Summer Movie Guide 2015

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With “Furious 7” set to come out and smash records this weekend, we the movie going public have witnessed over the years how the “Summer movie season” has steadily crept closer and closer to the beginning of the year, starting earlier each time out.

This will be no more apparent than when “Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice” (what a horrible title) opens in March of next year. But for now, we are sticking with the traditional definition of the Summer movies, which means the first big movie of the season will open, like they do every year, in the first weekend of May.

And that is where we will begin our preview.Continue Reading …

Book-to-film adaptations 10 – ‘Drive’

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“Drive” (2005) by James Sallis is a lean L.A.-based crime novel about a young, rudderless man with exceptional talents who accidentally gets himself involved with the local mafia and must resort to violent means in order to save himself. Told with a sure vision, emphasizing character and location, and combining a knack for brevity with a monstrous vision of a person pushed too far and reacting in kind, this is a pretty great little book that anyone appreciating such genre treats will enjoy.

“Drive,”(2011)  written by Hossein Amini and directed by Nicholas Winding Refn, is a lean L.A.-based crime film about a young, rudderless man with exceptional talents who accidentally gets himself involved with the local mafia and must resort to violent means in order to save himself. Told with a sure vision, emphasizing character and location, and combining a knack for brevity with a monstrous vision of a person pushed too far and reacting in kind, this is a pretty great little movie that anyone appreciating such genre treats will enjoy.Continue Reading …

Top 25 Movies of 2014 – 5 through 1

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Here we are, these are my five favorite movies of 2014. And they probably are not your favorite movies. And you know what? That’s fine. Because this is my site, and these are my opinions, this is why we are here, so while these may not be the universally regarded best features of 2014, there are my favorites for sure, and if I was giving out all of the film awards, these are the movies that would be getting them.

 

 

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Top 25 Movies of 2014 – 10 through 6

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Now we are getting into the nit and the grit, the top ten of 2014 is underway. Movies that can either take us to whole other galaxies or just bring us right back here to Earth where shit that happened fifty years ago is still happening today, films that can tell us a real story of a psychotic person or make up a story about a fake psycho and still have it ring true in a weird way, here we are with numbers 10 through 6 of my top 25 of 2014 (that’s a lot of numbers).

 

 

 

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Top 25 Movies of 2014 – 15 through 11

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2014 saw some interesting things at the cinema, like the return of an ass kicking Keanu Reeves, and a product placement movie that was wildly successful commercially and critically, and an under loved Tom Cruise sci-fi action flick that people really need to get on. Here we go with the continuance of my top 25 of 2014.

 

 

 

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Top 25 Movies of 2014 – 25 through 16

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It is finally here, that wonderful moment when I take a look back and realize that the previous year was actually chock full of damn good movies. So many good movies, in fact, that a top 25 barely covers it. But we are going to do a top 25 anyway, because 2014 was actually a year worth remembering for quite a few reasons.

And really 2014 might be known as the year of the “really good” movie, as in there weren’t that many super-amazing-oh-my-god knock out movies, but there was a damn plethora of extremely solid, really well made, entertaining, downright good movies. From small character films like “Locke” and “Chef” to true life movies like “Wild” and “Unbroken” to bigger pieces of “popcorn entertainment” like “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” we got some good stuff. There was a pair of very intriguing Jesse Eisenberg movies in the forms of “The Double” and “Night Moves,” and the fella behind “The Guard” was back with the exquisite movie “Calvary.”Continue Reading …

Book-to-film adaptations 9 – ‘First Blood’

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David Morrell’s 1972 novel “First Blood” is a fierce book, featuring two products of American wars, both of them so different from each other, but also so similar. A Korean War vet is determined to keep his town safe and clean and a Vietnam War vet is simply tired of being pushed around in a country that doesn’t appreciate him. So when these two people meet, and their desires are in direct opposition of each other, that little spark turns into an explosion that ends up being the end of both of them, as well as a lot of other people along the way.

Ted Kotcheff’s 1982 movie “First Blood” has the same rock and a hard place mentality when it comes to the interactions between the two main characters, but really does change quite a bit from the source material, while still being very similar from start to finish. Confused? Well then let me explain.

Morrell’s “First Blood” is a fast read, with very little fat in the narrative and written in a way that keeps the story propelling forward. The perspective bounces back and forth between our two guys. First is John Rambo, a 20-something year old Vietnam veteran and escaped prisoner of war, and he’s making his way across the country on foot, as was still very popular at the time. He had already been escorted out of 15 small shitty towns in this country because of his looks, with his long hair and beard, and rolling in to town 16, he’d be damned if another small town cop gave him any shit.Continue Reading …

Talking Trailers: ‘Terminator: Genisys’

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Who is ready for a fifth Terminator movie? No one? Well it’s coming anyway, folks, so gird your loins because soon it will be time to sit through another installment of the continuing adventures of a our favorite time-traveling cyborg murderer and his many replicas. And with the Governator vacating politics a few years ago and jumping head first back into acting, the time was ripe for a new Terminator movie featuring an old Terminator. So now here we go with the first piece of marketing for this movie, and it gives us an idea of how they are going to pull this off. Here are my thoughts.Continue Reading …

Talking Trailers: ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

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Hey you guys here about this new “Star Wars” movies coming out? No? Really, that’s weird, cause it’s apparently a kind of a big deal. Good thing you have me to help you know what’s important in this world, right?

But seriously folks, there’s a new “Star Wars” movie on the way, it is a direct sequel to “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi,” which was the third movie of the series, and apparently the Force is awakening, cause in December 2015 we are going to get “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” with many returning cast members like Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher all coming back to reprise their roles and keep this story moving forward because, well, because Disney knows they can make $1 billion in worldwide box office for it, and for every movie they make like it.Continue Reading …

Talking Trailers: ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’

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Have you guys seen this “Mad Max: Fury Road” trailer from the San Diego Comic Con a few months ago? It’s been online for awhile now, so this is kind of a day late and a dollar short, but still, have you really, and I mean REALLY watched this trailer? Have you notices the absolute and utter madness that appears to be on display in this thing? Can you remember another movie recently that has this level of mayhem, destruction and simple downright what-the-fuckery?

Let’s take a closer look and unpack this thing just a little bit.Continue Reading …