A weekly talk show hosted by film critic Christopher Crespo
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In this BONUS EPISODE of Cinema CrespoDISCO, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk about five of their favorite albums, while also talking about many other albums that they love from start to finish.
Reclaiming attention spans one person at a time!
For years now in popular culture the vampire has been depicted in what really can only be described as “campy,” or at the very least largely non-threatening. Whether we are talking about brooding, love starved vampires with diamond skin or vampires engaged in a centuries-old sewer-set gun fight with werewolves or vampires who simply lost their shirts (as well as the mere concept of shirts), the one thing we haven’t seen lately is the idea of vampires in the real world, going about their lives, doing “normal” things like using iPhones and watching YouTube and listening to and creating music. In Jim Jarmusch’s “Only Lovers Left Alive,” this is exactly what we get, otherworldly beings in a real world setting, and we get to see how the deal with the pesky things known as people and the annoying burden on them that is known as life.Continue Reading …
“Narc” is a tough, gritty, intense 2002 cop drama starring Jason Patric and Ray Liotta, both of them doing some of the best work of their respective careers, and helping to elevate this solid yet familiar movie to the next level. Because while there plenty of movies (and television shows) about police going undercover and doing some questionable things in order to get results, this movie gets it all right, and builds to a big reveal that comes with some big emotional weight, making for a strong pay off to great movie.
In “Narc,” Jason Patric plays a cop who got too deep undercover in the narcotics world and had to be saved from it, but who then 18 months later finds himself back in it at the request of the police department itself, as he got sucked into an investigation of a murdered cop which had reached a dead end. He teams up with the veteran cop played by Ray Liotta who is leading the investigation, and together they sink deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole looking for the truth. And of course we know this going into the movie but when the truth finally comes out, it is not what anyone thought it would be, as things get turned upside down, with the movie leaving some serious questions and getting into some heavy stuff, and also refusing to wrap up this whole movie for you with a nice little bow on top.Continue Reading …
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In episode 71, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn review Godzilla, Only Lovers Left Alive and Locke, there is a new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, movie news, they talk about the Interstellar trailer, the new picture of Batman and the Batmobile, the death and influence of HR Giger, and much more!
After a worldwide decade-long hiatus, the most bad ass 60-year old on the planet has reemerged to assert his dominance as the King of All Monsters, here to wipe out bad memories of horrible 1990’s CG-lizards, Matthew Broderick, and decades of men in cheap rubber suits stumbling through cities made of cardboard. Building on the terror of the 1954 original, “Godzilla” is a movie devoid of camp and silliness, an A-movie treatment to a B-movie concept, and it all works great.
The movie starts with a fun opening credit sequence showing old-timey footage from the 1950’s of some A-bomb tests that were actually attempts to kill Godzilla back in the day. And after this sequence, we don’t see Godzilla again until about halfway through the movie, as we get a nice, slow build to the reveal of the giant monster in his full glory. But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean nothing happens for the first half of the movie; on the contrary, we get to see the awe-inspiring and fear-inducing destruction caused by a pair of giant monsters that the military dubs “MUTOs” (standing for Massive Unknown Terrestrial Organism), and this is pretty smart by the the filmmakers, because instead of just breaking out some old monsters, they came up with their own designs for new ones, and found a way to have their characters come up with a name for these monsters that simultaneously sounds like a name of a monster from the old Toho movies but also sounds like a very plausible acronym that could actually be used by the military in a situation like this.Continue Reading …
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In this month’s CCN, Chris Crespo reviews the numerous books he read in 2014 so far, and he discusses the outrages with Drewster Cogburns.
“Neighbors” is a comedy about a young family being subjugated to the horror that is living next door to a college frat house, and how the young family struggles to stay young, while the frat bros struggle with being fratty and what they need to do next with their lives. Plenty of dick jokes abound throughout, but it is tempered quite well with character arcs and emotional story beats, and it all blends together for a fun, funny and still somewhat touching movie.
The movie starts with married couple Mac and Kelly (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) trying to have “spontaneous” sex in their new home. What makes this such a feat for the two of them is the fact that it is happening while they have a precious little baby girl, and not only is this happening shortly after the birth (since the kid can’t even stumble around yet on its own) but with the kid in the room, watching them. How can people have fun, spontaneous sex while also debating whether or not their infant child can understand that they are having sex or if she only sees shapes?
And while this scene is obviously meant to be a funny joke, it also importantly sets up a main theme of the movie, which is how this couple wants to stay young and vibrant like they were when they met in college, as opposed to the old, boring fogies they are threatening to become. Later on we see them climb into bed to go to sleep and they have to put in sleep apnea mouth guards and shit, and they try to kiss each other goodnight and it is just ridiculous. They don’t want to admit it, but they’re all grown up, their relationship has arrived at a very comfortable place, and they can’t hang with the kids anymore.Continue Reading …
Written and directed by British playwright and screenwriter Martin McDonagh, “In Bruges” is a dark comedy about a pair of hitmen forced to take a little sabbatical in a tiny historical tourist trap of a town in Belgium, while their homicidal boss tries to figure out what to do with them. Many swear words and story twists abound. And it is all delightful.
In “In Bruges,” Colin Farrell plays Ray, a depressed hitman for the mob, super sad because of how a job had gone horribly wrong, and being sent to Bruges by his boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) ends up being a sort of purgatory for him, as he has no idea if his muck up will cause him to be damned. Fortunately for Ray, Harry sent along with another hitman named Ken (Brendan Gleeson), who makes things a little easier for Ray as he tries to sort through his problems. What happens in the rest of the story is what you need to discover, and trust me on this one, it is worth it.Continue Reading …
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In episode 70, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by Chico from Answer Pants (live every Monday night on RampantRadio.com), and Chris and Drew review Neighbors, there is a new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, movie news, questions from show listeners and so much more get discussed, so enjoy the show!
It is ridiculous that it has taken so long for me to put together this write up for “The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” but the truth is that my feelings for this film are a little more complicated than they should be. We’re talking about a movie about a man with spider-like super powers fighting crime in New York City while wearing spandex, after all. Why should this be difficult? It’s a pass-fail kind of thing, is it not? Was I not entertained? Isn’t that enough?
And for some good chunks of time, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2” is indeed quite entertaining, with the occasional action scenes that actually reach the heights of thrilling. Throw in the mix some solid acting from likable, reliable actors, as well as some downright gorgeous cinematography and a handful of most excellent compositions (obviously going for the “still panel or comic book cover come to life” look and just NAILING it) and you have the ingredients for what should be a good, nay, GREAT movie. And yet, despite all these things, there is something off about this movie, some things were done in a way that just robs it of emotional weight, and without that, we end up with something great looking, yes, but also a little rotten on the inside. Like a supermodel.
(I apologize to any supermodels reading this [who am I kidding, what fucking supermodel is trolling the interwebs for reviews of Spider-Man movies?)Continue Reading …