In 10 Words or Less
Short-lived musical comedy about women, relationships and puppets

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Garfunkel and Oates, musical comedy
Likes: Absurdity
Dislikes: Most MOD releases, female insecurity
Hates: IFC's scheduling decisions

The Show
A while back HBO put out a handful of shorts featuring the musical comedy duo of Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, known better as Garfunkel and Oates. Together, like Voltron, those scenes made up a pilot of a show similar in feel to Flight of the Conchords, but unlike the Kiwi version, HBO didn't bring the distaff pairing to series. Instead, a few years later, IFC, which has been trying out alt comedy, brought eight episodes to the airwave...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Did you ever date a girl that had a big secret? One that would cause most guys to cut and run? That's the basic premise behind Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead's horror / romance Spring, and it certainly is a doozie of a secret.

Evan (Lou Taylor Pucci) is having a terrible time of it. His mom just died, and he's been fired from his job at a bar for beating the tar out of a guy after the funeral. The police are looking for him, and he really doesn't know what to do with his life. On a whim, he decides to go to Italy and bum around for a while. While there, he sees a mysterious young woman, Louise (Nadia Hilker), and even tries to talk her up, but is rebuffed. Undeterred, he gets a job at an olive farm owned by grizzled farmer Angelo (Francesco Carnelutti) just so that he can stay in the area.

Well, eventually Evan and Louise do get together, over coffee and wine, and a ...Read the entire review

As far back as the 1900s, there have been movies about gangsters. Classics of the genre such as Scarface and White Heat came out in the 1930s, roughly eighty years ago. Since then, we've had numerous additional classics, from The Godfather on down -- one of last year's big awards contenders, A Most Violent Year, was a modification of the mobster movie. We've had plenty of classic television covering the territory as well: "The Sopranos", "Boardwalk Empire", and of course, less traditional gangster shows such as "Sons of Anarchy" and "Justified." To say that the life of a gangster is well-worn territory is probably the understatement of the century. Yet, here's "Power", a new Starz program trying (unsuccessfully) to wring some fresh suspense from the sponge of organized crime.

James "Ghost" St. Patrick (Omari Hardwick) has a gorgeous wife, Tasha (Naturi Naughton), ...Read the entire review

The Season:

On the surface, Halt and Catch Fire looks like AMC's desperate attempt to replace their cash cow Mad Men with a similar show. Like Mad Men, it's a period piece centering on America's close past (This time we're in the early 80s instead of the 60s), has a brooding, narcissistic and perfectionist main character with a mysterious past, and takes place in a stressful corporate environment full of dreamers, backstabbers and opportunists.

Yet under the guise of such a cynical attempt at a substitute, Halt and Catch Fire is actually about the day-to-day struggles of realizing an impossible dream. It's about how hard and exhausting it is in a dog-eat-dog capitalistic society to come up with something groundbreaking and original without losing a piece of your mind and soul.

At the center o...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Robert Englund has had a storied career in film, and has the star power still to carry a movie, in horror circles at least. So it's too bad that one of his recent ventures, Fear Clinic, is only a fair horror film. Englund deserves greatness.

Englund plays Dr. Andover, who has created a revolutionary process for curing people of their phobias. It's an isolation chamber that they lie down in and, with the aid of pharmaceuticals and Andover's comforting voice of encouragement, relive their fears and overcome them. A number of his patients came to him after a traumatic massacre at a diner, and he helped them heal and get on with their lives. But now, a year later, Andover's clinic has fallen on hard times after a tragedy involving patient Paige (Bonnie Morgan), and those patients connected by the diner massacre are back. Their phobias have returned, and they are coming to An...Read the entire review

One of the most ambitious and intelligent films ofthe yearwas The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby. Written and directed byfirst-time feature filmmaker Ned Benson, the filmmaking was bold,original, andunusual compared to other contemporary dramas. Benson ended up with aconceptwhich was explored in a truly unique way. The Disappearance ofEleanor Rigbywas constructed as a two-part feature film experience which audiencescouldwatch back-to-back (without a specific viewing order).When the film received it's limited theatrical run Benson even left itopen totheater owners to decide the order of the experience. Nomatter which film was projected firstaudiences were in for one of the most daring and i...Read the entire review

The Film:

THE FILM:

For children of the ‘90s like me, Lois Lowry's "The Giver" is one of the most memorable books from our grade-school reading list. It is the rare novel that captured my young mind and one that I plowed through without complaint. The novel posed difficult questions about complex issues, and was certainly ripe for classroom discussion. One might successfully argue that Lowry's work spawned more recent Young Adult novels like "The Hunger Games" and "Divergent," which may be why this film adaptation fe...Read the entire review

The Film:

Note: Although screencaps should only be considered an idea of what the disc looks like, click any capture in this review to expand the image to a full size .png. All of the Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers caps are taken from the Producer's Cut disc. EDIT (10/10/2014): Please scroll to the audio section for information on getting a replacement Halloween 4 Blu-ray.

