The full trailer for Christopher Nolan’s latest film, Dunkirk, was recently released.
Focusing on the events surrounding the battle of Dunkirk, the movie looks to be pretty epic from at least a cinematography standpoint. Hoyt Van Hoytema (Spectre, Interstellar, Her) is back for this, which could be fantastic for the 70mm and IMAX Presentations.
Dunkirk – Starring Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, Cillian Murphy and Kenneth Branaugh, is due to open in theatres next July.
After the debacle that was The Warning, I was just about ready to throw in the towel on “micro-budget” horror available via Amazon Prime’s streaming service (until the itch demanded to be scratched again a few months down the road, of course) , but as Al Pacino once famously said : “Just when I thought I was out — they pull me back in.” And the flick that pulled me back in? Writer/director Steve Hudgins’ 2012 Madisonville, Kentucky-filmed effort — made for the princely sum of $10,000 — Spirit Stalkers.
On paper, of course, there’s nothing here that sounds like it should be better (or worse, I suppose) than anything else : the cast and crew of our titular ghost-hunting paranormal “reality” show need a big ratings boost to avoid cancellation, and they think they’ve “found a winner,” so to speak, with the story of Gloria Talman (played…
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My recent forays into the depths of Amazon Prime’s streaming horror queue have yielded some interesting results — indeed, on the whole I’m ready to feel reasonably optimistic about so-called “micro-budget” genre filmmaking again — but then along comes something that not only confirms, but unquestionably amplifies, everything that all the nay-sayers who don’t even bother with this sort of thing assume to be true : the acting is laughably bad, the script is loaded with cringe-worthy dialogue, the plot is hopelessly redundant and unoriginal, the low-rent production values are embarrassingly amateurish, yadda yadda etc. etc. It is, therefore, my distinct displeasure to present perhaps the —errrmmm — finest example of all these frequent criticisms writ large that I have yet some across, director Dirk Hagen’s 2015 atrocity The Warning.
Honestly, the word “bad” seems too simple — and frankly too kind — to describe what’s on offer…
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Upon first pass-through, you could almost be forgiven, a few pages into Providence #11, for thinking that you must have missed an issue somewhere along the way. Not just because of the massive delay between the previous installment and this current one (though that certainly didn’t help matters), but because the tone, tenor, and most crucially the tempo of everything have so clearly changed, and so quickly. Gone is the comic that spent most of its time showing our protagonist either taking long walks or having deep, philosophical conversations while all the genuine horror taking place both around and, crucially, to him escaped his notice, and in its place stands a story about a man who is fully awake, fully aware, and understandably scared to death — and when the dam of blissful denial breaks, all bets are off as surely as the brakes are on this frenetically-paced, deliberately- whiplash-inducing…
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I’m assuming that anyone with an internet connection is at least familiar in passing with the urban legend of the “Black Eyed Children,” but just in case you’re not, here’s a brief recap of the phenomenon : pale and creepy-looking kids with retina-free eyes whose color can best be described as falling somewhere between “onyx” and “obsidian” show up unannounced on peoples’ front doors and/or porches and ask, in “vampire rules” fashion, to be let in. Sometimes they provide a pretext (“I’m hungry,” “I’m cold,” etc.), sometimes not, but whatever the case, if you do let ’em in you’ll probably regret it. Often they don’t appear to do much more than creep people out and overstay their welcome, but sometimes they’ve been known to go so far as to kill folks, so hey — why take the chance? Apparently these sightings go back decades, perhaps even centuries, and while no…
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People of Earth is usually 80/20- Comedy/Drama; however, this particular episode was full-on tug at your heartstrings 80/20 Drama/Comedy. If not done well, this switch can undermine or derail a show, but Norm Hiscock (writer) really delivered something unique and tenderhearted. In fact, I’ve been thinking about his episode for most of the time since I watched it. You begin thinking that the story will be all about Jerry saying goodbye; instead, Norm gives us an episode about love, family, and basic human… even tribal bonds.
When I first learned screenwriting, my teacher made me make list all of the things that would worry a caveman.
I responded: finding a mate, a bad king, predators, and natural disasters.
He responded: SEE!
