[Editor’s Note: The title is my doing, of course… but it had to be done.] If you enjoy cult movies, you probably love Death Race 2000. It is still of the timeliest films ever made and is still relevant to this day. You have a manipulative shadow government, an American hero and a cast of…
Our First Guest Joins Us to Fight About THE GUEST
The Guest is a simple story being told in an incredibly stylish, yet unpretentious way. From the opening to the closing credits, Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett let you know that this is going to be all about “mood”. The synth heavy score is omnipresent and only adds to the dread that this “guest” may…
GBS: Shrader’s Crime Thriller is Okay, But Bousman’s Horror is Haunting
Nothing new to report in regards to the sloppiness tonight. Sour beer, it’s kinda my thing when I drink these days. A few bottles in, I’m still feeling pretty normal. I’ll keep working on that, though. Onto our films, and like last time, we’re getting the lesser entry out of the way first. Dog Eat…
Philly Hip Hop Legend DJ Jazzy Jeff Wants to Rock Out with You in a Secret Hometown Show
Tuesday the 24th marks a rare opportunity to catch Jazz on his home turf. As a man who tours the globe day after day, night after night, Jeff isn’t home all that often. Of course, he carries Philly in his heart, though. As they say, you can take the DJ outta Philly, but you can’t…
Why Noah Baumbach’s WHILE WE’RE YOUNG Never Made Any Noise
One of the pleasures of Noah Baumbach’s work is how rooted it is in in character. Films such as Greenberg and Frances Ha are about flawed, often selfish individuals, but Baumbach doesn’t glorify their shortcomings or hold them in contempt. Instead, he acts as an observer and doesn’t try to keep his audience at a…
The Kid in Black Recommends: THE JUNIE B. JONES CAST ALBUM
When you name your kid after Johnny Cash and Jimi Hendrix, it kind of goes without saying that he’s going to like music… a lot. In fact, his younger brother, also named after musicians (Eisley’s Weston Dupree and Say Anything’s Max Bemis), may even be more music obsessed than him. Thus, as someone who writes…
Six 2016 Films that Made Ana Happy
Everybody Wants Some Richard Linklater has finally made a bookend of sorts to Dazed and Confused. Imagine a film that embodies the feel of 1980: It’s excellently acted, roll-on-floor hilarious, and centers around a college baseball team the weekend before school starts. This was my favorite film of the year. Rogue One: A Star Wars…
The Good, The Bad, and the Sloppy: Catching Up on 2016 Thrillers
Welcome to the first in a series of two packs, where I (or another staff member if they so choose) review two films I’ve recently watched while drinking an adult beverage or four. Tonight, I’m already 2/3 of the way through a 750 mL bottle of Victory’s Sour Monkey. At 9.5% ABV, I am struggling…
Friday Fight Argues over Refn’s THE NEON DEMON
How do you talk about a movie that made your Top 10 of the year by sheer force? The Neon Demon was undoubtedly one of the best movie going experiences I had in 2016, sucking me into its lush world with a dense saturation of neon and lulling me into a trance-like state with one…
Opening in LA Tomorrow: WE ARE THE FLESH is Beautifully Grotesque
[Editor’s Note: After literally burning itself into the minds of critics and festgoers worldwide, We are the Flesh hits US big screens this month and early next, with a city by city rollout that begins tomorrow in Los Angeles. While I am still wrapping my mind around what I can say about the film (other…
“Mondo” Counts Down Year’s Best Exploitation Films
[Editor’s Note: This is one of a few new writers coming aboard in 2017. Blaine McLaren is a sleazy film guru who blogs at mondomclaren.com and I asked him what the best exploitation films of 2016 were. He gave me the following list. Welcome aboard Blaine!] 2016 was a great year in film that brought…
The Cinephile Files Special Edition: Counting Down the Top 7 2016 Criterion Releases
Say what you will about 2016, at least The Criterion Collection continued to do the Lord’s work. They continue to be the gold standard by which home video releases are judged with their fantastic restorations and copious extras. Here are the seven best Criterion Blu-ray and DVD releases of 2016. 7. The Complete Lone Wolf…
Bang Your Head: 7 Metal Albums from 2016 Not to Miss
Alleageon – Proponent for Sentience Picking a #1 in anything is hard, well this one wasn’t. Proponent is just that good. The first track to be released, (also my favorite) “Gray Matter Mechanics” completely blew me away; flamenco guitar in technical death metal?!?! Thrashy riffing and shredding, yes sir! They also do a kick-ass cover…
Raising Hell with Arrow’s SCARLET BOX LIMITED EDITION TRILOGY
When the credits of Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth began to roll and the perfect grumble that is Lemmy’s gruff vocal style rolled in over his signature bass sound and Mickey Dee’s drums, I knew that my first journey through this fantastic trilogy of films will surely not be my last. Far more intelligent than…
Garrett is Truly an Angry Bird Because of This Film
The visceral hatred displayed by my staff at this film makes me laugh. As a parent, I’ve watched so much Disney and Nick garbage that a film that felt pretty decent (mind you, I’ve only watched it once and it was in the theater, perhaps I should leave it that way) was utter garbage to…
Ana Dedicates Her Top 10 to David and Leonard
[Editor’s Note: I’m beginning to think I’m bad at directions, because here’s another BEST OF 2016 done in a format other than the Top 7 I had decided on. To be fair, who the hell does Top 7 lists anyway? Moving on… here’s a list of Ana’s favorite albums of the year. And, we start…
It’s Not All Bad: Jacob’s 7 Happiest Moments in this Dumpster Fire of a Year
It’s been a rough year. It would be really easy to compile a list of the worst moments that we’ll remember from 2016. It’s much harder to remember the good stuff. The times that shimmered, providing an island of comfort amid the preceding and ensuing clusterfuck. It’s a hard list because I’m not naturally a…
7 Things Certain to Happen in 2017
1. White House Sex Scandals! It’s been almost 20 years since we’ve had a good White House Sex Scandal. Time for a comeback. We’ve got a serial adulterer who likes to grab women by the pussy without permission taking office on January 20th. I mean, his current, third wife even plans to stay in New…
Lines from 2016 Films That Resulted in My Baffling Laughter
“Learrrrninnnng.” – Apocalypse from X-Men: Apocalypse, with his hand pressed against a tube-television, implying he’s learning the history of mankind via a singular Egyptian television station’s current programming. One hopes he got lucky enough for an anchor on that station to reference the internet so that he learns of its existence and make some real…