Movie Review: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead (Magnolia, 2015)

When you think about Harvard, you generally think of a high class Ivy League university. You expect doctors, lawyers and Wall Street businessmen to emerge after graduation. Hell, our president and first lady are graduates. That makes sense. What most people don't realize is that Harvard gave us a comedy institution, and while not all of it's members came from the famous college, The National Lampoon founders Henry Beard and Doug Kenney did.

I really didn't know much about the Lampoon as a magazine. For my generation, its legacy lies in movies such as Animal House, Vacation and even Van Wilder. Those of us that grew up in the eighties or nineties were more prone to reading Mad or occasionally Cracked. I don't even remember seeing The National Lampoon at newsstands. That could have something to do with the tits. There were so many tits. See, before the internet, we had to find pictures of naked people any way we could. That probably sounds odd to a generation that has seen nudity leave Playboy, but in those days, it was a legitimate selling point. Oh, and they had funny jokes and parodies to go with all of that.

Movie Review: LIfe Itself (2013)

Directed by Steve James

Movie Review by Greg Goodsell

Pulitzer prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert led an expansive life. He enjoyed an early success as both a columnist and critic for the Chicago Sun Times, a newspaper he never left in spite of better paying job offers. He successfully won his private battle with alcoholism, and his marriage at age 50 to Charlie "Chaz" Hammelsmith, a fiery African-American woman who had marched with Martin Luther King Jr. was a love story for the ages. Through it all, Ebert was probably best known as “the fat one” with his cohort Gene Siskel, “the skinny one” on PBS' “Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.” The long-running series was among the very best of its kind, as it explored a relationship – oftentimes contentious, of two intellectuals saying why they did, or did not like a particular film.

The importance of “Siskel & Ebert at the Movies” cannot be downplayed, as it turned many people's heads to the possibilities of film criticism. Both Siskel and Ebert created the notion of “superstar” film critics, for good or ill. Both Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael brought intellectual heft to the form – although Kael would indulge in naughty fun by titling her books with double entendres, such as “I Lost It at the Movies.” There was also Rex Reed, also a critic, but he mostly attained notoriety for tell-all celebrity profiles. It was both Ebert and Siskel that the nation listened and adhered to. In time, they would draw criticism for their “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” rating system. Their contemporary Richard Corliss of Time magazine, who is also interviewed in the documentary, would take them to task for this all or nothing value system. Motion pictures, he argued, were complex creatures, far more worthy of being turned away out of hand for a few of the many disparate elements combined to make them.

Movie Review: The ABCs of Death (2012, Magnet Releasing)

...not too long ago, a most intriguing proposal was afforded 26 film directors, from around the world...some relatively fledgling and unknown, some known and very much seasoned: given free and unbridled creative reign...write, produce and film a small vignette about the subject of death, with the only boundaries and limitations being that each directer is assigned a single letter in the English alphabet, and the death-themed film produced, has to relate to a word...it's first letter being that of the assigned alphabet letter (...budget seemingly unknown, though an amount of $5,000 is per chance mentioned, in one of the segments). What resulted in this rather unusual cinematic experiment, is something which, for the most part, is equal parts uneven, thought-provoking, unnerving, provocative, funny, perverse, shocking, irreverent, jaw-dropping, horrific and...well, just totally off-the-wall, in an enjoyably macabre and engaging way. A fleetingly chaptered anthology, spanning a widely diverse and eclectic spectrum of subject matter, in alternately brutal, grotesque, perverse and, well...admittedly beautiful ways, at times...Now, now...gather around, boys and girls, as we learn "The ABCs...of Death"...

Movie Review: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2011, Blu-ray)

The hillbilly and redneck/backwoods horror subgenre has been around for literaly decades. Deliverance is a good choice, but you can go as far back as the 1960's when HG Lewis and David Friedman brought us the original 2000 Maniacs. Since then there have been numerous entries (both good and bad) that include - Don't Go In the Woods, The Final Terror, Just Before Dawn, The Forest and most recently the Wrong Turn series. Much of what these films thrive on is for us to fear a dirty fellow in overalls. This is precisely why Eli Craig's comedy/horror film Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil works.

Buy Tucker & Dale vs. Evil Blu-ray or DVD

Movie Review: Goon (2012)

Why, oh why do I love biopics so? While I do know that they are often factually imperfect, they're still a great way to learn a little about someone. I also think it has something to do with the fact that they are usually inspirational. I can almost always root for the main character. I can't tell you how much I rooted for Doug Glatt while watching Goon. Based on the biography of the same name by former minor league hockey player Doug Smith, Goon is not only inspirational, but fun and funny, and it builds your anticipation for an ending that anyone can predict and everyone can hope for.

Cinema Head Cheese: The Podcast! #49 - Sex, Thugs and Comicon

Jeff and Kevin talk about the experiences they had at Phoenix Comicon, including Jeff's battle with the Captain.

