Expelled Grey Matter

It is such a typical Hollywood ego trip that screenwriters would think that the Biblical apocalypse - complete with the apocryphal Rapture - would occur in Los Angeles.  That is probably a good part of the joke that Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg were trying to make with This Is the End .  They co-directed and co-wrote, along with Jason Stone, a scenario in which a number of Hollywood celebrities get caught up in the chaos of the end times and, in typical Hollywood fashion, make it all about themselves.  Jay Baruchel comes to Los Angeles to meet his friend Seth Rogen and hang out for a weekend.  Against his better judgment he lets Rogen talk him into going to a party thrown by James Franco.  As Baruchel doesn't really like Franco, Jonah Hill or many of the guests he becomes uncomfortable and starts talking about going back to Rogen's house on his own.  While at a convenience store the earth suddenly shakes and several people are lifted into heaven by blue lig...

I am quite vocal about my dislike of modern comedies.  I have a few exceptions but, by and large, comedy died around 2000.  I would like to say it has nothing to do with political correctness but, in a way, it does.  Directors like the Farelly Brothers went out of their way to rebel against PC trends of the time, reveling in being offensive.  It worked briefly with movies like Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary , but eventually it became routine.  Most comedies since have tried to wring humor from old playground jokes. It should be no surprise that, given my general enjoyment of the movies I review on this site, that most modern comedy I like combines elements from other genres.  That brings me to Pineapple Express , a stoner comedy from Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow.  In some ways it plays a bit like Up in Smoke , with two not-so-bright potheads stumbling through different situations, combined with the good old trope of the main characters ...

In the last few years I have become friends with a number of artists and musicians in the towns of Superior and Miami, Arizona.  One person that gets talked about, although I have never met him, is Cory Busboom.  He bought the town of Hayden to use as a filming site and has multiple properties with cars that are used in local films.  He is also into suspension, where metal hooks are placed through the skin and a person is lifted off the ground, often being swung around while being barely held aloft by their own skin.  Enter musician, filmmaker and actor Michael Jason Allen, aka Jason Mysteria.  He has been making feature films and music videos for over a decade in Arizona and obviously something about the suspension culture intrigued him as he decided to do a retro slasher film as a tribute to the subculture.  Don (John Minch) is the leader of an adult rehabilitation group.  To celebrate his latest class's graduation he takes them to a remote town in A...

I remember Lisa Frankenstein being promoted prior to it coming out.  A local group that presents cult movies was offering preview passes and, as usual, I had something happening on whatever day it was happening.  It didn't really phase me much as it didn't seem the sort of movie I would want to watch anyway.  It seemed like another cult film that wanted to force the supposed cult-ness of the production on audiences that were hoping for something new and entertaining.  To top it off it was PG-13.   Fast forward a couple years and this movie has become a genuine cult hit.  It has an '80s aesthetic, a Tim Burton-style romantic plot and has plenty of nods to Heathers .  Despite all that, and despite a number of flaws, it still manages to be its own thing.  Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is slowly coming back to normality after her mother was killed by a psychotic killer.  Now living with her father Dale (Joe Chrest) and stepmother Janet (Car...

I'm sure there was a lot of pressure on Lamberto Bava to be like his dad but, with his frequent collaborations with Dario Argento, he went in a quite different direction.  The Church and Demons  are his most popular, supernatural features that combine all of his influences, from Mario Bava to Lucio Fulce.  Before those, however, his first couple of films fell clearly within the giallo realm.   Bruno (Andrea Occhipinti) is a film composer working on the soundtrack to a horror film directed by Sandra (Anny Papa).  She puts him up in a large rural villa to do his work, hoping that the atmosphere will influence him, while withholding the last few parts of her movie.  The owner of the villa is a playboy named Tony (Michele Soavi) who has to spend most of his time away in Kuwait.   Bruno soon gets to work and is interrupted by a woman named Katia (Valeria Cavelli), who is murdered a short time later by an unknown person.  Bruno finds clues af...

A major frustration with many Stephen King adaptations is that, due to copyright or other issues, the interconnectiveness of the stories never shines through.  Even a story like Hearts in Atlantis , which was integral in introducing Ted Brautigan, a character that would figure heavily in the last few Dark Tower  books, got adapted in a way to where it left the important parts out and concentrated on the coming-of-age story.  After ignoring all the connections for so long I was surprised to find out that an adaptation of The Dark Tower series was a thing. Then came the bad news.  The movie is only 95 minutes, hardly the time needed to encapsulate eight books' worth of material, even if it skipped some of the parts that felt more like wheel-spinning on King's part or the awful decision of including himself as a character in the last couple tomes.  It also did what too many movies do these days and race swapped Roland Deschain, who in the books is obviously modeled...