// Category Archive for: Reviews

Blu-Ray Review: Ironclad: Battle For Blood

By Brad Henderson

Viking and medieval indie films have it worse than horror and drama these days. These films are harder to make than sci-fi flicks. Between sets, set dressings, and costumes, your budget could skyrocket in no time at all. The sad part is that most of these films are kind of boring. Every once in a while there will be something worthwhile but not enough to make us want more films like this. Back in 2011 Jonathan English did a film called Ironclad that was pretty good. The cast and special effects were good along with the costumes and sets. The film was also moderately successful and did well on the video market. Now the director is back with a sequel and it seems like Ironclad: Battle For Blood might have used a quarter of the budget of the first one.

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Blu-Ray Review: Curtains

By Less Lee Moore

The 1983 Canadian tax write-off known as Curtains has long been out of print, except for deplorable VHS and DVD transfers. In the 30 years since its theatrical release, it’s become an iconic cult horror film, particularly because of its uniquely chilling ice skating murder sequence. Now, Synapse Films has restored the film from its original negative and released it on Blu-Ray. So, does Curtains hold up?

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Music Review: Lower, Seek Warmer Climes

By Less Lee Moore

“Cause fancy disguises deceive no one
But yourself.”
—Lower, “Arrows”

Recently I’ve realized that I’d prefer to watch a movie that doesn’t arrive at any sort of definite conclusion. I’d rather sit during the credits wondering what exactly it was I saw and trying desperately to figure it out for the next few days, and if it takes me that long to decide if I actually liked the movie or not, even better. The same goes for music. Hearing so many of the same types of bands over and over again, from disposable, EDM-influenced Top 40 pop to the kind of beardy and/or tremulous music found in commercials for Apple products, it’s become increasingly difficult to find something that has genuine staying power.

And that’s where Lower comes in. Rarely does a band subvert, confound, and exceed expectations as much as this. I can honestly say that I’ve never heard anything like Lower. For the last few weeks, I’ve vacillated between whether I loved or hated them. Such an extreme reaction can only signify one thing: Lower is doing something genuinely unorthodox and you need to hear them for yourselves to figure out upon which part of the spectrum you reside.

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DVD Review: Varsity Blood

By Brad Henderson

I feel compelled to tell the people who are reading this that a couple years ago I wrote a review for a film called Bloody Homecoming. If you pay attention to my writing and you know anything about me you know that I don’t trash films in reviews. Well, I didn’t trash Bloody Homecoming but I did speak my mind about the film. Bottom line: It wasn’t good and the review was much on the negative side.

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DVD Review: Legendary (a.k.a. Tomb Of The Dragon)

By Brad Henderson

Most of us still love our old action stars. For me, Jeff Speakman, Brandon Lee, and Arnold Schwarzenegger are my favorites and have been for many years. Throughout the course of the late ’90s and today, most of these guys passed their peak and are doing a lot of DTV stuff. Yes, they do have a film in theaters here or there but not as solid as the films they did in the ’80s. With Sly doing The Expendables franchise, it has given these guys a chance to strike gold again on the big screen, and in a corny and cheesy way they succeed.

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Blu-Ray Review: Aftermath

By Brad Henderson

There are many elements to making a decent sci-fi/horror/apocalyptic independent film. Money is the biggest evil when it comes to this type of thing. For one, you need good effects. You need money for that. Well, if that doesn’t play in your favor you need to make up for it through other means. Since you don’t have money you can’t have A-listers so you need to find the best of the best in the indie community. Secondly, since you can’t have tons of locations you need to have a badass screenplay with a fresh story as well. Many other things follow suit in this equation like well-written characters and all that.

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Blu-Ray Review: Made In America

By Brad Henderson

Made In America is a small documentary made by Ron Howard about a very diverse concert put together by Jay-Z. Pearl Jam, RUN DMC, Skrillex, and many more deliver a wonderful concert but a subpar documentary.

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Music Review: Billy Joe Shaver, Long In The Tooth

By Melissa Bratcher

Billy Joe Shaver is quite a character. His songs have become classics (“I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal,” “Ain’t No God In Mexico”); he was the spiritual advisor to Texas gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman (who is himself a character); he’s acted in The Apostle; and he even sings the theme for Adult Swim’s The Squidbillies. He’s kicked against the country music establishment, recording what is regarded as the first “outlaw” country album, and he shows no signs of giving up his prickliness just yet.

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Music Review: Brian Reitzell, Auto Music

By Less Lee Moore

While Fannibals will know about Brian Reitzell because of his spectacular and spooky music for NBC’s Hannibal, he’s so much more than that. Besides serving as the music supervisor on several Sofia Coppola films (Lost In Translation, Marie Antoinette), scoring film and television (30 Days of Night, Peacock, Red Riding Hood, Friday Night Lights, Boss), and video games (Watch Dogs), Reitzell also recorded and performed with both Redd Kross and Air and was a member of terrific one-off projects like TV Eyes and Logan’s Sanctuary.

The genesis for this album was literally just Brian Reitzell messing around in the studio, exploring ideas for his soundtrack work. Even though Auto Music was about a decade in the making, it doesn’t sound either too studied or haphazardly slapped together. It’s subtle yet self-assured, even on the more bombastic tracks. Despite what you might think about instrumental albums, it’s anything but boring. Inspired by films and filmmakers themselves, it creates a perhaps unsurprising visual world.

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Music Review: Dub Thompson, 9 Songs

By Less Lee Moore

At first blush, you might think Dub Thompson is punking you. The tracks on their debut, 9 Songs (which has eight songs, by the way), sound a lot like demos. These aren’t songs with actual verses and choruses. These are songs made up of tonally conflicting sections that rub up against each other, variations on a theme of impetuous, mischievous energy. The guitars have a jittery bravado and the drums and bass are turned up so that you feel them in your guts. Dub Thompson seem like they’re taking the piss but the music is seriously fantastic.

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