The Trouble With Hawkeye
Published on May 6th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Comics, Movies, Over the Gadfly's Nest |By Christine Makepeace
It’s looming on the horizon. Civil War is hanging in the distance–hovering and swollen with promise. But potential disenchantment floats beside it like flotsam skimming the waves. The last time Marvel assembled its mightiest, it wasn’t so, well, mighty.
Blu-Ray Review: The Zero Boys
Published on April 27th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Blu-Ray, Current Faves, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |
The Zero Boys is a horror/action movie from 1985 that raises the bar of ineptitude stunningly high. You would have to try with all your might, and maybe someone else’s, to come up with a film this insipid nowadays. It may be a testament to the filmmaking talents of director Nico Mastorakis that a movie as totally brain-dead as The Zero Boys is as entertaining as it is.
Movie Review: Hardcore Henry
Published on April 26th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews |By Tyler Hodg
Hardcore Henry, a Russian-American first-person POV action movie from Ilya Naishuller, delivers a unique cinematic experience. The film relies heavily on the visual gimmick, and for what it’s worth, is completely memorable for it.
Movie Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice
Published on April 4th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Comics, Current Faves, Movie Reviews, Movies, Over the Gadfly's Nest, Reviews |By Tim Murr
One week after its release and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is still creating controversy and dividing fans. It’s also doing something I don’t recall ever seeing before: the critics have made themselves and their personal experiences the story, rather than the movie. For a film that is so successful at the box office, there’s a high level of blind vitriol being leveled at it by so many critics from the blog-o-sphere to mainstream outlets. And yet fans are loving it and it made $500 million its opening weekend. BvS is rated at 29% on Rotten Tomatoes and 7.3/10 on IMDB. How can there be that wide of a disparity? And how can fans and critics be so divided?
WARNING: SPOILERS
Blu-Ray Review: In The Heart Of The Sea
Published on March 8th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Blu-Ray, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies |
Ron Howard’s whaling adventure In the Heart of the Sea is an ambitious film, reaching into a few classic sub-genres, but ultimately, finding no purchase there. What remains is a pastiche of retreaded ideas and some weird-looking CGI. As the true story behind the novel Moby Dick, viewers have a good idea of what they’re getting into, but will wind up with less than they expected.
Blu-Ray Review: Nikkatsu Diamond Guys, Vol. 1
Published on March 4th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Blu-Ray, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reissues, Retrovirus, Reviews |
The recent Arrow Video compilation, Nikkatsu Diamond Guys Vol. 1, highlights the kind of films we don’t often think of when it comes to Japanese cinema. These aren’t cheesy monster movies with guys in rubber suits, nor are they fantastic period dramas about dynastic politics and great wars. These three movies are star vehicles, melodramatic potboilers with handsome leading men and damsels in distress.
Movie Review: Deadpool
Published on February 29th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Comics, Current Faves, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews, Teh Sex |
The short-short version of the synopsis: Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, is a former Special Forces operative who turns mercenary for hire in his civilian life. He meets a girl, they eventually fall in love, and then tragedy strikes. He undergoes an experimental procedure that turns him into a hideous version of his former self, requiring him to wear a suit to hide his appearance. Then he sets out to get revenge on those responsible. And that’s when the real fun starts.
Blu-Ray Review: Creed
Published on February 23rd, 2016 in: Action Movies, Blu-Ray, Current Faves, DVD/Blu-Ray Reviews, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews, Sports |
People forget that Sylvester Stallone wrote and starred in the Best Picture of 1977, Rocky. That’s an Academy Award in the hands of Stallone. Isn’t that odd? We forget about it because Stallone’s output since Rocky has been so spastic. He’s given us fantastic performances, like the half-deaf officer in Cop Land. Then again, he’s also given us three Expendables movies and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.
Does he hate us? Does he love us? How can we know?
VHS Visions: Alien Nation (1988)
Published on February 23rd, 2016 in: Action Movies, Movies, Science Fiction, VHS, VHS Visions |By Tim Murr
My favorite type of science fiction is where it’s basically our real world but with a twist, just one or two things off, like Robocop or The Fly. Dystopian futures and spaceships are fine, but I rarely feel sucked into those worlds in the same way. Alien Nation was one of my favorite films as a kid. It came out in 1988 and I couldn’t wait for it to hit my local video store. Being rated R, I knew there was no chance in hell of my parents taking me to see it in the theater.
Mexican Wrestling Sensation Lucha Underground: A Primer
Published on January 26th, 2016 in: Action Movies, Comedy, Culture Shock, Current Faves, Matshifter, Media, Pro Wrestling, Sports, Staff Picks, TV, TV Reviews, Underground/Cult |
I’ve always been fascinated by pro wrestling’s ability to tell a story in a non-traditional way. Mixing elements of a stage play, a circus, and a TV show, along with the fact that there are usually no traditional “seasons” makes for some potentially great and potentially horrendous narratives that are equally entertaining to me. Lucha Underground, however, is unlike any other wrestling product that I’ve seen.