Kevin reviews the latest from Magnet Releasing. He gets into Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie and the hockey biopic Goon. Jeff reviews the rape revenge movie Crack Whore, and for this week's Blue Cheese, he shares his thoughts on Hillbilly Sex Clan.

Click here to listen or right click and choose "Save Link As..." to download.

You can always email us at cinemaheadcheese@yahoo.com.

Click on any of the links above to purchase at Amazon.com or click the link to our sponsors below and support Cinema Head Cheese and Abnormal Entertainment!

Movie Review: Playback (2012, Blu-ray)

Directed by Michael Nickles

Starring Christian Slater, Ambyr Childers and Toby Hemmingway

Nearly 20 years after a family is massacred in their home, a group of high school kids decide to do a class project based on the murders. In the process of uncovering information on the event they unwittingly release the evil spirit of the murderer who has been imprisoned in the video tapes of the crime. Once set loose, the spirit hops from teenager to teenager, with the help of hidden cameras in the girls locker room, and students bedrooms, leaving a trail of dead bodies in its quest to find one particular soul to take over. That soul belongs to Julian (Johnny Pacer) and as the movie progresses Julian discovers not only how the evil spirit is able to take over those who watch the images on film but also discovers his own disturbing link to the murders.

Movie Review: Mandrill (2009, Blu-ray)

Fans of eclectic film distributor Magnet Releasing may just continue to get spoiled with their output with such consistency in quality acquisitions. With superb releases like I Saw the Devil, Hobo with a Shotgun and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil some of their lesser known releases like the film I'm reviewing today, Ernesto Diaz Espinoza's Mandrill, without proper attention could fall by the wayside. If you're up for a frenetically paced action flick that doesn't want to let you up for air, this may be it.

Mandrill is a pretty simple story of revenge, only this revenge film has some of the most magnificent, jaw-dropping exhibitions of gravity-defying martial arts fight scenes ever put on screen. You can thank Marco Zaror for the majority of dynamic ass-kicking.

Movie Review: Outrage: Way of the Yakuza (2011)

Takeshi Kitano’s illustrious film career has seen many notable contributions to Japanese cinema, both as actor and director. Many folks in the states or outside of Japan were not introduced to the man’s talents until the late 90's and early 2000's until films like Boiling Point, Fireworks, Brother and Kinji Fukusaku’s masterpiece Battle Royale bursted onto the scene. Magnet has just recently released the Yakuza thriller Outrage: Way of the Yakuza and it seems very certain that even in 2012 the 65 year-old actor hasn’t lost a “Beat”.

Buy Outrage: Way of the Yakuza on Blu-ray or DVD

Movie Review: Blackthorn (2011, Blu-ray)

Much of actor/writer Sam Shepard's career has been back and forth between writing plays, screenwriting and occasionally getting in front of the camera for a wide variety of independent and big budget films. In Mateo Gil's Blackthorn the talented actor takes on the role of the iconic bank robber, Butch Cassidy.

Buy Blackthorn on Blu-ray or DVD

Magnolia Pictures (and Magnet) have been on a roll as of late with the excellent releases of Hobo with a Shotgun, The Last Circus and I Saw the Devil - now they tackle a western that puts a new spin on the continuation of Cassidy's life. Thought to be dead by many, in this story, Cassidy has taken on the name of James Blackthorn, started a new life with his young love in a secluded Bolivian forest and began to live a life of simplicity and peace. Blackthorn decides it's time to head back to America to see is long lost son. The journey proves to be complicated as Blackthorn has to deal with a violent posse out for his head and a young robber, Eduardo (Eduardo Noriega) who he meets along the way.

"The Last Circus" Hits Blu-ray and DVD October 18th From Magnet!

A TWISTED TALE OF LOVE, REVENGE AND
PSYCHOPATHIC CLOWNS…THE LAST CIRCUS

The 2010 Venice Film Festival Winner For Best Director And Best Screenplay
Makes Its DVD and Blu-ray™ Debut October 18 From
Magnolia Pictures Under The Magnet Label

“Brilliant.”

- Ain’t It Cool News

"If the idea of an unholy collaboration between Guillermo del Toro, Federico Fellini and William Castle appeals to you, put near- masterpiece The Last Circus on your must-see list right now.”

- Salon

“Cult status is assured.”

- Variety

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – Called “brilliant, bizarre, dazzling and utterly demented”
(New York Times), the shocking tale of two murderous clowns in a twisted tale of love and vengeance, The Last Circus steps right up to Blu-ray and DVD October 18 from Magnolia pictures under the Magnet Label.  From cult director Álex de la Iglesia (The Oxford Murders, The Day Of The Beast) and starring Antonio de la Torre (Volver, Che: Part Two), the “insane” (Chud) film follows two clowns – one sad and one happy – as they enter into a bizarre and unforgettable love triangle.

Buy The Last Circus Blu-ray or DVD