Hell or High Water Review

madman.com.au

     Yes, yes, I know this movie has been out for like a month, but I don’t have a bunch of movie theater options, folks! Anyways, I finally got to see this film a few days ago, and I’ve been pondering what to write about it since I saw it. It’s been getting rave reviews and has done pretty well financially for being a small film, but is it really up to all the hype? Well, let’s dive on in and find out!

How Horror Got Its Groove Back

comingsoon.net

     I don’t think any other film genre has gone through as many changes in such a short period of time as horror. The early 2000s until now have seen it transition from torture porn (Saw) to Japanese remakes (The Ring, The Grudge) to found footage films (Paranormal Activity) and then to really, really cheap filmmaking (everything my dreaded nemesis Jason Blum has ever produced). However, in recent years there seems to have been a shift in horror, as indie films in the genre have been making big waves for being both scary and actually good. 2016 has been another one of those years, with not one or two but four big and highly acclaimed horror films (with at least one more to come). But what has made them so good? Let’s dig in! (Slight spoilers for The Babadook, The Witch, and Lights Out follow below.)

Don't Breathe Review

ew.com

     Ah, finally, Oscar season is almost among us folks. Summer breathed its last with Sausage Party, and now it’s time to get into some good fil… Wait, what? Summer isn’t over yet? Jeez guys, can’t you let me have my movies yet? Oh, fine, I saw this little horror movie called Don’t Breathe last night after hearing some pretty good reviews. With me not being a big fan of horror, did it finally bring me around? Let’s find out.

Does Hollywood Ruin Foreign Directors?

comingsoon.net

    Unless you’ve been living under a rock, odds are that you know there’s a film out in theaters this weekend called Ben-Hur. This film, a remake of the 1959 epic (widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever made), was produced for $100 million by Paramount Pictures, and only made a whopping $22 million worldwide on its opening weekend. Ouch. For those paying attention, though, you may have noticed a very strange name under the “From director” card: Timur Bekmambetov, the director of Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Lesser known, though, is that he directed the really awesome foreign movies Nightwatch and Daywatch. So, what happened that took him from those cool films to these mediocre ones? Let’s find out.

Movie Review: Sausage Party

youtube,com

     The creative team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg has brought us some interesting projects over the last few years. Whether it’s the post-apocalyptic comedy This is the End, the Michel Gondry superhero film The Green Hornet, or the comic book adaptation Preacher (amongst literally fifteen other things), they always try to do something different. Now, with Sausage Party (which I am definitely late in reviewing), they have made cinematic history by bringing the first rated-R animated film to the screen. With experienced animator Conrad Vernon (who used to work at Dreamworks) and first-time director Greg Tiernan in charge, does this film actually work? Let’s find out.

Let's Talk About No Man's Sky

gog.com

     Hello, dear reader, as you can probably tell this week’s installment of The Glovebox is not on a TV show, but another lifelong passion of mine: video games. Because of my schedule I don’t get to play them as much as I want to or play them as soon as they come out, but this past week I was lucky enough to get my hands on the new big release for the PS4, the sci-fi adventure game No Man’s Sky. Now this is not a review, but more like my general impressions of it so far, so let’s dive right in!

Movie Review: Anthropoid

wikipedia.com

     Well, folks, it’s about that time at last. The blockbuster season is almost over and my favorite movie season, the best movie season, is about to begin: Oscar season. You know, that time when all the “big” movies come out that are going to be vying for awards attention throughout the remainder of this year? Yeah, I’m excited too, hypothetical reader, so I decided to treat myself to one of the first of these films and saw the World War II-era thriller Anthropoid. Is it going to go for the gold (timely Olympics reference FTW) or is it going to be forgotten? Let’s find out.

Discoverography: Johannesburg

driftrecords.com

     So, for the longest time we all knew Mumford & Sons as the band with the banjo, but it turns out that they are actually pretty interesting artists who like to experiment with the kind of music they do. While I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of their last album, I really can’t fault them for wanting to break that mold they’d found themselves in. However, I don’t think they’ve taken as big a leap musically as they have here, with this five song EP simply titled Johannesburg. Why is it so unique? Let’s find out.

