REVIEW: The Human Element [2016]

“I have never been a resident” Many speak about the Allies’ pride in victory once World War II came to a close—and with good reason. Where the Holocaust is concerned, many people were saved as a result of these soldiers’ actions. Unfortunately, many more died before that liberation. It’s a real life horror story with monsters and victims, predators and prey. But what many gloss over by painting the Nazis as the truly reprehensible creatures they were is the fact that they were also human. Morality or not, they were…

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REVIEW: The Clone Theory [2015]

“Maybe it’s something so crazy you wouldn’t ever mention it in public” There’s a fatal flaw to A.P. Stevens‘ extremely short film The Clone Theory and it’s that clones are not artificial intelligence-controlled robots. At least they aren’t in my understanding of the term. To allow his character “The Human” to admit a crazy theory that clones live among us, watching our every move through social media and webcams as though they are jacked into the system mixes two sci-fi tropes into one. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if…

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REVIEW: What Jack Built [2015]

It’s difficult not to think about Tom Waits‘ song “What’s He Building?” from Mule Variations while watching Matthew Mahler‘s (co-written with Ross Mahler) What Jack Built. This is both a compliment to the tone set by Timothy J. Cox‘s performance as Jack and the tension created by the filmmaker slowly revealing hidden details as the character moves from basement/garage workspace to the woods outside. But it’s also a big reason for why I feel the film doesn’t quite succeed. I try not to let budgetary constraints factor into my experience…

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REVIEW: JeruZalem [2016]

“They say there are three gates to Hell and that night they found one of them” Is it coincidence that Google filed a new application to revive Google Glass on December 28th (despite halting production on the prototype in January) just weeks before Israeli-set horror film JeruZalem supplies a 90-minute adventure into Hell through those exact lenses (albeit a pair of fictitious knock-offs)? Yes. It’s most definitely a coincidence. But whether that technology was going to stay dead or be reborn has little bearing on Doron and Yoav Paz‘s latest…

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REVIEW: Steamboat Bill, Jr. [1928]

“That must have happened when the dough fell in the tool chest” The beauty of Buster Keaton‘s work is how keenly he and his “gagmen” could build a plot around their comedic stunts. It’s said director Charles Reisner was the man who told his vaudevillian friend to craft a tale focusing on the son of a steamboat captain and really there’s little else involved beyond that. A bit of romance is added thanks to Keaton’s titular William Canfield, Jr.’s Bostonian beau Kitty King (Marion Byron), some suspense arrives out of…

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Top 100 Songs of 2015

#100: After The Fall by Chelsea Wolfe #98: The Shade by Metric #96: Dead Inside by Muse #94: Killing Strangers by Marilyn Manson #92: I’m In Love With My Life by PHASES #90: Vancouver by Kopecky #88: Drunched in Crumbs by Albert Hammond Jr. #86: Till It’s Gone by Yelawolf #84: Home We’ll Go by Walk Off the Earth #82: Orion by The Mynabirds #80: Here To Mars by Coheed and Cambria #78: It’s My Turn Now by Awreeoh #76: Mothercreep by FKA Twigs #74: Angels (Above Me) by Say…

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REVIEW: P’tit Quinquin [Li’l Quinquin] [2014]

“The dung flies are afraid of moo cows” Comparisons to “Twin Peaks” are easy when it comes to Bruno Dumont’s miniseries P’tit Quinquin [Li’l Quinquin] because there’s definitely an evil running wild within his small French town (or big if it’s up to the kindly, Asperger’s-lite slaughterhouse hired-hand). Unlike David Lynch’s “Bob” who inhabits residents to take physical form and wreak havoc, however, the evil that bumbling County Sheriff Van der Weyden (Bernard Pruvost) speaks of here is a metaphysical “answer” where an actual arrest is impossible to find. It…

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