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#44 – Destroying Human Toilets

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In episode 44, Chris Crespo a.k.a. Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by returning guest Curtis Earth from The Curtis Earth Show and Earth Trivia fame. Chris and Drew review 12 Years a Slave and Thor: The Dark World, there’s a new Netflix Pick of the Week and a Drewster Cogburn vs The World rematch between Drew and Curtis.

Things discussed in this episode include:

Why Chris should just go as “Crespo.”

The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is Senna, which starts a discussion about racing.

Curtis talks about his fear of heights and movies with people dying from great heights.

Chris and Drew review 12 Years a Slave.

They talk about men crying in movies, and Chris talks about trying NOT to cry during 12 Years a Slave.

Chris talks about hanging out in Alfre Woodard‘s house when he visited Los Angeles years ago.Continue Reading …

Review: ’12 Years A Slave’

Look, no one said this was going to be fun for anyone involved, okay? This is a fairly remarkable story about human endurance and the atrocities of mankind, and while it may not be “enjoyable” or “entertaining,” it still may be essential viewing for many people, whether they be cinephiles or people who just need a quick reminder of where we’ve come from, as that helps see where we need to go. No, no one said “12 Years A Slave” was going to be a cinematic walk in the park. But then again, maybe that’s the very reason why it should be seen.

This is based on the very true story of Solomon Northup, a man from New York in pre-Civil War America who was drugged, kidnapped and sold into slavery in the South, where he spent the subsequent twelve years of his life living as a slave named Platt. This is the story of his survival and the horrors he saw while in this horrible position. Being a free and educated man at the time of his kidnapping, he had the skills necessary to relate his story when it was all said it done, get it down in writing in the form of his memoir, one which was subsequently fact checked and deemed as accurate by scholars over one hundred years later, so what we have here is a first person account of one of the most troubling and disturbing chapters of our American history.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Thor: The Dark World’

Well here we go, now two movies deep into phase 2 of the Great Marvel Movie Plan, in which entire films are used to set up plot elements for future films, with the rest being nothing but filler. The first “Thor” movie set up the villain for “The Avengers,” and now “Thor: The Dark World” is merely a set up for another movie and what could possibly be phase 3 of the GMMP (more on this later). But what about all the other stuff in there, does any of that matter at all?

And the answer is…kinda, I guess? For all of those people who were dying for more of that great dynamic between Norse god Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and human scientist Jane (Natalie Portman), here you go, another two hours or so of these two looking at each other longingly. Meanwhile there’s some bit of business about some dark elves and the dude who leads them and the great magical power that they seek to harness, etc. etc., I mean for crying out loud why do all of these movies have to be the same freaking thing?

Seriously though, here is yet ANOTHER super hero movie in which an evil character, who is evil for no other reason than because the story dictates him or her to be so, who wants to take over the world, or in this case the whole universe, by somehow just destroying everything. And when this movie had a cold open with a voiceover explaining the movies macguffin, in this case a magical substance that can’t be destroyed and which makes it’s host body super powerful, and then cut straight to a huge Lord of the Rings meets Star Trek: Deep Space Nine battle between a bunch of people that literally didn’t matter in the long run, my eyes glazed over faster than the donuts on a conveyor belt at Krispy Kreme at five in the morning, no what I mean?Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Kon-Tiki’

“Kon-Tiki” is a great Norwegian historical drama about explorer and scientist Thor Heyerdahl, who set out on a journey in 1947 with five men on a raft made of balsa wood from Peru all the way across the Pacific Ocean to Polynesia, in an attempt to help prove his theory that Polynesia was populated by migrants coming from the east, as opposed to the prevailing theory at the time that the settlers came from the west. But really it is a story about how this fella Thor had an idea and was determined to see it through, even if that meant absorbing tons of rejection from all sorts of people and eventually heading out on this dangerous mission just to prove his point.

This is a pretty spectacular movie regardless of whether the story is real or what was fabricated to enhance the drama of the movie (apparently there was some beef with one of the characters being portrayed very differently from his real life counterpart, resulting in the filmmakers even coming out and apologizing to the family members of this misrepresented person). It is a pretty simple set up, in that these six guys agreed to set out on this mission, and the 101-day, 5,000 mile journey pretty much changed them all forever (but then again, how could it NOT?). But while the mission and goal are easy to understand, it is obvious that the trip was not going to be a piece of cake.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘Ender’s Game’

“Ender’s Game” is a nifty sci-fi movie that is more serious-minded and morally complex than most other big budget movies out there. Based on an award-winning and highly touted sci-novel of the same name, this is a story that tackles some pretty big issues, and while it doesn’t get so deep into these things that the movie comes across as a lecture or preachy, at least it feels comfortable enough to even bring these ideas up, daring the audience to actually think about the parallels between this sci-fi world and our real world. Plus there is some cool space stuff, so that helps.