With the exception of the Texas Chain Saw Massacre series, few horror franchises have had their rights as widely scattered as the Halloween movies. The or...Read the entire review

Content:
From the network that brought you such powerhouses as Breaking Bad, which is often considered the greatest drama of all time, Mad Men, A wonderful period piece, and The Walking Dead, one of the most popular shows of all time, comes Low Winter Sun, a remake of a popular British television series by the same name. This series was pushed to the moon and back by AMC, even debuting it in the time slot behind the final season of Breaking Bad. Unfortunately (for them, fortunately for us) the series didn't catch on and was promptly cancelled after only 10 episodes. Did the series get a fair chance?

Low Winter Sun starts out with two men drowning a colleague and staging it to look like a suicide. In the opening minutes, We come to find out that the murderers are decorated detectives of the Detroit Police Department's homicide division, and the mu...Read the entire review

The Show:

While AMC was putting the viewer through some emotionally taxing yet memorable television in Breaking Bad, we (or at least I) resented them for drudging up some dumb show called Low Winter Sun, withholding preview clips of the former so that people would stick around for the latter. The life of the show could be marked with an egg timer and in December, 2013, the show was mercifully cancelled. So now that the show comes out to video, let us look to see if it was given a raw deal, shall we?

Chris Mundy adapted the British miniseries from 2006 for American audiences and fortunately for the show, Mark Strong (Blood) reprised his starring role also. Strong plays Frank Agnew, a police detective in Detroit who, along with his partner Joe Geddes (Lennie James, Read the entire review

The Movie:
What would any of us do for the right amount of money? Would we steal? Set fire to a church? Kill someone? That's the basic question that Daniel Stamm's 13 Sins, a remake of Thai film 13 Beloved. It's an interesting concept, and the protagonist Elliot, played by Mark Webber, is suitably sympathetic, though there are a few issues with the film.

Elliot is down on his luck. He's lost his job, he's deep in debt and about to get married to his pregnant girlfriend Shelby (Rutina Wesley), his mentally challenged brother Michael (Devon Graye) is in danger of being sent back to an institution, and his racist and bitter father (Tom Bower) is getting evicted from his retirement home and will have to move in with him. (The racist part is important, because Shelby is black, and a victim of petty cruelty from dad.) Elliot is at the end of his tether. So he feels like he's had a...Read the entire review

In theaters and via on-demand outlets.

There are many ways you could try to look at In the Blood. It's a stalwart reminder of traditional punch-and-kick action flicks standing firm for a tradition of non-CGI stunts. It's a throwback to the 1980s cheap thrills low-budget actioner but with an awesome woman delivering the body blows rather than over-muscled meatheads. It's unpretentious and uncomplicated.

It's also terrible. Which doesn't disqualify any of the above. Most of the stuff that comes to mind that fits those descriptions isn't very good either. Limited theatrical runs and video-on-demand is the new direct-to-VHS/DVD. Apparently there's still a racket for this kind of thing.

What will lead most to In the Blood, as it did me, is Gina Carano, the...Read the entire review

THE MOVIE:

Please Note: The stills used here are taken from promotional materials and other sources, not the Blu-ray edition under review.

When I worked at an indie video store some time ago, a customer once told me, "The more famous people in a movie you've never heard of, the less chance it has to be good."

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Jane Mansfield's Car, actor Billy Bob Thornton's return to directing (after Sling Blade and All the Pretty Horses). Not only does Jayne Mansfield's Car give proof to this mathematical formula, but it also pulls off what I tho...Read the entire review

THE FILM:

The father and son relationship at the heart of Lee Daniels' The Butler nearly eclipses the story proper, which concerns African-American Cecil Gaines, a longtime White House butler who served during eight administrations over 34 years. I do not mean this as a criticism, as the divide between moderate Gaines and his activist son, Louis, anchors this mostly successful historical drama with genuine emotion. Forest Whitaker is excellent as Cecil, taking a role that could have been overly showy wi...Read the entire review

Most people with any knowledge of rock music (or Martin Scorsese's movies) can summon The Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" to mind. Powerful riffs, Mick Jagger, and a woman, belting out the memorable lyric, "it's just a shot away" at the top of her lungs. Merry Clayton generally got her work doing back-up vocals, and she's not alone: 20 Feet From Stardom interviews a whole group of singers who -- while they may not have been the stars -- provided crucial, possibly even signature elements to classic tracks like "Gimme Shelter", "He's a Rebel", "Sweet Home Alabama", and "Thriller".

