Chris - Cinema Crespodiso - Page 116 of 150

Netflix pick for 7/21/14 – ‘Night of the Living Dead’

This zombie craze had to start somewhere. And it can be traced, cinematically speaking, to George Romero’s 1968 classic “Night of the Living Dead,” the very first movie to portray zombies as flesh-consuming reanimated corpses who can only be taken down by head shots and destroying their brains. Inspired by Richard Metheson’s vampire classic “I Am Legend” (itself made into THREE movies), Romero literally wrote the rules of the zombie genre, and with minor variations here and there, these rules have remained firmly intact, to the point of becoming cultural canon. Now that is a cultural feat to behold.Continue Reading …

#80 – Pedro Was Here

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In episode 80, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by three-time guest stand up comedian Pedro Lima (host of Let’s Do 30, at RicanGorilla.com).

Chris and Drew review The Purge: Anarchy and Pedro gives his review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.

They also talk about the zombie movies, cannibalism in entertainment, Disney making Pixar knock offs, Angelina Jolie as a director, is Christopher Lambert the worst actor ever, has Pedro seen The Room, why are they making a prequel to The Shining and Harry Potter as a demon detective.

There is a new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, Pedro does a Lightning Round and Chris almost (ALMOST) forgets to give Pedro his swag bag!

All this and more in this show, so enjoy!

Review: ‘Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’

Look this one is pretty obvious thematically speaking, amiright? We can all agree on this much. As a continuing allegory for the age old inability of the human race to work together in peace and harmony and without hurting each other, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” hits all the most obvious albeit important notes over and over, those about the importance of family and the duality of man and the conundrum of how our survival instinct can lead to our own downfall. In the most simplest of terms, after everything is left in shambles and on fire and smoldering with the specter of violence of death draped over the world, the most important question is asked: Can’t we all just get along?

“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” is not an excellent movie because of the top notch and often stunning visual effects or because of the well crafted and interesting action scenes but instead it is excellent because of how the movie is properly made from start to finish, with each scene moving the story forward, either via advancing the plot, the themes or the characters, often times simultaneously, and it makes for a fast moving, engaging and interesting summer blockbuster. Entire scenes consist only of computer generated characters, communicating often in soft grunts and sign language, yet thanks to some bold yet beautiful strokes, so much information is given that it allows us to actually get to KNOW these characters, and to understand their wants and needs, and this is a beautiful thing.Continue Reading …

The Crespodisco #10 – Instrumentals

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In this Crespodisco BONUS episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk about five of their favorite instrumentals, and they cover a lot of ground and ask the important questions, like “why don’t chicks like prog rock?”

So use global communication to tell Orion that Christmas Time (is here) and it is easy to remember that Monday is perfect for Crockett’s Theme whilst being adrift and at peace.

YYZ.

Netflix pick for 7/14/14 – ‘The American’

In “The American,” a European-style slow burn character drama starring George Clooney, a man whose trade always results in death for others is plagued by his life decisions, weighing him down with guilt, leaving him broken inside, wondering if he can even maintain any sort of semblance of what could maybe perhaps at least be mistaken for an actual human connection and relationship. Even if it’s with a hooker.

From Dutch photographer turned music video director turned feature filmmaker Anton Corbijn, this is a small movie in terms of plot mechanics and whatnot, because it involves a lot of meditative scenes of Clooney’s gunsmith character silently pondering his experience, either while drinking coffee or driving through the countryside or making a gun or whatever. Sure there’s a few spurts of action here and there, but that’s not what this movie is about. It is about the style and mood and how both are successfully maintained throughout.Continue Reading …

Spoiler Bonus Episode – Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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In this BONUS episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and get into detail so BE FOREWARNED OF SPOILERS!!!

#79 – Monkey Love

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In episode 79, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn have a spoiler-free discussion about Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, plus there is a new Netflix Pick of the Week, the box office recap, and movie news including villain rumors for Batman vs Superman, Fast and Furious 7 production wraps up, Star Wars in IMAX and much more!

CCN – July 2014

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In this month’s BONUS CCN episode, Chris Crespo talks about all the things that outrage him (and things that amuse him), all in a newspaper style format. Drewster Cogburn occasionally chimes in with a grunt or a “no.” Things discussed include crazy World Cup stories, how most Christian metal bands are not Christian, how Malaysia is legislating language, how Egypt is imprisoning journalists, why Facebook ads don’t work, creepy Japanese androids, Uber in Orlando, the War on Women and much more!

Review: ‘Earth to Echo’

In the grand tradition of movies about kids biting off more than they can chew a la “E.T.” or “The Goonies” or “The Sandlot,” here comes “Earth to Echo” a movie about some kids biting off more than they can chew, but this time in the form of a found footage movie. Oh how simple it is to update age old tropes to modern standards.

“Earth to Echo” starts with three kids who are friends but who find their friendship threatened by the spectre of Big Brother, as eminent domain forces them to move out of their neighborhood so a freeway can be built through the area. On their last night together, these three kids decide to investigate some random map zapped on to their cell phones, mostly in an effort to try to do something memorable with their last night together. And sure enough, when the map leads them to a cute tiny little alien, they find themselves on a mission to help this little alien guy find his spaceship so he can go home.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 7/7/14 – ’48 Hrs.’

Not “48 Hours” and not “Forty-Eight Hours” but specifically “48 Hrs.” because in a movie like this we just don’t have TIME to spell it all out, whiz bam thank you, ma’am, here comes enough anti-buddy cop mismatched action comedy shenanigans to blow your face off.

Directed by the great Walter Hill and featuring a cop no one likes (Nick Nolte) with the motor mouthed criminal no one likes (Eddie Murphy), “48 Hrs.” is about what happens when a cop has to catch a killer and his best bet is to get this other criminal out of jail for a specified amount of time in order to track down this other guy. And really none of that stuff matter because this movie is really about how these two guys don’t like each other and how they don’t get along and yet they are stuck together and have to work together and they actually have some interesting chemistry together which then throws them both of whack because they don’t want to like each other but dammit if that doesn’t start happening anyway.

The action scenes are fine and the use of both Sonny Landham and James Remar as the bad guys is brilliant, but the soul of this movie is in the bickering between the two main characters and it is great, making this movie a classic for a reason.Continue Reading …