Then, he wrote on the board “When Harry Met Sally”, “Nixon”, “Predator”, and “Day After Tomorrow”. “We are moved by movies because they tap into our genetic fears and desires.”
This episode did that for me.
We open with Gerry telling Ozzie about a clear pattern of abductions that all occur at a specific area and he wants to be the next in the line. This abduction will be permanent because no one ever returned when they were taken at this time. Gerry states that he has quit his job and Ozzie shows concern for this, but Gerry is determined to be a full-fledged Starcrossed member, even though it means never returning to Earth.
Gerry cleans himself up and does A LOT of grooming, including an abundance of nail clipping. Then, he packs a Go Bag and with his “Family Photo”- it’s a selfie-stick shot of him with the Starcrossed group. This shows a clear, visual example of familial/tribal love.
Gerry’s determined to tell Yvonne his feelings, but chickens out. This is the emotional and physical love.
Coffeehouse: Kelly visits LOTR-Guy at his coffeehouse. Kelly tries to apologize and LOTR-Guy shuts her down with an apology on behalf of all men because he was a nosy-pants and male privilege something. Kelly is now all over LOTR-Guy like a Today’s Man Suit.
Ozzie follows up on a lead about Senator Pelosi’s connection to Glint and how Jonathan suppressed stories at Glint. My favorite: This Privileged American Life – Ira Glass. If you’ve never heard This American Life, you should, BUT be prepared to become depressed. “However, this shouldn’t matter because happiness is a lie we tell ourselves so we can wake up everyday.” Just kidding, Ira never said this because he’s much more upbeat than I am.
Nancy overhears that Ozzie is getting close to uncovering the conspiracy. Jonathan is ordered to get a donut.. again. Jonathan tries to stall and arranges a lunch with Ozzie.
Gerry says goodbye to Richard and gives him all of his alien research.
The Lunch: Jonathan tries to bully Ozzie using the carrot and stick technique formerly used by Henry Kissinger. The Stick: Jonathan threatens to expose/discredit Ozzie for being a member of “Space Losers”. The Carrot: “Brews Skettah”. It fails. Jonathan shall eat his “Brews Skettah” all alone. Michael Cassidy has some real drama chops. He should consider some drama or Jason Bourne-ish action movie stuff. What was great about this scene is that when Jonathan is saying “After all that I’ve done for you” He means it literally because he helped raise and protect Ozzie since he was a child, explaining why Jonathan has empathy unlike his purely Reptilian counterpart Nancy. This hammers home the fatherly love that Jonathan has for Ozzie and this was shown in previous episodes wherein he gives Ozzie veggie drinks and mentoring.
Gerry goes to Yvonne’s house and he nearly chickens out, but Yvonne helps him along and they make sweet love. However, he still wants to try to get abducted and say goodbye for good.
The Date: LOTR-Guy is REALLY in touch with his feelings. They try to dance and it’s awesome. It reminded me so much of the dancing I saw at clubs in Europe … like seizures. Kelly shows a protective and physical love for LOTR-Guy by trying to get him to assert himself in many different ways. At one point, a waiter spills a drink on him and he goes beyond Canadian levels of politeness, saying that “I was sitting way too close to the spill.” She pushes him to insist on getting the drinks for free and owning it! Boom! It’s awesome.
The Donut: The Alien Overlord orders Jonathan to pick a weapon to use to kill Ozzie. Jonathan doesn’t want to and he remembers being on the Ship with Young Ozzie. He comforts Ozzie when he’s scared and promises him that he won’t hurt him. Michael really delivers this scene well. He knows how to play the silence without dragging it. Good beat. Jonathan chooses the gun and it’s hard to watch.
Jonathan goes to Ozzie’s hovel. I won’t lie – I gasped a little, when he reached in his coat pocket and was relieved when he pulled out a jumpdrive. Jonathan gives Ozzie the proof he needs confessing how he suppressed stories. This is an obvious act of fatherly love and has improved Ozzie’s life. Jonathan, like all good Dads, with his mission of pushing his son forward complete, takes a step back and sets him free to succeed or fail without him.
Yvonne and Gerry are in bed and she gives him a lift to the abduction location, even though this may be their last time together; it’s very sweet. H. Jon Benjamin provides some comic relief along the way.
