Movie Review: Salvador (1986; Hemdale/MGM/UA/Twilight Time)

...ya' know?? It's often quite interesting and intriguing, the evolution of a filmmaker. The inaugural hits...the initial misses...and that marked milestone of a film, which carries said filmmaker to greater heights, even to the point where, for good or for bad, whatever comes after, is still quite anticipated and well-received by viewing critics and audiences alike. For most, one's introduction to a specific filmmaker is typically something wrought well-after that aforementioned milestone, and after having been privy of latter, higher-profile work, curiosity prescribes...even sometimes demands one to back-pedal to that now-renowned and revered filmmaker's earlier work...

...cutting to the chase, let's just throw the name out there, 'kay?? Ready, go...Director Oliver Stone. Bam!! Right away, what comes to most folks' minds are the high-profile films of keen political rhetorics, observations and engagements, whether such things are observed and/or depicted in the exploitative media ("Natural Born Killers"), in a war-torn battleground ("Platoon", amongst others), in the high-rise financial arena (...can you say, "Wall Street"), on the grassy football gridiron (...a la, "Any Given Sunday"), or heck, even in the obvious of politically-driven locales...namely Washington, D.C., itself (..."JFK", "Nixon", "W.", etc.), Of course, there are those moments of filmmaking escapism...for lack of a better word...'breaks' in the political rhetorie, so to speak, as director Stone etches out the smaller, eclectic, more character driven stories (...of course, we're talking "Talk Radio", "U-Turn", "Savages"...the

Movie Review: Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship and Videotape (2010; Nucleus Films/Severin)

...and to think that we've had it bad, here in the States, with regards to an established movies rating board, and it's effect on horror films, or even the whole of motion pictures, itself; well actually, if one gets right down to it, it isn't necessarily the viewers who have it bad here...it's the film makers, and their desire to get their uncut and unexpunged 'vision' out for the genre-favoring public to see (...though, in favor of the filmmakers, their 'vision' is often eventually realized and seen, upon home video release, giving the avid and indiscriminant viewer a choice between the rated and the unrated). The domestically based MPAA ratings board has gone through a whole spectrum of transition, since it's untried 1922 inception...it's staunch, disciplined and assumedly morally driven members...reputably considered a responsible and morally sound lot...yet, often going back and forth and back again, from easy and liberal, to strict and militant. One cannot help but view the more contemporary archival evidence of the past, in taking an overview of this transition, and be quite taken aback...from a day when an imported Dracula film, exuding blatant images and concepts of sex, immorality, drunkenness, lesbianism, atheism, the domineering/surrendering of religion by/to the forces of evil, grave violation, church desecration, and downright violent imagery of blood-gushing death, dismemberment and impalement, garnished a 'G' rating (...circa 1968, Hammer's "Dracula Has Risen from the Grave"...don't believe me?? Check out the movie's page at IMDB. A misprint, you say?? Now check out the back cover of the home video)...to today's ratings board atmosphere, where mere cigarette smoking can make the difference between a 'PG' and 'PG-13' rating, and the difference between a 'PG-13' and "R' rated movie is sometimes dependent upon how many times the word 'fuck' is used in the film. Hypocritical, you say?? As the great Al Jolson once said, "...you ain't seen...or in this case, 'heard' nothing yet!!" Let's take a trip across the seas, to our neighboring continental British counterpart, shall we?? You just ain't gonna believe this...

Movie Review: The Candidate/Johnny Gunman (1964/1957, Vinegar Syndrome)

