Movie of the Day – Sleepy Hollow

So apparently while watching the KC Chiefs, CHIEFS, play on Sunday against Dallas, there were a shit ton of promos for a new Fox show entitled Sleepy Hollow.  Yes folks it’s true, Fox decided that a gritty crime show will now incorporate the story of Sleepy Hollow complete with axe wielding, headless horseman and Ichabod Crane, because nothing says long lasting series than a continuous cat and mouse game of the cops searching for a headless killer.  How long do they honestly think they will get out of this premise.  We already know the killer of the show.  We already can tell that his victims won’t have a head when he is finished.  We already can tell this will be a fish out of water story where Ichabod will have to learn to deal with modern technology and form a sexy partnership with his handler.  So what’s left here to explore?  I just seriously laid out the entire premise of the show in three sentences without having to expend a lot of brain cells to come to this conclusion.  Get ready for my new show about a group of fishermen who are wondering why there is a shortage of fish out in their fishing grounds until they stumble upon a man drifting at sea named Ahab who knows the real reason for their fish loss.  MOBY DICK.

Anyways, I decided now would be a good time as any to talk about one of few Tim Burton movies that doesn’t get on my nerves.  Also it’s a movie where Johnny Depp isn’t doing his usual weird, accessory wearing roles.

Movie of the Day – The Warriors

Time for a little turf rumble.  You got The Alleycats, The Amsterdam All-Stars, The Baseball Furies, The Black Hands, The Blackjacks, The Big Trains, The Boppers, The Boyle Avenue Runners, The Knuckles, The Lizzies, The Locos, The Magicians, The Meatpackers, The Mongols, The Moonrunners, The Napoleons, The Terriers, The Turks, The Turnbull AC’s, The Van Cortlandt Rangers, and The Warriors.  If you didn’t recognize most of the names on this list, then you are not a fan of The Warriors.  That’s right, I am talking about baddest gang movie to come out of the late 70’s suckas.  Now it didn’t do well at the box office, in fact it is more of a cult classic than anything else because of the low budget, simple script, cast with relative unknowns (except for badass James Remar) and was more exploitative in nature.  Out of all these little things, The Warriors is a fucking dope movie, with interesting gangs, interesting premise and some bitching street fights.

Movie Review – I Declare War

Well I hope everyone is having an excellent Labor Day weekend, I certainly have so it’s time to put out another post on the blog.  Sadly I have been slipping on duties of posting everyday since like July, but I am hopefully going to be less busy and start getting back into the swing of things.  So like usual, I have been working with the fine folks at Lost In Reviews and now I have another review to put out for everyone!

This time around I talk about I Declare War, which is a fantastic film about kids taking the game of capture the flag to the most imaginative step possible.  Check it out on VOD or in theaters as it is finally getting a wide release.

As usual, there is an excerpt of the review and a link to the full article.  Enjoy!

I Declare War is the movie that we all lived and experienced when we were young and outside playing with friends.  It is the sort of movie that reminds you what it is like being a young kid and getting a group of friends together to play war.  Whether you were the rich kids with your cool Nerf toys, engaging in neighborhood combat with super soakers or dare I say, using your imagination, you lived what this movie is showcasing; a group of kids using their imagination to play out an expansive game of capture the flag.  The latest release from Drafthouse Films and directors Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson take that childhood game of war and turning it into a reflection on growing up between the time of being young and carefree, but also the looming notion of being a teen.

Click here for the full review.

Listen UP! POD-tacular!

Hey everyone!  Another installment of my podcasting endeavors with the dudes from Lost In Reviews.  We are already 4 podcasts deep and we are still going strong.  Hoping this still becomes a regular, weekly deal but one step at a time.  I just love writing for them and sitting down with my friends, talking about movies and music.  This time around we cover three movies and some thoughts about the summer movie season.  Enjoy!

The Lost In Reviews Podcast #4: The Spectacular P.O.D.cast

On this week’s Podcast John and Rich discuss the divisiveness of NIN’s new track “Everything” and Nick joins in to talk about Kick Ass 2, Jobs, The Spectacular Now, before the dudes all pick their favorite films of the summer.

http://lostinreviews.com/2013/08/the-lost-in-reviews-podcast-4-the-spectacular-p-o-d-cast/

Movie Review – The Spectacular Now

Another writing assignment from the folks at Lost In Reviews and this time I got a chance to sit down and watch The Spectacular Now.  With out going into too much detail and spoiling anything for people who might be interested in this movie, this is nothing short of perfect.  This is the coming of age movie that this generation needs and will be fondly looked at years to come.  Please please see this movie, I can’t recommend it enough.

Below is an excerpt from my review and a link to the full review at Lost In Reviews.

Enjoy!

It wasn’t until I saw The Spectacular Now, that I realized that we can get a high school movie with characters who aren’t just picked out of a yearbook of archetypes and clichés, that we can get a movie with characters we can truly resonate with and a movie that we can see and relate to the pangs of growing up and not knowing what to do with life.  I don’t want to say that this IS the quintessential high school/coming of age movie, but it sure feels like we are witnessing something spectacular.

Click here for the full review.