Kelly forces LOTR-Guy to be empowered and self-confidant. There’s just love burgeoning everywhere in this episode.
Donut Part 2: The Overlord is furious and wants to kill Jonathan and Ozzie. Jonathan thwarts this by revealing that there is a code he needs to enter every 12 hours or their lizard plan will be published worldwide. Jonathan flashes to when he and Young Ozzie were on the ship and Ozzie made him a drawing of them holding hands like father and son. He puts on a brave front, but leaves the meeting with some fear and pain on his face because he has left his family to save his adoptive son Ozzie, but in doing so, he will be forever alone.
Gerry gets to the abduction site…..and they never come.
Once again, the near credits delivers an amazing song that presented what could’ve worked as the scenes for the series finale. Not a bad song, not Kmala my Friend or the Ship song from earlier episodes, but a solid – not bad.
We see Ozzie’s article with a big picture of Jonathan as a story suppressor, ruining him forever. Jonathan packs up his things from his office and says goodbye to his moving desk.
The group stares at Gerry’s empty chair and is relieved when he returns, completing their tribe. They console him for not getting abducted, but he states sheepishly and in love, “It wasn’t all bad.” *sniff*
LOTR-Guy returns to the ship all swagger. It’s pretty badass. Scroty shows him respect for the first time and informs him that the Main Ship is coming. We also learn that Gerry would’ve been abducted if LOTR-Guy had been at his post.
BOOM!
(Lisa recently discovered that she only has about 8 hours of space left on her DVR! It turns out that she’s been recording movies from July and she just hasn’t gotten around to watching and reviewing them yet. So, once again, Lisa is cleaning out her DVR! She is going to try to watch and review 52 movies by the end of Wednesday, December 7th! Will she make it? Keep checking the site to find out!)
Sister Cities originally aired on Lifetime on September 17th. When it first aired, I was really expecting to like it just because it’s a movie about four sisters and I’m the youngest of four sisters. Add to that, one of the sisters was named Dallas and Dallas is my city. Seriously, I seemed destined to like Sister Cities.
But then I actually saw the film. And I have to admit that, for the first hour or so, I felt a little bit guilty about not liking the film. It may have been a painfully slow film but I figured that it deserved some credit for at least trying to take the time for the viewers to get to know the four sisters. As well, I couldn’t deny that casting did a good job when it came to selecting the four lead actresses. You looked at them and they all had enough features and mannerisms in common that you could actually believe that they were related.
In the film, the four sisters gather together after the suicide of their mother (played, in flashbacks, by both Amy Smart and Jacki Weaver). The sisters all have their own distinct personalities and, for some reason, three of them are named after cities.
For instance, the youngest sister is named Baltimore (Troian Bellisario). She’s a free-spirit who does what she wants. Now, my boyfriend is from Baltimore. I have friends who live in Baltimore. I’ve visited Baltimore and I loved it. But I would not name my daughter Baltimore because Baltimore is a great name for a city but it’s a terribly clunky one for a human being. If I was going to pick a city to name my daughter after, I’d probably go with Savannah or maybe Charlotte. Or, for that matter, maybe Ardglass. But not Baltimore.
Then there’s Dallas (Michelle Trachtenberg), who is the super organized and neat sister. She’s the one who gets taunted for always wearing matching underwear but seriously, what’s wrong with that? At least Dallas gets a pretty name.
Austin (Jess Wexler) has a pretty name too. We’re told that she’s a successful writer. We never believe it for a second. Austin lived with her mother and she’s the one who called the other sisters back home. Austin is as close as the film comes to having a central character.
And then there’s Carolina (Stana Katic), who is the oldest. She’s a lawyer and she’s angry because her mother named her after one of the Carolinas but never clarified which one.
To be honest, it’s a bit too much. The sisters are all exaggerated types. The mother is an exaggerated type. They all have cutesy names. The nonstop theatrical quirkiness of it all is very off-putting and it doesn’t help that the film’s first hour is painfully slow. There’s a few attempts at dark humor but it’s never as insightful or affecting as it seems to think it is.