...this viewer might well be beating a dead horse, with what may be keen and poignant observation, which many an auteur of rare and eclectic cinema obscura, have since come to the conclusion of, but hey...all the more to revere and 'butter up' such relishable revived and re-discovered films...from such a progressively reputable film distribution company. We're talking about the fine folks, over at Vinegar Syndrome, people...and who out there, have fallen victim to deja-vu, whilst visually engaging the films released by this still relatively new organization...fondly reflecting back to a day when such films were the under-the radar standard...unswervingly daring, controversial, exploitative, cutting-edge, erotic, forbidden, taboo, way-too-odd-for-mainstream, gritty...even at times, slimy...as scatteringly issued by distributor Mike Vraney, in his heyday, and released under the appropriately monikered 'Something Weird Video' banner (...and to an extent, still does, in fact). 'Something Weird' might have once seen it's day, and to this day, remains very much appreciated and respected for such; however, it has become apparent that Vinegar Syndrome has since picked up this embraceably eclectic & respectable mantle, and is carrying on in the tradition...quickly becoming the source for undiscovered/rediscovered films of the more unconventional and controversial nature, which are...well, let's face it folks...deliciously misfit and odd...all the more deliciously apparent, with their latest 'two-fer' offering...the pairing of the 1964 political satire, "The Candidate", and the budget noirish 1957 drama, "Johnny Gunman"...

Movie Review: The Last Tycoon (2012, Well Go USA Entertainment)

...Shanghai, in the 1930's...a most uneasy and tumultuous, though in a way, adventurous time in Chinese history...has often been favored, as a most compelling and lucrative setting in many Asian-produced films, released in the past several decades...and in perusing the archival pages of Shanghai's unstable and violent, albeit opportunist history, during this time, it might well be understandable, as to why this particular era readily made for a most interesting and exotic locale, for film. The area itself was often embroiled in power struggles...both of international intrigue, as well as within it's own social cache; with Shanghai divided between Chinese and European factions, and gambling, prostitution & opium smuggling being the underground order of affairs, violence and corruption took a ruling hand. Corporate and governmental underhandedness became as prevalent as the growing cliques of warring, territorial gangsters, whose embrace of fame, power and riches helped to usher in a great and overpowering measure of lawlessness amongst the social masses, who were grossly divided...with the rich and powerful living it up, as if there was no tomorrow, and the underclass firmly held down in submission. And all of this, right on the cusp of Japan's formidable bid for occupation of Shanghai, and it's surrounding areas...in what would be an unflinching, no-holds-barred assault, which would change the very foundation and history of the area...

Movie Review: Combat Girls (aka Kriegerin, 2013)

There is no better quality for a movie to have, in my opinion, than the ability to drag you in by the emotional short hairs and hold you there for the duration. During the first few minutes of Combat Girls, a group of modern day Nazi kids living in Germany terrorize every passenger on a city bus in a way that made me absolutely loathe every one of them. I watched as they shoved one kid and called him a faggot. I sat with my heart racing as a young Asian guy was pummeled in front of his girlfriend. I wished I was on that bus. I wanted to be in a seat at the back of the bus with a bat or a pipe so that I could stand up and mash the unholy shit out of each of their skulls until they turned into pudding. I hated these people. HATED them. I've seen these assholes in the real world, and I've been the guy to step in on more than one occasion, not out of heroics, but out of anger and necessity. I can't stand aggressive bullies. It was like everyone involved with Combat Girls knew exactly where my buttons were, and they mashed all of them down as hard as they could with an open palm. For the rest of this movie, I was in, and there was no way for me to turn away. I needed justice in some manner or another.

Movie Review: Food, Inc. (2009)

I held off on watching this movie for quite a long time. I already knew a decent amount about how disgusting our food is. A friend of mine told me once about his brother who worked for the company that supplied Taco Bell its meat. According to him, they use a processed F grade meat that's mixed with a caking agent that holds in all of the grease so that the food doesn't drip. That means you ingest every little drop of grease, and whatever the fuck it is that holds it together. Do you want to know what we were doing while he was telling me this? We were eating in a Taco Bell. No bullshit.

Buy Food, Inc. [Blu-ray] or DVD

Movie Review: The Tillman Story (2010)

Before the deaths of Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, the biggest story of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars was the death of Arizona Cardinals star Pat Tillman. The NFL favorite made the surprising choice to leave the league and millions of dollars behind to become an Army Ranger with his brother, Kevin. It seemed like the most selfless and patriotic act someone could commit at the time. In his death, he was lionized as a hero, given the Silver Star, and held up by the government as a true patriot. That was all great, until the truth came out.

