You have to know your biases, and here’s one of mine. When it comes to horror movies, I have become one pretentious bitch. Oh yeah--I love the whole indie horror schtick.
Read MoreThe Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016) - Blu-ray
I’ve been pretty quiet about The Autopsy of Jane Doe until now, and, I’ve got to admit, the reason is a bit odd.I was actually one of the first people to see the film, sitting literally front-and-center at its’ Fantastic Fest premiere in Austin last year. I’d received some press releases about it in the lead up to the festival, and they’d piqued my interest—a movie set in one location, built around an autopsy, starring Brian Cox?
Read MoreRoboCop 2 (1990) - Blu-ray
Robocop is undeniably one of the quintessential 80s films, a cinematic classic that stands not only as a timelessly enjoyable piece of sci-fi/action but a timely critique of the culture from which it emerged. Though it was only the second American feature from Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, he’d already gotten his thumb firmly on the pulse of a nation bursting at the seams with prosperity whilst simultaneously ridden with crime, a glitzy age whose neon aesthetics hid an underbelly of dank corruption and crippling selfishness. With its’ intersection of drug lords and evil businessmen, love/hate relationship with technology, pulsing discos and intrusive commercials, Robocop got the darker aspects of the 80s, in a way that other similarly executed films were able to wrap themselves around the era’s virtues.
Read MoreSanta Sangre (1989)
Welcome to the second installment of Spanish language orphan epics! Want to up the ante with some more existential despair, uncomfortable sexual antics, and surrealist imagery? Of course you do, you darling thing, you-- and wouldn’t mom be proud?
Read MoreThe Devil's Backbone (2001)
In honor of Spring Break, I decided to be a lazy bitch and take last week off. Sorry, loyal readers and c’est le vie! In recompense, I’m offering you a morbid, Spanish orphan extravaganza. First up is 2001’s The Devil’s Backbone.
Read MoreFirestarter (1984) - Blu-ray
As I’m writing this, countless fans the world over are going to say goodbye to the original X-Men Franchise with Logan, the story of Wolverine’s trek across America with a young mutant girl capable of great destruction. While it’s a fantastic film, and one that every superhero fan should definitely see, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Logan is, in fact, the latest installment in a minor subgenre of sci-fi action films that’s slowly been trickling back to life: people-on-the-run-with-a-super-child. In addition to Logan, we saw it only recently with Midnight Special, which saw Joel Edgerton and Michael Shannon attempting to transport a psychic child to a special destination in Florida; and last year’s Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things was entirely built around this archetype, with the usual adult protector role switched out for the D&D boys.
Read MoreBloodrunners (2017)
Bloodrunners just might be the greatest horror comedy yet unleashed on 2017. I don’t know if that’s a point for or against the movie, but, in either case, it’s pretty damn hysterical. Set in the dying days of prohibition, Bloodrunners nominally focuses on Detective Jack Malone, a hardboiled cop in a sleepy East Coast town whose main jobs seem to be collecting protection money from speakeasies and hanging out at the local whoremansion, where he drowns his memories of World War I in an endless supply of booze and flesh.
Read MoreCapture Kill Release (2016)
I’ve been married nearly a decade now, and occasionally someone will ask me what I think makes a successful marriage. Of course, I have a barrage of criteria--things you would probably expect like a sacrificial attitude, patience, shared political and religious sentiments. But for me, the biggest predictor of a couple’s longevity is the degree to which both parties take an interest in the other’s hobbies.
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