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Category Archives: Movies Watched In 2016
Anaconda (1997)
This was a staple of my VHS-dominated childhood and I haven’t revisited it in a long time. Anaconda is dopey as hell but there’s something very charming about it. The mix of early CGI with practical effects makes me happy. It exists … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged Anaconda, Danny Trejo, David Hyde Pierce, Eric Stolz, ice cube, Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight, Luis Llosa, Owen Wilson
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Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
Where Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance really blazes is when the voices of its star and directors are in total harmony. The combination of Neveldine/Taylor and Nicolas Cage is spectacular. Naturally, when the film goes big it goes BIG. Ghost Rider pisses fire, … Continue reading
Swiss Army Man (2016)
Swiss Army Man is a weird fucking movie, but also gleefully child-like and optimistic in ways we don’t really see a whole lot these days. Which is another way of saying: it’s immature. And that might not be a bad thing. … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews
Tagged daniel radcliffe, Daniels, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Paul Dano, Swiss Army Man
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S. Darko (2009)
The idea of a Donnie Darko sequel feels like blasphemy. While S. Darko is completely beneath that film in almost every regard – ideas, execution, ambition, intelligence – by using it as a foundation, you end up with a film that is far more … Continue reading
August Underground’s Mordum (2003)
By losing all of the “in-between” moments of randomness and focusing exclusively on 80+ minutes of relentless, disgusting violence and reprehensible characters, August Underground’s Mordum loses everything that made the original film so effective. The captured moments here feel much more like … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews
Tagged August Underground's Mordum, Fred Vogel
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Scream 2 (1997)
Like Scream, this is a film I’ve watched to death over the years. But unlike Screamit doesn’t quite hold up as well. The opening sequence in the cinema is a fucking all-timer. It’s Craven firing on all cylinders and is inventive, surprising and upsetting … Continue reading
August Underground (2001)
August Underground is a gruelling watch but appropriately so. Presented as a string of found footage clips from a pair of serial killers’ Mini DV collection, it certainly looks and feels the part. First off: the violence, the perspective, the ideology, … Continue reading
U Turn (1997)
It’s a good time to be an Oliver Stone fan. Or at the very least it’s a good time to be thinking about Oliver Stone. His latest film Snowden has just hit cinemas but more interestingly, Matt Zoller Seitz recently published The Oliver Stone Experience; … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews
Tagged Claire Danes, Jennifer Lopez, Joaquin Phoenix, Nick Nolte, Oliver Stone, Sean Penn, U Turn
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The Bad News Bears (1978)
Pleasurably foul-mouthed and un-PC, The Bad News Bears takes the kiddie sports-team formula (or was this the origin of that trope?) and filters it exclusively through a grainy 70s Hollywood lens. The kids drink booze, smoke, swear, act out and the film … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews
Tagged Jackie Earle Haley, Michael Ritchie, The Bad News Bears, Walter Mathau
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Captain America: Civil War (2016)
I had a lot of problems with Civil War the first time I saw it; too scattershot, too cluttered. Honestly, I found it a bit of a chore to enjoy it as much as so many others apparently were. Upon re-watch, however, … Continue reading
"This Film Should Be Played Loud" 