Director Morgan Neville guides the viewer through a mostly chronological history of back-up singers in pop music, starting with Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Darlene Love (who film fans may recognize as Roger Murtaugh's wife from the Lethal Weapon series) and continuing through to singer Judith Hill, a contem...Read the entire review

Better late than never. The fiercely independent All the Boys Love Mandy Lane made a hell of a splash in Toronto back in 2006, but thanks to poor test screenings, distributor cash flow problems, at least one

[click on the thumbnail to enlarge]

bankrupt...Read the entire review

The Movie:

The Billy Bob Thornton who directed and starred in Sling Blade is back. Thornton even brought his long-time writing partner Tom Epperson in for their first collaboration since 2000's The Gift. While it seems unlikely their new low-key Southern drama Jayne Mansfield's Car will garner them any Oscars this time around, Thornton and Epperson are so successful at nailing that tone -- that flavor -- of Southern life that made their previous work so appealing that it is easy to forgive the creakier and more predictable mechanics of the movie's storytelling.

In 1969 Alabama, two families are brought together by the death of their shared matriarch. Decades before, she left her family in Alabama and married a dapper E...Read the entire review

Note: Ricky Roxburgh, the screenwriter of Saving Santa, attended Hofstra University with me, and he was one of my writers when I served as editor-in-chief of Nonsense, the school's only intentional humor magazine. I attempted to not hold that against him as I wrote this review. After watching the film, I am just thankful I don't have to worry about hurting his feelings.

It's that time of year when more new Christmas movies attempt to stake their claim on the holiday season and become another classic pulled out for repeated viewings when the weather gets cold. The last one I remember with any fondness is Arthur Christmas, a British production from Aardman, about Santa's youngest son trying to keep his dad's yearly mission fully complete. Now we have Saving Santa, another Brit-heavy film, which. from the title, sounds like another "help Santa do his job" adventure. In...Read the entire review

The dark, seductive allure of the vampire has held great interest for women over the past several decades. From Anne Rice's novels through to the Twilight series, the modern vampire is generally a mysterious man preying on an innocent girl who is unable to resist his advances. In the interest of cashing in on an audience that's stronger than ever (as well as a 2013 remake), Anchor Bay has dredged up Embrace of the Vampire, a 1995 production that catches the eye as a rare example written and directed by several women (Anne Goursaud behind the camera, with Halle Eaton, Nicole Coady, and Rick Bitzelberger penning the script). Too bad that intrigue turns almost immediately to agonizing tedium, as this attempt to mash up a classy period piece with a 20th century college flick is an unmitigated disaster.

Charlotte (Alyssa Milano) is a former Catholic schoolgirl, out in the real world for th...Read the entire review

The Movie:
Rob Zombie has been making movies for a while now, and technically they keep getting better. The Lords of Salem is his latest, and the effects, music, performances, etc. are almost without flaw, and still the film is only moderately successful. This may be because of the death of actor Richard Lynch mid-production, which caused lots of reshoots, rearranging and compromise to complete the picture.

The tale revolves around Heidi (the director's wife, Sheri Moon Zombie), a Salem DJ, who is sent a mysterious record by a group called "The Lords". She plays the record on her radio show, which is co-hosted by Whitey and Herman (Jeffrey Daniel Phillips and Ken Foree). The somber, eerie music on the record has a strange effect on Heidi, and various other women around the city. Then, things start to get weird.

Intercut with the scenes of the modern day, sometimes as flashbacks, ...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
A man on a m-f'ing mission

The Movie
Anyone who has seen me write (or has seen my office) can attest to the fact that I am a multitasker. You won't normally find me focused on just one activity, as normally I'll have a hockey game on one screen, music playing, Food Network or some other TV wallpaper playing and a blank sheet waiting to be filled. So it was not strange for this to be the setting as I started in on my first viewing of Django Unchained. However, the hockey and the music and the TV melted...Read the entire review

In 10 Words or Less
Some people never change

Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Aubrey Plaza
Likes: Megacasts, Chris Pratt
Dislikes: High School
Hates: Reunions

The Movie
I didn't attend my 10-year high-school reunion. To be honest, I don't think there even was one. We didn't have the most tight-knit community, and though I maintain some connection with some of my former classmates via Facebook, I am not exactly dying to see how most of the people I went to high school with are doing. I didn't have a bad experience, but college was much better, and I have far better friendships with the people I met there. So when I see movies like Gross Pointe Blank or 10 Years, it's a bit like watching a foreign fi...Read the entire review