Tag Archives: featured

Feature, Film, Film Reviews

Review: “Mad Max: Fury Road” Is A Well-Oiled Machine

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Excerpt: Like our underdogs in the film, George Miller finally found his Promised Land with Mad Max: Fury Road, the epitome and inevitable culmination of the previous trilogy. This is the kind of film that the Fast & Furious franchise wishes it could one day become. As it stands, every car-based film will eat Fury Road‘s dust because none can hope to achieve this same level of thoughtful, bombastic frenzy that this film inspires. Every actor and cog in this well-oiled engine propels it further and further, making it an unstoppable, unapologetic juggernaut waiting to steamroll over you and drag you along for the ride.

RATING: ★★★★★★★★★(9/10 stars)

To read my full review, go to The Young Folks

Feature, Film, Film Reviews

Review: “Good Kill” Identifies the Real Enemies

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Excerpt: Good Kill is an engaging and impressively persuasive film dealing with the (dystopian) future of warfare. The approach has a slight banality to it from having been previously bombarded with the same messages and cautionary tales in previous films about war. Thanks to great performances from Hawke, Jones and Kravitz, the messages in this film prove to be worth repeating.

RATING: ★★★★★★(6/10 stars)

To read my full review, go to The Young Folks

Feature, Film, Film Reviews

Review: “Slow West” Is A Modern Classic

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Excerpt: Slow West reminds us that nothing is as simple as black and white. Sometimes things are sepia-toned, but more often they are vibrantly colored, regardless of whether it’s something that will bring you joy or inevitably cause your death. First timer John Maclean shows us he can weave and tell a story like he’s been doing it for years. Slow West is not lethargic, but deliberately paced around the apologue it is constructing and deconstructing.

RATING: ★★★★★★★★★(9/10 stars)

To read my full review, go to The Young Folks

Feature, Film, Film Features, Film Reviews

Review: “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is the End of an Era

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Excerpt: There is something to be said about how well synergized the Marvel on-screen universe is. The film opens mid assault on a base holding the Loki’s scepter (among other surprises). How they got their information or location to this is for the most part unimportant, and you quickly realize this after a few minutes into the film, there is a staged freeze frame that reminds you of comic book cover art. It is cheesy and completely over the top for a film, but it is a staple when for comic books, so it feels essential. Other essential things include the dynamic colors and costumes, comedic overtones and one-liners, and hordes of enemies and explosions. One major pitfall that is unavoidable when it comes to any film with fantasy and technologically advanced elements is the massive amounts of CGI needed to bring the universe alive. The first Avengers was a completely new cinematic experience, bringing together a huge ensemble of superheroes, each with their own backstories from their own respective world’s, and having them build up to this one explosive collaboration. That was the first Avengers. Lightning rarely strikes twice (unless you’re Thor), and Avengers: Age of Ultron proves that.

RATING: ★★★★★★(6/10 stars)

To read my full review, go to PopJunk!

Editorial, Feature, Film, Film Features, StbS Column

Best of the Chicago Latino Film Festival & Interviews

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Excerpt: The Chicago Latino Film Festival (CLFF) has come and gone again this year, but it has left a lasting impression. Even at its 31st year, it is still as strong as ever, bringing together films from around the world (and a few from here at home) that we would have otherwise missed out on. With over 120 films and shorts, there was a little bit for everyone, and each film is a masterpiece all its own. That being said, like the audience who voted, I also had my pick of favorites for the festival. It should be noted that CLFF is not a competitive festival, but it does  allow the audience to cast their vote on their favorite films in order to win the Audience Choice Award. The 31stChicago Latino Film Festival Audience Choice Award winners are:

To read my full article and listen to my interviews, go to The Young Folks!

Feature, Television, TV Features, TV Reviews

Netflix’s Daredevil: Season One Review

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Excerpt: Final Thoughts: I can say with absolute confidence that this show is the epitome of all comic book shows. This will now be the standard every DCU or MCU show should be based on. There is a perfect mix of action and vulnerability, along with great development of the heroes back-story. It goes one step further and also develops the often overlooked villain, giving Kingpin depth and dimension, which only makes him just that much more terrifying. If this is a glimpse at what is to come with the Marvel/Netflix television universe, than DC has something to be afraid of.

To read my full, episode by episode review, go to PopJunk!

Feature, Film, Film Reviews

Review: “Little Boy” Is A Tall, Twisted Tale

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Excerpt: The film is full of strained sweet moments and tactless tenderness. The crisp, vibrancy of the cinematography gives the film less of a humble Leave It To Beaver feel and more of comic book universe tint. It makes the film nice to look at, but without a competent story, you’re better off looking at a still life. With perhaps the exception of Kevin James (who plays the city’s doctor), the rest of the cast does an adequate job at their roles. Jakob is able to play up Pepper’s adorable, childlike naiveté to completion, but any good impressions he may have made are squandered when the film ties in his nickname to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and everyone in the film praises him for that coincidence. Also, it might just be a 1940’s cultural disconnect, or the term no longer has any negative meaning for my generation, but any dramatic effect that was supposed to be created when all the other children call Pepper “little boy” falls completely flat. Why? Because he is, in fact, a little boy like all the other little boys calling him that.

RATING: ★★(2/10 stars)

To read my full review, go to The Young Folks!

Feature, Film, Film Reviews

Review: “The Water Diviner” Digs Its Own Watery Grave

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Excerpt: The story might be about war, but the true battle pits Russell Crowe “the actor” against Russell Crowe “the director”. Russell Crowe, the actor, we know too well. He is always a powerful presence and delivers a strong, scene-stealing performance, even if he is forced to sing (not in this film though). Crowe, the actor, is one of the few assets The Water Diviner, and it uses his tender/tough guy persona and signature pensive-stare-into-oblivion gaze. Russell Crowe the director is new to the scene, but you can tell he has picked up some cinematic tricks from his acting alter ego. Unfortunately, all of the techniques he employed have been overused–even in films he’s starred in, but some techniques were just completely misused.

RATING: ★★★★(4/10 stars)

Read my full review at The Young Folks!

Feature, Film, Film Reviews

Review: “True Story” Could Have Used Some Fiction

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Excerpt: The only reason that I can attribute this film’s cinematic failure to is that perhaps it was a little too true for it’s own good. Normally I would applaud this, but sticking to the exact sequence of events was a great detriment to this film. The potentially great performances by the cast remained untapped because the story’s narrative never rose to the emotional heights that the subject matter demanded. Usually, when murder (especially multiple child murders) is involved in court cases, people are the opposite of placid. The mostly even-tempered nature of the characters seemed out of place for everyone except Franco, whose character called for it, being a sociopath and all.

RATING: ★★★(3/10 stars)

Read my full review at The Young Folks!

Feature, Film, Film Reviews

Review: “Desert Dancer” Is Rythmic, But Predictable

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Excerpt: Desert Dancer has beauty and truth in it, but it lies exclusively in the chemistry between the two leads and the stylized dancing. That said, these instances were too few in a film that could have greatly benefited from being an entire interpretative dance performance. The story of freedom from oppression and freedom of expression in Iran is a somber and ruthless one, but you’d never know the true extent of it by seeing this film.

RATING: ★★★★(4/10 stars)

To read my full review, go to The Young Folks