A weekly talk show hosted by film critic Christopher Crespo
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In this bonus SPOILER episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk about Avengers: Age of Ultron.
They discuss what happens in the movie, how it fits in to the overall grand scheme of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and what the ending of this movie could possibly mean for future Marvel movies.
Enjoy the show and remember that there are SPOILERS AHOY!
We’ve all seen the other Marvel movies right? We’re all up on our “Iron Mans” and our “Thors” and we’re all caught up on the continuing misadventures of Captain America? Because if not then why are you even bothering with this review of the sequel of the biggest comic book movie of all time? Okay, so we’re all on the same page, I am not going to pretend you don’t know the back stories and what not of all the characters, we’ll just jump right into this review of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” without all the unnecessary preamble.
And you know what, that is the same approach the movie itself takes. It starts in the middle of an action scene, with all the Avengers working together as a team to infiltrate some random compound to retrieve Loki’s scepter (introduced in prior Marvel movies). When they do, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) decides he’s going all Cyberdyne on everyone and he uses the power in the scepter to create an artificial intelligence system designed to protect all of Earth and humanity.
But when this program, called Ultron (James Spader, being as James Spader-y as possible), comes online, it immediately decides that in order to fulfill his peacekeeping mission, he must destroy all of humanity so that the next phase of evolution can begin. With the help of a pair of “enhanced humans” (don’t you DARE call them mutants!), Ultron sets out to destroy the world, while the Avengers have to figure out how to stop him.Continue Reading …
“Blue Ruin” is a bad ass, intense, thought provoking revenge movie, the perfect low budget cinematic palate cleanser, appropriate for this time of year in which we are besieged by huge franchise-related blockbusters.
From my original review of “Blue Ruin:”
This movie is so damn good in so many ways it is almost unfair. When a film shows up like this, like a ferocious shotgun blast of smart intensity, it is impossible not to take notice. Who needs huge CG set pieces, hundreds of millions of dollars and an overly long and complicated screenplay to make a memorable movie? Not writer/director Jeremy Saulnier apparently, because this is a super low budget yet very simply told yet incredibly well made and awesome movie, and should be viewed by anyone who wants to make a movie but fear they don’t have the resources to make a compelling film. Guess what, people, it can be done. It WAS done. It is called “Blue Ruin.”
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In episode 121, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by Big Mike from SwampPatrol.com and The Curtis Earth Show!
Chris and Drew review Avengers: Age of Ultron and break down its huge opening weekend at the box office.
Also discussed in this episode:
The Voices.
The original The Wicker Man.
Cube is getting rebooted.
Josh Trank leaves Star Wars.
Someone is making a real Los Pollos Hermanos.
Plus so much more!
Continue Reading …
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In this BONUS episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn talk about the movie Ex Machina and get into detail about what happens so this episode is SPOILER crazy, beware of spoilers, cause we talk about it all.
Enjoy!Continue Reading …
Based on an urban legend about a lady who froze to death looking for the money buried in the snow in the 1996 Coen Brothers’ movie “Fargo” and centered on a fantastic performance in a sweet but ultimately sad movie, “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter” is a great movie about loneliness, ambition and not believing everything you read or see.
Kumiko (Rinko Kikuchi, Pacific Rim) is a depressed 30-something year old living in Japan, working a menial job for an obnoxious boss, living by herself and generally being very unhappy. Her coworkers insult her, her mother berates her for not being married, and she just has a shit life at this point. So when she comes across an old, damaged VHS copy of “Fargo,” she watches it and takes solace from it. As a matter of fact she sees the text at the beginning of the movie claiming it was based on a true story (which it was not), so she decides that she needs to go to Fargo, North Dakota to find the suitcase of money buried in the snow by one of that film’s characters. She watches this money burying scene over and over in order to gather clues as to its exact whereabouts and so she can make a map of the area to help her find the buried loot. And finally she sets out of her conquest, hustling her way to North Dakota so she can become rich.Continue Reading …
If you were to tell me that there is a movie in which prisoners of war are hemmed in and endangered not only by their physical prison and captors but more oppressively by their natural surroundings, miles and miles of untamed jungle and grabby vines and predators galore, I would tell you this movie would be perfect for Werner Herzog.
A dramatic telling of his own 1997 documentary “Little Dieter Needs to Fly,” the 2006 film “Rescue Dawn” is about German-American fighter pilot Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) and how he became a prisoner of war during the Vietnam conflict. He bonds with the other prisoners and he organizes an escape plan, despite the fact that the prison is as secure as it gets because of its location deep in the jungle. Bale’s performance as Dengler is pretty fantastic, as Dengler is a very compelling guy, an eternal optimist who befuddled his fellow POWs with his amazing attitude and will to live. One of Werner Herzog’s most commercially accessible films, this a great movie because it is an incredible story about a fascinating person and it is made with the consummate skill of a director who has been in the game for decades.Continue Reading …
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In episode 120, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn review Ex Machina and A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night.
Also discussed in this episode:
Actors walk off Adam Sandler movie.
Gremlins reboot news.
Details on the Coen’s Hail, Caesar!.
A Spider-Man animated movie.
Baxter Stockman in the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. a
And so much more!
As humans we have been obsessed with the idea of artificial intelligence for a very long time, and we are closer now to true artificial intelligence than we have ever been, to the point where some of our top minds have felt the need to warn everyone about the dangerous pitfalls of a future in which we are ruled by our robot overlords. This has been shown in our art, as we have seen movies about robots with A.I. that are both benevolent and malevolent, but with “Ex Machina,” it is not the intent of the A.I. that is at question but that of the creator.
Caleb (Dohmnall Gleeson, son of Brendan) wins a contest in which he is allowed to work side by side for one week with his company’s boss, who is this fella named Nathan (Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis). Nathan is a weird one; having invented a Google-like search engine at the age of 13 that has gone on to be the number one used search engine in the world, Nathan became a billionaire and has chosen to live in isolation, hundreds of miles from anyone else, in a state of art home that also acts as his private research facility. When Caleb shows up, Nathan tells him that he is there to give a Turing test to one of Nathan’s creations, which is to say, a robot with artificial intelligence.Continue Reading …
“A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night” is the kind of movie that comes around every now and then and reminds us that original movies can still be made within the confines of well-worn genres. Vampire movies have been made for about 100 years now, so what can be done with the genre now that has not been done already? Well, how about an Iranian vampire movie shot in black and white, with a feminist slant and a dope “sad synth pop” soundtrack, and influenced in equal parts by 1960’s Italian-made westerns and 1980’s American indies? Because that is what we have here, and it is pretty damn cool.
This story takes place in Bad City, a desolate, dusty and depressed Iranian town which seems to be populated by maybe a dozen or so people, almost all of whom are either dirt bags or criminals in one way, shape or form. There is the local pimp (who doubles as a drug dealer), the town’s seemingly only prostitute, a vapid rich girl only interested in partying, a junkie widower, and the junkie’s son, who seems to be a normal, straight laced dude for the most part until he comes across a stash of drugs that he decides to sell for himself to make some money on the side. This last fella is Arash (Arash Mirandi) and despite selling some pills, he comes across as the most honest person in town.Continue Reading …