A weekly talk show hosted by film critic Christopher Crespo
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.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
This image from the very beginning of the new trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s cinematic adaptation of the Thomas Pynchon detective novel “Inherent Vice” is somehow the same image I saw in my head when I read the book a while ago and damn it all to hell if it doesn’t look like 2014 is going to go out with a bang at the theaters because this thing looks just downright great.
Well, it IS marketing, and that’s what they are trying to tell us, right, in which case, it is working mightily well. Then again, it helps when they have good material to work with, and we all now by now that Paul Thomas Anderson can provide enough great looking stuff to make marketers drool over the possibilities.Continue Reading …
The summer movie season for 2014 is officially over, ending with a commercial and critical bang with the unexpected powerhouse that is “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and now we are in that transition period from big expensive tentpole movies to the more serious minded, adult targeted, possibly award winning films typical of the end of the year. So what can we look forward to in 2014? Here is a list of nine movies that could potentially make a big impact this fall movie season. And let’s just start at the beginning, shall we?Continue Reading …
“The Double” is a bleak, angst-ridden surreal psychological thriller dark comedy about a man, in the midst of an existential crisis, who meets his physical double and at first they appear to be allies but things quickly go from bad to what the fuck. From writer/director Richard Ayoade and loosely based on the 19th century Russian lit classic of the same name, “The Double” is one of the most original and interesting movies I’ve seen in quite awhile, bursting with ideas and a deliberate energy that just makes this whole thing hum along very loudly and distinctly.Continue Reading …
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Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined once again by Aaron Weiss from CinemaFunk.com to recap the 2014 Florida Film Festival!