Author: tiki god

Spin Me Round: Directed by Jeff Baena. With Alison Brie, Jake Picking, Stella Chestnut, Lil Rel Howery. A woman wins an all-expenses-paid trip to a company’s gorgeous “institute” outside of Florence, and also the chance to meet the restaurant chain’s wealthy and charismatic owner. She finds a different adventure than the one she imagined. A nice low budget film with big impacts, but it’ll take a bit of talking through the entire thing with buddies to get the full effect. Jeff Baena (LIfe After Beth, The Little Hours, Horse Girl) is no stranger to quality films and working with Alison...

Werewolf by Night: Directed by Michael Giacchino. With Gael García Bernal, Laura Donnelly, Harriet Sansom Harris, Kirk R. Thatcher. Follows a lycanthrope superhero who fights evil using the abilities given to him by a curse brought on by his bloodline. So much better than I thought it was going to be, and so much shorter! The story didn’t break the one hour mark and I think it’s made all that much better because of it. There’s some fun appearances, some great foreshadowing and the use of black and white with color is among the best out there. Buy On Amazon!

Dawn of the Dead: Directed by Zack Snyder. With Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer. A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall. Better than the original, but only just barely. There’s different focuses, with the og more interested in how the survivers survive in the building and this remake being focused on cool visuals and shooting zeeks, but considering the director and writers, it’s remarkably conservative with the explosions and bloodlust. Buy On Amazon!

Night of the Living Dead: Directed by George A. Romero. With Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman. A ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the East Coast of the United States. The movie opens with a couple going out to a cemetery 200 miles away from home to put a wreath on a grave. Maybe it’s a brother and sister? Maybe! But my main focus is that this is a surprisingly fantastic transfer, I had heard the copyright on the film had...

Day of the Dead: Directed by George A. Romero. With Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy. As the world is overrun by zombies, a small group of scientists and military personnel dwelling in an underground bunker in Florida must determine whether they should educate, eliminate or escape the undead horde. Some casual racism that’s hard to get past, but this movie (and the franchise) came up in a discussion about zombie films in which the various characters had the RIGHT idea about what to do. In this case, at the beginning of the film one of the helicoptor...

Confess, Fletch: Directed by Greg Mottola. With Lorenza Izzo, Jon Hamm, Anna Osceola, Marcia Gay Harden. After becoming the prime suspect in multiple murders, Fletch strives to prove his innocence while simultaneously searching for his fiancé’s stolen art collection. I had some minor misgivings of this movie about the same character that Chevy Chase played nearly 30 years ago, which is based on a series of books, which means it’s a different story and Jon Hamm can do whatever he wants with the character without really being beholden to what Chase did with him. In many ways it’s a situation...