Bronson (2008) Movie Review

Bronson is a film for those who enjoy artistic violence and dark comedy. If you find yourself naming "Fight Club", "A Clockwork Orange", "Trainspotting", or any Quinten Tarantino film as among your favorites, you should definitely give Bronson a try.

Tom Hardy ("Inception", "The Dark Knight Rises") plays Michael Peterson, who at the tender age of 19, finds himself wanting more than what life is ultimately offering. So he cuts down a shotgun and robs a post office, semi-successfully. Ultimately, he is caught, arrested, and sentenced to 7 years in prison.

Unfortunately for the young Michael, his dreams of grandeur land him in even more trouble as he continues to try and buck the system. His aggressive and violent nature condemns him to spend the next 34 years behind bars. 30 of those years, in solitary confinement.

The film is narrated by Hardy as Charles Bronson, the name and personality that Peterson assumes in his time spent bare knuckle fighting while enjoying a short time outside of prison in his 69 days of freedom in 1988. Bronson would then spend his time creatively capturing the hearts of all with his eclectic theater performances as well as his uncanny ability to smother butter over his naked body to make it harder for the guards to wrestle him to the ground when he is feeling a bit frisky and violent. 

The film itself is actually based on a real inmate in Europe named Charles Slavador, born Michael Gordon Peterson, whom the press dubbed "The most violent prisoner in Britain". Salvador robbed the post office in 1974, he has been incarcerated pretty much ever since. He is currently being housed at Wakefield Prison as of this review in 2014.

Naked Zombie Girl (2014) Review

Naked Zombie Girl takes the Grindhouse genre and mixes in some new school Indie Art to give you a mouth watering, chainsaw wielding good time!

Meghan Chadeayne plays Barbara, who leads a group of friends out of the infected inner city in the hopes of finding salvation while her boyfriend Tony (Joshua Keith Mathews) struggles with the effects of being bitten.

As the sun sets, infection creeps across the land and we find ourselves riding shotgun as Barbara has her lucidity shredded, along with her clothes.

Naked Zombie Girl has something for everyone. From the unique and amazing infection scene with Joshua Keith Mathews, the Grindhouse chainsaw wielding nudity of the heroine Meghan Chadeayne covered in blood and determination, as well as the old school horror of being absolutely and completely surrounded by death with no modern day miracle explosions to clear the way.

Leading the cast of zombies is none other than D.T. Carney ("The Lackey", "World's End") whom, along with the makeup genius and artist Nick Reisinger ("Grimm", "Scary or Die") adds a true sense of doom and destruction to the normal brainless and semi harmless zombie actions of some other movies.  In Naked Zombie Girl, we learn that not all bad things can be washed away and forgotten, that the world doesn't return to normal for those who truly want to survive. Instead, we must embrace a certain amount of madness to triumph over the dead!

Grab a weapon and prepare to fight, clothing, modesty, and timidity are no longer required for living, tenacity is the only option. Welcome to Naked Zombie Girl!

Special Screening Sunday May 4th at the Bakersfield "Mini" Comic Con located at the Bakersfield Museum of Art.

The Frankenstein Theory (2013) Review

The Frankenstein Theory takes a very unique and original look at the Mary Shelley story of Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus under the pretext that an heir to the "Frankenstein" family has found notes and family memorabilia to suggest that the creature is indeed still alive in the Arctic north.

The film is shot from a documentary perspective as it follows a group of five film makers and Jonathan Venkenhein, the great, great, grandson of Johan Venkenhein which was the actual creator of the Frankenstein creature on their journey to discover the truth.

Timothy V Murphy ("The Lone Ranger", "Appaloosa") gives a perfect performance as the guide Karl, as he tries to distill in the crew the dangers of heading out across the Arctic with nothing but snowmobiles and a childlike misunderstanding of what exactly they are getting themselves into.

Kris Lemche nails the furiously curious role of Jonathan Venkenhein, who is a young professor who has been so consumed by his family history and the possibilities, that he has been suspended from the University in which he teaches.

Directed by Andrew Weiner, who co-wrote the story with Vlady Pildysh, the film is able to overcome the documentary tiredness that some films fall into and stand alone with good acting and great cinematic shots.

The creature, who is played by a very well seen, but unknown actor and stunt man named Roger W. Morrisey ("The Lords of Salem". "Hellborn") is perfectly placed and never overly used. This is more of an imaginative tense and scary fall through an unlit cave than it is a spotlight heavy horror movie where the creature is highlighted in detail and posed for each high definition shot.

Come take a look at the Adam of Venkenhein's labors, and see for yourself, just how wretched are the ways of men, both past, and present...

Only God Forgives (2013) Review

Director Nicolas Winding Refn ("Drive", "Bronson") puts together a visually stunning film in Only God Forgives. The plot might seem to move slowly for some, but a true fan of the art of acting as well as anyone who enjoys a good play will be very excited to watch as the story unfolds like a flower from a Golden Shower Tree.
The story takes place in Thailand, where the streets are filled with a slow moving mass of chaos and the sets lit with neon that drapes shadows through the pattern of the architecture. This is a very disturbingly beautiful picture that makes perfect sense to only those who don't need a leash to lead them along.
Most of the dialogue is in Siamese and subtitled, save for a handful of lines that are mostly given by the overly dramatic and emotionally manipulative character of Crystal (Kristin Scott Thomas) who plays a very overbearing and demanding Westerner in a foreign land that she finds to be beneath herself.
Ryan Gosling plays the part of the damaged son to perfection, with his well timed glances and movements that are never out of sync with his frenzied state of calm.
Aside from the Cinematography being almost perfect in every scene, one of the great aspects of this film is how it takes our main character on a very uneven trajectory. One moment you think he is going to be the hero, the next, the villain. If you had to sum up the character in one word, you would be hard pressed to decide between tortured and broken.

