you want from your movies), and there are good performances from folks who are really giving it their all, really buying into their ridiculous characters and just selling the shit of them. So what the hell else does this movie need?Continue Reading …

Dr. Drew’s Two Cents – The Hatreds

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In this non-movie BONUS episode, the Doctor is IN and this month’s prescription is a full dose of 100% uncut misanthropy. Along with co-hater Chris Crespo, show host Drewster Cogburn rails on the non-efficient, the oblivisous, smart phone users, social media whores, wikipedia referencers, the entitled, the participation trophy getters, the easily offended and the money lovers, plus more! How much hate can you take? But when all seems lost, the Doctor does offer a suggestion we could all apply to our own lives. Dig it, daddy-o!

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Netflix pick for 7/28/2014 – ‘Assault on Precinct 13’

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When John Carpenter wanted to make a Western but didn’t have the money for the period appropriate props and locations, he instead wrote a story about a siege on a police station, set in modern day Los Angeles (well 1976 Los Angeles, anyway) and featuring a shadowy, Satan-worshiping gang out on a cholo blood quest, and the movie ended up being “Assault on Precinct 13.”

This is a lean, mean movie, with an efficient set up in both character and story, and things get crazy as a small group of people try to keep a very large number of gang members from breaking into their building and killing them all. And since this is a John Carpenter movie, it has the typical, awesome John Carpenter score, lots of electronics and bass heavy and full of doom and dread, punctuating the menace established outside of the walls of Precinct (9, in division) 13.Continue Reading …