Review: ‘Zootopia’

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“Zootopia” is a pretty chill movie, mostly because its central message of acceptance and tolerance is most welcome in this divisive “us versus them” climate currently being stoked in the mainstream media and out on the streets. Fear Of The Other is a very real and palpable thing and there is no shortage of folks who make it their mission to use it to drive as many wedges as possible between communities via propaganda and campaigns of hate, which means now is a great time for a big commercial piece of art to come out and literally say out loud “hey, stop judging each other and start being cool because we’re all in this together and it is our differences which bring us together and complete us and allow us to function together brilliantly.” Is it a daring message? No. Is it important? Absolutely.

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Netflix pick for 3/7/16 – ‘Lost In La Mancha’

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As heard in episode 165 of Cinema Crespodiso.

From 2002, “Lost In La Mancha” started life as a making-of documentary for Terry Gilliam’s bizarre adaptation of the classic novel “Don Quixote,” which was to be titled “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.” Starring Johnny Depp as a 21st-century fella who time travels to a time and a place in which Don Quixote is alive and real, this movie was a dream project for Terry Gilliam, and the beginning of this production was a moment for him to celebrate. This celebration was quickly cut short, as problems plagued the production immediately, to the point where this making-of documentary became its own film, and became an “unmaking-of” film, the story of a movie production that stalled out and then died, a tale of “what could have been.”

Why are documentaries about unfinished movies or disastrous movie productions so fascinating? Joining the ranks of great films like “Jodorowsky’s Dune” and “Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau,” this particular documentary shows us everything – we see the idea take shape, and the elements come in to place to get the production started, and we see cameras roll and we get an idea of what this movie was even going to look like and how Gilliam was going to pull off certain effects, and then we see the shit hit the fan one piece at a time, until the whole things gets mucked up to the point of no return. Thanks to the extreme level of access these filmmakers had to the production, they were there for it all and they captured it all, which then means we get to be the flies on the wall of this failed film, which is something many people don’t get to see.

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#165 – Public Domain Mythology

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In episode 165, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by returning guest Cool Carl Verna the Video Burner (www.twitter.com/videoverna), who catches everyone up on what he’s been working on lately.

Chris and Drew review Zootopia and Chris reviews London Has Fallen.

Billy D reviews some Lovecraftian horror.

Dr. Drew gives his two cents on going with the flow.

The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is Lost In La Mancha.

This week’s Crespodisco features a song from the soundtrack for Rushmore.

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Netflix pick for 3/1/16 – ‘Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films’

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“Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films” is an excellent documentary about one of the most infamous movie production companies in the history of the Hollywood, Cannon Films. Not only does this documentary go deep on this company’s crazy history and really dive in to the insane filmography these folks created over the span of ten years, but it also spends the time to tell us all about the head of the company, Menahem Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus, two men who had considerable success making movies in Israel and had hoped to replicate that success in America. And while they certainly gave it the old college try, they didn’t exactly set the world on fire with their movies. But they definitely attempted to.

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#164 – Sentient Garbage Made Flesh

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In episode 164, Chris Crespoand Drewster Cogburn are joined by returning guest Curtis Earth, from The Curtis Earth Show and Curtis Earth Trivia.

Chris and Drew review Triple 9 and Gods of Egypt.

Billy D presents us with a massive Crespodome Battle Royale.

The Netflix Pick of the Week is Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films.

Dr. Drew gives his two cents on how awards for art is whack.

The Crespodisco features two songs from the soundtrack for the great movie Blue Ruin.

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Review: ‘Triple 9’

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“Triple 9” is like a bacon cheeseburger that looks great but ends up being mediocre; all the right ingredients are there, it looks very well assembled, the patty is big, the cheese is melted, the bacon looks crispy, this thing looks like it should be awesome. But then you eat it and realize the meat has no seasoning, and the ingredients are kind of limp, and despite looking awesome, ends up being bland and forgettable. Its like someone knew how to make a burger, but didn’t put any love or care into it. This could have been a great meal, but instead it was just basic and uninspired.

“Triple 9” follows a lot of characters, which is its first problem. There’s Mike (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who runs a small crew that does jobs for a Jewish Russian mob family. His Baby Mama (Gal Gadot) is the sister of Irina (Kate Winslet), who runs the family on behalf of her incarcerated husband, so its a little complicated for Mike when it comes to working with these folks. Meanwhile, his crew is made up of a friend (Norman Reedus), his friend’s ex-cop turned junkie (Aaron Paul) and two crooked cops (Anthony Mackie and Clifton Collins Jr.), and they are tasked by the Russians to take on a very difficult heist, so they have to come up with an extreme plan to pull it off.

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Bonus Episode – Oscar Picks 2016

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In this bonus episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn embark on their fourth annual Oscar Picks bonus episode.

Chris and Drew go through all 24 categories for this year’s Academy Awards and they make their respective picks.

As per usual, the loser will have to complete some sort of punishment or bet or whatever the hell you want to call it, which will be decided eventually.

Will George Miller win Best Director? Does Mad Max: Fury Road have a shot at winning Best Picture? Or will The Revenant clean up a whole bunch of awards? Will The Big Short or Spotlight surprise anyone? These questions, plus more, will be asked, though not really answered, in this bonus episode of Cinema Crespodiso.

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Review: ‘The Witch’

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“The Witch” is a slow burn of a horror movie, in which something feels off and disturbing almost right away, and the terror builds slowly and the evil permeating the entire film reveals itself gradually. We figure out pretty early on what is happening, but we have no idea the extent of it all until the very end. A story of an early 1600s Puritan family living in the wilderness on the edge of a forest inhabited by something terrible, this is the kind of movie that gets under your skin and creeps you out from within.

William (Ralph Ineson) takes his family and leaves a settlers’ plantation because his religious views were not compatible with the new town’s position on religion, and he takes them out into the wilderness where they find a big open spot next to some ominous looking woods. Soon they have a home and a farm, tended to by William, his teenage daughter Thomasin (Anya Taylor-Joy), his teenage son Caleb (Harvey Scrimshaw), while the mother Katherine (Kate Dickie) takes care of a couple of annoying little twins and their brand new little baby Samuel. One day, Thomasin is out with Samuel watching over him when he gets snatched away from her in less than a second, and his disappearance is sudden and definitive. This baby kidnapping early on sends the family dynamics into an off-kilter direction, with the mom blaming Thomasin and the father wondering if they were simply cursed by a vengeful God unhappy with their sins. Thomasin, for her part, is not sure who to blame, but the family circulated lie that a wolf took the child does not sit well with her because she was there and she knows it wasn’t a wolf. So what could it be? Well, you’ve seen the title of this movie, right?

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