Then we get to the second hour and the film remains painfully slow but it also turns into a rather strident screed about assisted suicide. Eventually, the whole film comes down to an extended flashback of a beatific-looking Jacki Weaver smiling as she calmly explains that Austin will have to help her commit suicide because she’s the only sister who is emotionally strong enough to handle it. It was all so manipulative and heavy-handed that I ended up getting so annoyed that I took off my shoes and nearly threw them at the TV.
Sorry, Baltimore.
Sorry, Dallas.
Sorry, Austin.
Sorry, Carolina.
We open with Scroty at the computer again. He’s alone on the lived in and dingy spacecraft. He’s doing the work of three because Kurt is dead and LOTR-Guy is making coffee and trying to make time with Kelly.
Father Doug is taking confession and they are hilarious, including one man who confesses to masturbating twenty-two times. His response: You know that’s too much. This made it awesome because it established an acceptable range. However, he certainly is risking carpal tunnel. Father Doug reminisces about his time as a hip NYC musician.
The Spaceship- Scroty is struggling to replace a printer cartridge and the printer is hysterically outdated.
Gina is planning a take your significant other to your abduction support group day.
Ozzie, still struggling with his abductee status, opts to play hooky and heads to a bar. Father Doug is there getting slowly loaded after a long day of hearing people confess to self-abuse. The two of them begin to do shots and Father Doug is amazingly disappointed that people have a lack of interest in soccer. We have the Sounders here in Seattle and I have to write that I was truly amazed that we had a soccer team and that people went to see them … on purpose. I was even more stunned to discover that the tickets weren’t free. It’s not like they were handing the tickets out in a mall …gratis. These people knew ahead of time that the tickets would cost money….currency! I’m serious…people paid to see them….Americans…really….in my very city! Sad. Soccer is the Prius of sports.
Father Doug and Ozzie proceed to groove to “Word Up”! It’s kind of awesome.
The Significant Other get together is a disaster! Ernie’s son is like you’re gay and abducted by aliens?! Can’t you pick one?! Joy’s sister just starts laughing at her. Kelly and Chelsea fight about their affair with LOTR-Guy and his “Big Alien Dick”. Chelsea’s husband arrives and she has to leave. Bummer.
Father Doug admits to Ozzie that he’s in love with Chelsea. Ozzie wants to disclose to his mother that he is an abductee, but Father Doug tries to thwart Ozzie from telling his mom that he’s an abductee because it will forever define him.
During an active hangover, Ozzie gets a call from a friend who has information on Jonathan.
All of the Starcrossers go the bar together and bond.
Wait for it….Scroty gets a call from the Mothership.
Also, another great song is in the near credits:
Remember, as always, if you don’t watch People of Earth, all of the unicorns will die!
There’s something kind of fun about going into a new comic with no preconceived notions about it because you don’t know the first thing about any of the creators involved.
Okay, fair enough, I know that one of the writers of the new Black Mask Studios series No Angel, Adrianne Palicki, is a star on the Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, but I don’t know the first thing about her writing ability, nor that of her brother and co-author/co-creator (and, perhaps curiously, sole copyright holder) Eric. Artist Ari Syahrazad is a name I’m completely unfamiliar with, as is colorist Jean-Paul Csuka. So, yeah, as far as “unknown quantities” go, this book features nothing but. And that’s kinda exciting.
As is the premise here : a PTSD-afflicted Iraq vet named Hannah returns to her hometown after the murder of her father and brother and immediately smells a rat as far…
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The siren call of micro-budget horror cinema has been lodging itself deep into my brain with something akin to relentlessness lately, and for those who like their fright flicks done on the cheap, Amazon Prime’s streaming service is definitely the place to be these days. Films that will quite clearly never go any further — and often ones that you’d be amazed even made it this far — are as plentiful as seagulls at a landfill there, and often the garbage metaphor turns out to be a pretty good one. Still, once you’re hooked, you’re hooked, and you eventually find yourself speaking almost an entirely different cinematic language, of sorts : production values are gauged on a scale of relative plausibility in accordance with the budget at hand, you make a lot more allowances for obviously substandard acting, you learn to find needles in haystacks in the form of unexpectedly…
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Through the Shattered Lens