Buy The Tillman Story Blu-ray or DVD

Movie Review: Graphic Sexual Horror (2009)

Documentaries are almost always interesting. Sometimes they can help you expand your knowledge on something you already know about, and sometimes they can teach you about something you are ignorant of. Sometimes they tell you stories about people. Graphic Sexual Horror was a little about people and a little about something I really knew nothing about. It was interesting and odd, and it wasn't what I thought it would be.

I'll admit to looking at my share of adult videos on the Internet. Long before sites like YouPorn and Red Tube, you could see clips on sites like Stile Project or Ebaum's World mixed in with Flash cartoons. I'd always get weird things in my inbox from friends, and some of it would be crazy bondage stuff. One of the first websites to capitolize on this was Insex. They took willing models and put them through all kinds of sexual torture and ended up with a large following. They had around 35,000 people paying $60 a month to watch videos and live feeds based on their fetish. That's not a ton of people in the grand scheme of things, but it's enough to qualify as a niche.

Movie Review: The Atomic Cafe (1982)

This film needs to be required viewing for every American. It’s that powerful and that persuasive and it is comprised solely from American nuclear propaganda films and news footage. It is a testament to how we, as Americans, will use whatever we can to win at all costs and, in the same token, how we as Americans will panic when we are faced with the consequences of using that power. The Atomic Café is a testament to how fear works on us: fear spread by our leaders, the media and our own ignorance… and how allaying that fear is as simple as forcing children to sing a song about ducks and covers. The Atomic Café is a uniquely American film that pulls no punches, but it doesn’t rely on a celebrity narrator, or reenactments. It doesn’t rely on half-baked theories or conspiracies. The Atomic Café is us, in our own words, stitched together so we can see the story, in total.

Buy The Atomic Cafe or watch the entire film below.

Movie Review: The Life of Death

I have been following Kevin Lindenmuth’s career since his first film, “Vampires and Other Stereotypes.” He is something of a pioneer, being one of the first guys to take advantage of digital technology to make very personal low end horror films and get them into video stores world wide. I’ve always respected him, his work, his drive and his dedication.

In recent years he seems to have concentrated on talking head documentaries, like “But You Look So Well,” which dealt with multiple sclerosis. His new documentary, “The Life of Death,” may be his most personal work yet: an examination of death as seen through the eyes of people directly involved in genre films and literature. It’s an odd and slim premise (implying that people involved in the horror genre have some special relationship with the idea of mortality), and reaches no real conclusions, but remains gripping and fascinating throughout – no small feat for a talking heads film with a running time of 117 minutes!

Movie Review: The Lottery (2010)

When Jeff gave me this movie, I knew it would be tough to watch and should have known it would be tough to review. Anything that involves the failures of our government, especially surrounding the well-being of kids, gets me upset. I avoided it for a long time. For some reason, I finally just popped it in. I was right about my reaction. What I didn't anticipate was another subject that makes me boil. It's one that will cause half of you to bail on me by my third paragraph. I'm also expecting a few unkind words. I'm even going to upset some of the CHC crew, but here goes.

Buy The Lottery on DVD

The Lottery focuses on a small group of charter schools in New York City that many parents are dying to get their kids into. According to state laws, if demand outweighs supply, a lottery must be held to decide which children will be able to enroll. While the teachers, parents of current students and even President Obama sing the praises of charter schools, one group opposes them. That group is NYC's teachers union, the United Federation of Teachers.

Movie Review: Graphic Sexual Horror (2009)

by Jeff Dolniak

Directed by: Barbara Bell and Anna Lorentzon

Synapse Films

Buy Graphic Sexual Horror on DVD

Generally, when a documentary appears on television (no matter what the subject matter) I tend to, at the very least, give it a watch. Real people, doing real things in this fascinating world of ours. Scripted film can rarely touch the drama or depth of what all we living humans do. Documentaries on adult entertainment have always appealed to me, but they tend to be all over the place. Graphic Sexual Horror, from producer and director's, Barbara Bell and Anna Lorentzon, is not one of them. It's not about adult films, or even straight up "screw-and-chew"; it's about the notorious and highly popular site called, INSEX. INSEX is not your average site for those seeking sexual gratification via the internet; it's a website solely committed to outrageous bondage and sado-masochism. Many of the acts shown on INSEX were so extreme it eventually led to their demise courtesy of The Department of Homeland Security.