Things You Should Be Watching: The People v. OJ Simpson

awesomelyluvvie.com

     I have to admit, when I first heard that Ryan Murphy (the guy behind American Horror Story) was doing a drama about the OJ Simpson trial, I was more than a little skeptical. I mean, come on, that guy? What, was he gonna have OJ butcher people to some trendy song with a bunch of weird camera tricks going on? Would there be some secret, and completely ludicrous, plot twist midway through? More importantly, would he turn this serious topic into a complete farce? These questions and more racked my brain as I waited for this to air, and to my surprise, Murphy and his creative team created the best TV show I’ve seen in a very long time. Why is that? Let’s find out.

The Warner Brothers vs. David Ayer: The Trials and Travails of Suicide Squad

 

screenrant.com

   As I mentioned in my review, Suicide Squad was a rocky production from the very beginning. The director, David Ayer, was given only six weeks to write the script after it was announced (the average time is around twenty to get a perfected screenplay). Once filming was completed, the reactions to Batman v. Superman caused Warner Bros to get nervous, so they hired a freaking trailer editing company to put together another cut of the film that was lighter and more fun. Ayer’s version and the company’s version were presented to freaking focus groups and the company’s won out, so WB used reshoots to further meddle in Ayer’s process. Now, the film is out to negative reviews and its financial future is looking a little shaky. This is DC’s third time at bat and they have struck out each time, so what exactly is going on?

Discoverography: Blue Neighbourhood

wikipedia.org

     Hey, and welcome to Discoverography, the podcast where we… Oh, wait, that’s the wrong show. Anyways, while my faithful co-host and I explore music from across genres and across decades, I decided to utilize this blog in order to talk about some more recent releases and go in-depth with them. I’ve thought about doing this for awhile, but was a little stumped on where to begin until just recently, when I first heard YouTube personality-turned-superstar Troye Sivan’s first album, Blue Neighbourhood. Released in 2015, the album has received a lot of praise, but is it deserved? Let’s find out.

Suicide Squad Review

screenrant.com

     It’s been a pretty rough few years for Warner Bros. Held back by the Nolan Dark Knight films, the studio could only sit back and watch as competitor Marvel Studios launched a successful series of franchises that ultimately connected into the ultimate prize: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not to be outdone, Warner Bros employed their DC Comics properties and kicked off their own universe with 2013’s Man of Steel and this year’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Because those films were directed by known man-child Zack Snyder the reception hasn’t been too positive, but can Suicide Squad, based around a team of DC’s vilest villains, turn the tide? Let’s find out.

Things You Should Be Watching: American Crime (Season 2)

johnhanlonreviews.com

     Imagine a scenario with me for a moment, dear reader. Imagine you are John Ridley in 2014, the year you win an Academy Award for writing the Best Picture of the previous year, the incredible 12 Years a Slave. So many doors are opened for you, but you choose to go to TV instead, tackling a massive operation known as American Crime, an anthology series filled with great actors like Timothy Hutton and Felicity Huffman that deals with real issues in society like racism, drugs, and faith. Your first effort is bold and thought-provoking, if a little muddled, so you need to find a way to refocus and improve after your show gets renewed. This, dear reader, brings us to season two, and all the twists, turns, and heartbreaking events that it holds.

Spies, Surveillance, and Snowden: Jason Bourne and the Privacy Debate

wittenbergtrail.org

     It’s interesting to think that there was once a time where people were derided for claiming the government was spying on them. For decades these folks were called crazy or paranoid, but 2013 was the year that changed all of that. A young man named Edward Snowden, a contractor for the NSA, leaked documents revealing a massive surveillance program that keeps tabs on the American people without a warrant and collects their data. While people’s opinions on him and his actions may vary, the question of government surveillance and transparency has come back in a big way, and our entertainment has scrambled to figure out how to discuss it.