The Death Wish Films

I haven't been contributing too much to the blog, so I decided to make a video entry about one of my favorite film series of all time: Death Wish with Charles Bronson. I hope you enjoy my take on the wonderful sleazy saga with the the baddest mother of them all: Charles Bronson. Click here to view video on You Tube.

The CineFiles The Star Trek Films - Part One

We now go from STAR WARS to STAR TREK. Gear up for that Vulcan mind meld! And set your phasers on fun! This captain's log covers our thoughts on the first four flicks: Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek: The Voyage Home.

We'll continue with the rest of the films in the next episode, so stay tuned!

RESONATING EVILS AND SINISTER INSPIRATIONS PART 4: FAVORITE HORRORS by Eric

UPDATE: slight change in my favorite horrors list! And added an honorable mention. Almost forgot about THE BLACK CAT...

Since this is a film review site, I think it's fitting to conclude my four-part Halloween tribute with a "25 of My Favorite Horror Movies" list. It's not original. Every journo on every blog will be doing the same this year. I guess what will make my list unique to most is that I'll share an occasional brief thought on some films and then follow up with a comparitive "Films That No Longer Hold Up For Me."

ORPHAN (2009)

Directed By: Jamie Collet-Serra
Written By: David Johnson
Story By: Alex Mace
Cinematography By: Jeff Cutter
Editor: Tim Alverson


CAST: Vera Farminga, Peter Sarsgaard, CCH Pounder, Isabelle Fuhrman, Karel Roden, Margo Martindale, Jimmy Bennett

The film succeeds in a lot of ways until you get to the third act which I know disappointed a lot of people with it’s ridiculousness. I think it is because the film so far plays but logical realistic rules so far and then you have this twist that belongs in a crazier movie. Especially since all the advertisements say “you’ll never figure out the ending” they are right you won’t no one could have. It’s like those mysteries where they give you all this evidence and clues to suspect one of the characters you know about up to this point is the murderer then they bring out a character out of the blue making all that came before it null and void fully knowing you were never really meant to figure it out.

MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN (2008)

Since Halloween is officially here this weekend i though i would post some horror film reviews for you to enjoy

Directed By: Ryuhei Kitamura
Written By: Jeff Buhler
Based On A Short Story By: Clive Barker
Cinematography By: Jonathan Sela
Editor: Toby Yates

CAST: Bradley Cooper, Leslie Bibb, Vinnie Jones, Roger Bart, Peter Jacobsen, Tony Curran, Brooke Shields, Ted Raimi, Quenton “Rampage” Jackson

I can see why the studio held this film up. By doing so they made this into a unofficial cult film the truly sad part was I bought into it. But the end product is not worth it. I don’t believe it was I had my hopes up to high even if I wasn’t expecting much this film is pretty much a disappointment on many levels

RESONATING EVILS AND SINISTER INSPIRATIONS PART 3: LIVE HORRORS by Eric

When I was about ten years old, I was taken to Disney World for the first time in my life. And there were two attractions I was looking forward to the most. Space Mountain, since that would be my first rollercoaster (because up to that time I had always wanted to ride a rollercoaster). And The Haunted Mansion.

RESONATING EVILS AND SINISTER INSPIRATIONS PART 2: THE MONSTER MAKERS by Eric

As we countdown to Halloween, kids and adults alike will be stocking up on their holiday accessories. Masks, wigs, make up and costumes. Be it ghoulish or sexy, most people wanna' be something other than themselves come Halloween. My lady is a performer and, in lieu of this, is prepping for what will be the inevitable Halloween-themed performance. I have somehow taken on the task of building her costume. As I am in the process of doing this, I reminisce over previous efforts during my childhood past.

"I'm ... I'm A SERIOUS MAN!"

Well, people, from the trailer I saw, I NEEDED to see the Cohen Brothers' new film, A Serious Man. Let's face it, before they won their Oscars for the much lauded and much deserved, No Country for Old Men, they have gone Hollywood. Because of their track record making the most unique films within American cinema (independent or studio-produced), they draw the big name talent like bees to honey, or fat guys to buffets. 

RESONATING EVILS AND SINISTER INSPIRATIONS: CHILLER THEATER by Eric

During the next couple of weeks leading up to Halloween, I may post a few thoughts related to the horror genre. I was and still am a Horror/Monster movie nerd. In fact, my whole love of film was the resulting expansion from the thrillers I obsessed over as a kid. I cannot recall what the first horror film I saw was, but I definitely know which one had the first, initial impact on me at the time. It was CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, a rather infamous cult flick by the directing/writing team of Bob Clark and Alan Ormsby. Both gentlemen would go onto greater success unleashing the PORKY'S series to the world. Bob Clark himself had directed another cult classic, the antithetically family friendly A CHRISTMAS STORY. Obviously this displayed a great versitility in a man who met an untimely death by car accident only two years ago.

GOOD HAIR (2009)

Directed By: Jeff Stilson
Written By: Lance Crouther, Chris Rock, Jeff Stilson, Chuck Sklar
Cinematography By: Cliff Charles & Mark Henderson
Editor: Paul Marchand & Greg Nash


Featuring: Raven Symone, Eve, Salt N’ Pepa, Lauren London, Maya Angelou, Andre Harrell, Sarah Jones, Nia long, Tracie Thoms, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Megan Goode, Melyssa Ford, Al Sharpton, Ice-T, Paul Mooney, KRS-ONE

This is a must see. It’s not the greatest documentary of all time but it is like a Michael Moore documentary in other words it’s a documentary for people who don’t usually like or go to documentry’s it’s funny while being informative and bringing up emotions of course the film has the celebrity interviews to bring more people in to see them give there personal account of the subject but that is not the whole film it’slike a little boost now and then

My Favorite Woody Allen Films

It's a trick posting. I hate them all. 

THE FILMS OF WOODY ALLEN

Now i seem to be the rare member of the cinefiles who actually likes woody allen films so here i have made a list of my favorite to not so favorite films by the man keep in mind there are quite a few i still have to watch. but i hope you enjoy the list and feel free to comment.

Where the Wild Things Are

I have one word to describe Spike Jonze's latest effort:

Sublime. 

That's what I kept thinking to myself as this little created wonder-of-a-film went along. Now, it's not really what you expect out of a kid's film. I know. I know. We've already read the press clippings about the weight of expectations from Maurice Sendak fans AND the constant meddling by money grubbing studio execs, who seem to always be the true Hollywood villains. 

WHIP IT! (2009) - Jeff's Review

Directed By: Drew Barrymore
Written By: Shauna Cross
Based On The Book By: Shauna Cross
Cinematography By: Robert D. Yeoman
Editor: Dylan Tichenor

CAST: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Landon Pigg , Jimmy Fallon, Zoe Bell, Eve, Andrew Wilson, Ari Gaynor, Juliette Lewis, Alia Shawkat, Har Mar Superstar

Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut is much like her personality. It’s cute, fun, funny and surprising. With a career in front of the camera for almost all of her life and working with so many talented directors and running her own production company. It really goes to show that while she was working, she was taking notes and paying attention because she definitely picked the right story to direct and is more successful then I believe most people would have thought.

CAPITALISM: Eric's review

We've done a couple of Michael Moore related episodes. I wasn't a part of the first one we did but I was involved with the one we shot on Fahrenheit 911. Michael Moore is definitely a litmus test for people. You can pretty much size up where a person is coming from based on whether they are a Moore hater or lover and both seem to occupy an extreme divide. There is a middle, however. Those who may appreciate Moore as a filmmaker but have issues with how he approaches documentary film making in general. And I fall into that camp.