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Netflix pick for 8/18/14 – ‘Escape From Tomorrow’

“Escape From Tomorrow” is an astounding film in that it was made almost entirely within the confines of Walt Disney World, shot with small digital cameras over the course of several days, with the crew being kept very small and their movements and actions clandestine, and most importantly, without being caught or stopped by anyone in the park. This is pure guerrilla film making, the current indie film movement encapsulated beautifully in black and white, and it truly is something beautiful to behold.

So it is a bit of a shame that the story itself really doesn’t hold up over the course of the movie. Sure things start really promising, with a family arriving at the Magic Kingdom for the final day of their vacation and with the father in the group hiding the fact from his wife and kids that he was just fired from his job, and as the day wears on he appears to be losing his mind in some sort of bad acid trip, which is not something one wants to experience in a theme park like this. And he starts getting eyes for some really young girls and finds himself constantly close to them, sometimes by accident, sometimes not. But the movie can’t really keep the story going for an hour and half without it feeling like it is spinning its wheels a little, and really the surreal park imagery doesn’t add up to much. You can hear my original full review of “Escape From Tomorrow” in this episode of Cinema Crespodiso.Continue Reading …

#84 – Let’s Be Expendable

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In episode 84, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn review Let’s Be Cops and The Expendables 3.

There is also a new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, they recap the new movies coming out on DVD and in theaters, they go through the filmography of Robin Williams, Chris goes over new movie release dates and news about the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie Inherent Vice, and there is so much more it is ridiculous, so check it out and enjoy!

CCN – August 2014

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In this CCN BONUS Episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn just shoot the shit about a bunch of topics, such as: Ferguson County, Open Carry Racial Hypocrisy, #RIPRobinWilliams, trap music, Orlando City soccer, Discovery Channel lies via Shark Week, Wu Tang’s C.R.E.A.M., and Chris asks Drew to help him choose a Fantasy Football team name.

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

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’

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!

Netflix pick for 8/4/14 – ‘Tetro’

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 …