Movie of the Day – Confessions of a Superhero

We all have dreams that we would like to see become a reality one day.  Something almost grandiose for our own good, but dreams that seem so real to us that we can make them a reality.  It seems attainable and possible that it could happen to us.  Dreams are made every day somewhere in the world and why not my dream?  Why not something that I want in life becoming a reality?  We think about them daily, some people make a list of goals to get to that dream job or car or lifestyle.  We can the small steps to hopefully achieve the outlandish dream we have built up in our minds.  Some can achieve those dreams, others well, dreams are dreams for a purpose.  In relation to movies, some of us had dreams of becoming the next best thing.  A leading actor or actress, a director or successful writer, all glorious dreams.  There are people who have achieved that and there are some that haven’t.  Maybe their time will come some day or maybe it will leave them behind as time slips away.  Confessions of a Superhero is a documentary that explores the lives of those who come to Hollywood in hopes of their dreams coming true.  Instead of making it big in Hollywood movies, they are left dressing up as these larger than life characters in front of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  It heartbreaking to know that their dreams are right beneath their feet.

Movie Review – Jobs

Well I was given another writing assignment, mainly cause I requested that I get the opportunity to write about this first generation Steve Jobs movie that Hollywood practically tripped over themselves to make first.  So I got the chance to see and review Jobs, the Ashton Kutcher movie in which he plays Kelso Jobs or Steve Jobs…whatever.  This ladies and gentlemen, is why you always wait for the second gen models of Apple products to come out.  It lets the next model get all those nasty flaws and bugs out of the system.

Check out my full review over at Lost In Reviews and I will update with our podcast over this and many more movies.

Enjoy!

What’s sad is that this movie falls into the trappings that are the hallmark of Apple’s products.  It’s big, grandiose, a flashy veneer, and like any Apple product, there will be a second gen model that is better than the original.  Jobs is too ambitious in what it wants to be, but it also isn’t sure what it truly wants to be either.  Director Joshua Michael Stern tackles the life of Steve Jobs, who is played by Ashton Kutcher, and tries to cover the entirety of Steve’s time starting and running Apple, to his ousting in the mid 80’s and his heralded return a decade later.  This monolithic time span doesn’t allow for any real growth, just a series of scenes centered around Apple launch products that showcase Jobs as this rebellious asshole who has a vision that no one else can fathom, often leading the viewer down this path of either canonizing him or demonizing him.

Click here for the full review.

Movie of the Day – 13 Assassins

Takashi Miike is a lot of things, well actually one thing and that is the visceral director of some of the most insane and disturbing films to come out of the era of V-cinema and Japanese filmmaking.  A man who puts to film some depraved things like Visitor Q, Izo, Dead or Alive and Ichi The Killer.  If you have never seen any of his films, they are hard to watch but there is no denying the sheer boundaries that have been pushed by his filmmaking.  Titillating and thought provoking, his films have a unique style that I admire as a fan of film.  But seeing him take on more complicated projections and properties is something that can only lead to a certain cinematic style that Miike can bring.  Tackling a remake of the 1963 film of the same name is a tall order, but there is no denying that his intensity will be carefully transposed on the film that plays fast with a loose historical affiliation and one of the most intense third acts in film history.

Listen UP!

Well well well, looks like yours truly did yet another podcast for the site I write for, Lost In Reviews.  We recorded this past Wednesday and managed to get back into the swing of things after unsuccessfully trying to record again the past few weeks.  The stars aligned and we sat down to cover two podcasts worth of topics with music and movies, so hopefully you all enjoy  my latest project that will hopefully be weekly.

Enjoy!

The Lost In Reviews Podcast #2: 2 GUNS!  2 CRAZY!  2 EXTREME!

After a week of technical difficulties and bad schedules, the LIR crew is finally back!

In this installment, we discuss seeing The Postal Service live and the importance of their album Give Up, and we review The Wolverine, 2 Guns, Only God Forgives, and The Conjuring. Don’t miss out on a fairly divisive X-Men discussion during the Wolverine segment and find out which of those four films is the first perfect 5 out of 5 review of the year from Richard!

Podcast link here.

The Lost In Reviews Podcast #3: Podapalooza

In this installment, we discuss whether We’re The Millers is actually funny or not, The Act Of Killing, Percy Jackson: The Sea of…Monsters?, and Elysium! Then Richard and John discuss the failures of Buzz Under The Stars Night 2 in Kansas City, Ryan tells us about his experiences at this years Lollapalooza festival, including seeing NIN and The Cure, and John excitedly recounts the Death Grips fiasco from Lolla.

Podcast link here.

Movie Review – The Act of Killing

I was given another opportunity to review a movie for the site Lost In Reviews and this time it is over one of the most talked about documentary this year.  Joshua Oppenheimer has made one of the most shocking and in-depth documentaries about war criminals in Indonesia.  The Act of Killing is sure to be one of the best documentaries this year and frankly, the most harrowing and captivating documentary out there.

Check out my full review on LostInReviews.com.

“History is written by winners, and we won.”  A morbid act of justification and pride, this line uttered by the subject of the documentary The Act of Killing.  Director Joshua Oppenheimer takes a look at the genocide that befell Indonesia in the 1960’s, specifically focusing on the those that carried out the war crimes by getting them on camera to assist in a Hollywood re-creation of their participation in the mass murder of 1 million supposed communist citizens after the military overthrew the government.

Click here for the full review.