The only critique I could give is that the soundtrack sounds like a mix of movies you have already seen, from Inception to Tron Legacy, sometimes it is a distraction and does not mend well with the scenes as they are playing out on screen.
Only God Forgives is not a movie for all to enjoy, as some will get lost in the artistic feel of it and others bored with the theater like performances. However, those who will find it entertaining, will not soon forget about it.

Only God Forgives can be found in theaters now.

Naked Zombie Girl (2013) Trailer Review

The trailer to define a genre has just been released by Hectic Films Productions. Rickey Bird's Naked Zombie Girl looks to be a haunting yet fun midnight maze of nudity, narcissism, and blood sputtering chainsaw action of Grindhouse gore gone wild! 

Rachel Montgomery working as a Producer and First Assistant Director along with Director of Photography Brent Peters come together in supporting the Director Rickey Bird in an all star line up of up and coming actors and actresses.

Meghan Chadeayne bares all in this mad dash to outlast the ever present dangers in a post zombie outbreak. Along for the relentless ride of rampage is Ali Doughtery, Josh Keith Matthews, and an endless array of limitless talent in DT Carney, Robin Steffen, Jason Sanders and Shaun Piccinino as zombies. Nick Reisinger pulls every trick out of his bottomless make-up bag and along with Jason Sanders on special effects and editing, they succeed in creating some of the best zombies to shamble and shake across the screen in this diabetic coma inducing eye candy of a trailer. What can be better than the Naked Zombie Girl trailer? The short film itself!

You can help support Naked Zombie Girl by Clicking Here!

The Bridge (2006) Review

The Bridge is a documentary about the Golden Gate Bridge and the tragic loss of life that is voluntarily given by so many. The filmmakers captured 23 of the 24 suicides that took place from the bridge in 2004, and show the stories and footage from some of those who jumped to their death as well as a survivor and a rescue.
While the subject matter is very dark and bleak, the stories run the full spectrum from awe inspiring and forgiving to maddeningly depressing. It is an eye opening look at something that we as a society choose not to see, or choose not to think about. 

Eric Steele directs the documentary while conducting interviews with witnesses and family members of those who are no longer with us. Some have found an understanding and carry with them a forgiveness for those who chose to end their lives while others are still questioning and baffled by the loss. For anyone who has dealt with mental illness in their lives, whether it be through a family member, friend, or even themselves, there is a very real feel to the stories that one can easily understand. For those who have never experienced something as chaotic as mental illness, the film offers great insight into the human psyche and just how far we all are and feel from time to time.

From the thermals that warp the footage on hot days, to the clouds and fog that roll into the bay and shroud the bridge in a mist, the film brings the viewer right up to the cold, damp railing and lets you experience the rumble that vibrates through it as well as the bounce that you feel when you stand upon the bridge as a truck drives by. From the people who refuse to look up from their shoes as they walk by someone sitting on the railing to those who stop and try to talk to them, there is a sense of tragic loneliness as well as heroic interception that the film brings to the screen so beautifully in an agonizing way.

The Bridge can be found on Top Documentary Films and streamed for free.

The East (2013) Review

The East is 116 minutes of great acting, wrapped around a twisting (yet predictable) plot of Eco-terrorism, Anarchist mayhem, economic sabotage, and parental rebellion.

If Fight Club had begun as a hippie movement focused around a Guy Fawkes concept, The East is what it would have been. However, don't expect an all loving, spiritual awakening type of film, it still rubs raw the ideals and expectations of the naive with brutal truths and discoveries.

Zal Batmanglij wrote and directed a great film. While it is not his first outing in the directors chair, it is by far his most well polished work thus far.
Brit Marling ("Arbitrage") plays Jane, an operative for a very deep pocketed elite private investigation firm that is sent out to infiltrate the group as Sarah. What she finds is a well polished and close knit group of like minded people, most of which have a very personal interest in the anarchist movement that is The East.
Alexander Skarsgård ("True Blood", "Battleship") completely sheds his inner vampire for this role, and does an extraordinary job portraying Benji, the cautious and scarred Zen like commander of this leaderless pack of renegades.
Ellen Page ("Juno", "Inception") takes hold of the reins of Izzy, a protective and very defiant young woman who does not take kindly to the uninvited introduction of Sarah into their little family.
The actors do an absolutely outstanding job creating unique and likable characters. From Shiloh Fernandez ("Evil Dead", "Red Riding Hood") as Luca, the motherly one of the group who brings Sarah in when she needs medical attention, to Toby Kebbel ("Wrath of the Titans", "RockNRolla") as Doc, who struggles with his own physical limitations and provides the medical help that the group sometimes needs. There is zero weak links in the chain of actors in this film, even the supporting cast all do an outstanding job peeling back the curtains and giving the viewer a glimpse at what it is like to run rampant upon the corporate world with revenge and retribution fueling the fires of well conceived chaos.

Most of the film takes place in and around an old half burned down home in the forest, which the group uses as its temporary headquarters while they carry out their Jams (attacks). The cinematography is spot on and always finds a way to incorporate the surroundings, whether its peeling wallpaper or horses running across a meadow into the story to keep your eyes entertained and your mind thinking. What is important, what isn't?  It's a very well conceived film that unspools as a bit of a mystery as you ride along with Sarah as she tries to uncover who trusts who, who might be dangerous, and who is on to you in an adventure you are sure to enjoy.

The East is in Theaters now.