In “Ender’s Game,” our protagonist is 12-year Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), who has been chosen to be groomed to be the next great commander of Earth’s international space fleet, which was formed after an alien invasion years prior nearly wiped out all of humanity. Since the invasion, everyone on Earth banded together to put together a military force that could repel future attacks, and in an effort to find the best leaders possible, children were regularly drafted into the military and put through different camps and schools in order to find the absolute best of the best. Of course, as indicated with the title of this story, Ender is one of these chosen few, fortunate enough to be considered a candidate to be a great leader, and unfortunate enough to have the weight of mankind’s possible extinction placed squarely on his shoulders.Continue Reading …

Dr. Drew’s Two Cents – Video Games

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In the inaugural episode of Dr. Drew’s Two Cents, Drewster Cogburn digs into the rich history of video games and takes us all on a journey from the 8-bit days of the at-home game consoles all the way through today’s advanced machinery which we take for granted.

Things discussed in this episode include:

Drewster Cogburn, along with co-host Chris Crespo, discuss their earliest video game memories and experiences.

Drew and Chris talk about the NES, as well as the Zapper, the Power Glove and the Power Pad, and also discuss their favorite 8-bit Nintendo games.

Drew and Chris talk about the 16-bit era of video game consoles.Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 11/5/13 – ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’

Martin Scorsese is known for making “Goodfellas” and “Taxi Driver” and “Casino” and what not, but he has a number of movies that people regularly forget about when talking about this great filmmaker. And it just so happens that Netflix has one of these movies, “The Last Temptation of Christ.”

Based on a novel of the same name, this is a movie that posits the question, what if Jesus Christ (superstar) was just a man after all and actually struggled with the all the same sins and problems we all struggle with? Because of the characterization of Jesus in this movie and also because of a scene depicting him indulging in his more carnal desires, religious groups just FREAKED OUT and hated on this movie really hard.

But you know what? Screw the haters. It’s not like this movie somehow takes the place of the Holy Bible. People need to be less frightened by viewpoints and ideas different their own.Continue Reading …

#43 – Crespo’s Game

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In episode 43, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn review Ender’s Game and talk about the proposed boycott against the movie, there is a new Netflix Instant Pick of the Week, Chris unveils a special Crespodisco first, and so much more!

Discussed in this episode:

Chris and Drew recap the SBK LIVE Halloween Bash.

The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is The Last Temptation of Christ.

Chris and Drew recap the weekend box office results and review Ender’s Game.

New movies on DVD this week include The Hobbit: Extended Edition, White House Down, Parkland, Grown Ups 2, Passion and As I Lay Dying.Continue Reading …

Review: ‘The Counselor’

What on Earth happened to this movie? How did so many extremely talented people get together to make such a muddled movie? How come no one saw this coming? Why should we have? A ton of money was given to Oscar winning filmmakers and a Pulitzer Prize winning author to make whatever they wanted to make, and what should have been something great and worthwhile is instead, well, instead we got “The Counselor.” What a shame. What a crying out loud god damned shame.

There is a plot to “The Counselor” but the movie does not focus on it so much as it does the emotional and psychological ramifications on the different characters in the film. You see, there’s some sort of drug deal set up that involves shipping cocaine from Mexico to America, and somehow a lawyer only referred to as Counselor (Michael Fassbender) gets himself involved with this transaction, though it is not explained in any way, shape or form how he is involved with this deal. And then when the deal goes wrong, it is somehow linked to him tangentially, which is apparently enough for the Mexican Cartel behind this particular deal to come after him and everything he holds dear, which is personified in his new fiancée Laura (Penelope Cruz).Continue Reading …

Netflix pick for 10/28/13 – ‘Commando’

“Commando” is one of those iconic Arnold Schwarzenegger movies from the 1980s, relying very much on Arnold’s impressive, award winning physique and his knack for portraying unstoppable machines of destruction on camera, figuratively as well as literally. While the character of John Matrix is not a cyborg, he might as well be, as he does things humans pretty much can’t do, which includes racking up a body count of just over 100 people, with about 80 of them dying at Arnold’s hands directly. Ah the 80s. When violence was king.

Part of what makes “Commando” awesome is how simple the story is, jumping into the plot really quickly by having John Matrix’s daughter (Alyssa Milano) getting kidnapped early on, sending Matrix on a journey to rescue his daughter from some scumbags. It’s pretty much “The Terminator” meets “Man on Fire.” Sound good to you? Good. Oh yeah and this movie also features Bill Duke, David Patrick Kelly, Rae Dawn Chong and Dan Hedaya, so there’s also that. And some guy gets the top of his head removed when Matrix throws a buzz saw blade at him like a frisbee.Continue Reading …