The Stanford Prison Experiment

I had read stories on the Stanford Prison Experiment years ago, then the film with Adrian Brody & Forest Whitaker came out, i loved it, i thought it was awesome, although it was totally done as an action film. I then had the see the original Das Experiment from Germany, basically the same with a few differences here & there, but i preferred the US one overall. Well now here comes the art house version......well sort of art house, the one with more art house cred atleast.....and....it is fucking AMAZING!!!! I loved this film so much, my boy Ezra Miller is fantastic yet again, Hell everyone in this film delivers a knockout, you feel so much pain for the prisoners, you just want to punch the guards, and you find the people running it to be sick.Do characters redeem themselves? Well they try, but you know exactly what they did, now what if the tables were turned and the prisoners were the guards from the beginning and vice versa? Well who knows, human nature is odd, and this film shows it perfectly. It may have been set in the 70s but it feels like a film of the 70s, it has that counter culture, anti authoritarian vibe going on, and it is damn near perfect. If it shows how guards in real prisons treat prisoners, then yes it is sad & pathetic, if it is just an experiment, then it shows how corrupt people can be, but to me, this film shows both.  It is a fucked up flick, with no gore, it is fucked up in the sense of people are dangerous.

True Detective 2

The first True Detective was southern gothic 101, perfect shit, amazing acting, brilliantly shot, great tension. The second season had big shoes to fill, and while it was not as good as the first, it was still a great season. Colin Farrell stole the show on this, his character had a great heart but his temper fucked him over, the shit with his son was almost heartbreaking. Vince Vaughn seemed almost like Vincent D'Onofrio on Daredevil, but unlike D'Onofrio he did not receive raving reviews. To that i say bs, Vaughn was solid this season, i hope he gets more serious roles again, underrated actor. Taylor Kitsch is usually rather wooden, here he showed better chops than he usually has, plus he was the most human. Rachel McAdams does a 1 2 punch with this & Southpaw, was super sexy aswell. The plot was not as tight as the first but it had almost a Twin Peaks esque vibe with the surreal shit going on, almost like a bad trip. This here was a solid season, it had its shock moments for sure but it still lacked compared to the first. The finale had some pacing issues here & there but overall it wrapped shit up nice, it ended on more of a down note which i did enjoy, the end with McAdams was left open and that too i thought was good, the unknown future.

The Gift

So The Gift is that happens when you take a plot that should be on lifetime and add in a super high creepy factor. The film keeps you uneased the entire run, the director, Joel Edgerton also plays Gordo, the old classmate of Jason Bateman's Simon, and from the moment we meet him, he is Straight Outta Creepton. He gives Gifts(spoilers), he shows up at odd times, breaks in, he lies about his job & family, and seems to   be highly unstable, well we found out why through out the film. Now he may have been fucked up before running into Simon in high school but Simon exacerbated his problems, you see Simon is Straight Outta Assholeton, and it shows from the moment we meet him. This is a yuppy ass bitch that you want to see get put in his place. His wife is super sweet but Straight Outta Naiveton. It moves at a great pace and seems to be inspired by Italian & French horror, but at the core it is still a Lifetime movie, an arthouse Lifetime movie, not that it seems like an art film, but come one, fuck Lifetime, i am trying to praise this  film.....Creepy Lifetime! Well alot of Lifetime is creepy but they blow dogs for quarters, this here, does not. The acting is great and it builds suspense well, even if it does use jum scares, but the brilliant thing is, it knows it is toying with the audience, plus it trolls us by having an open ended finale.

Fantastic 4

So Roger Corman tried to produce a version in the 90's, and well it was terrible, look it up online. Then Fox produced two in the 00's,  well they were awful, only saving grace is the Silver Surfer, but that was even pushing it, that is like saying the second time you puked was better than the first time. Well since that time, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken off, and Fox wanted to cash in to create their own universe....the results, are fucking AWESOME, i mean come on, Days of Future Past was the shit, Quicksilver? Badass! Oh then Fox decided to have the Fantastic 4 join the ranks.....oh yeah, fuck you! God this sucked, Miles Teller was decent in the first half, then he seemed lost in the second. Toby Kebbell as Dr. Doom was interesting, too bad his vilain aspect was rushed, as was his final battle. I mean come on, the plot was fucked, how did Sue Storm get affected but no one else there did? Why did Reed become a huge pussy? Why was that subplot even brought in? Doom killing folks Scanners style, okay, i dig it, but him just wanting to go back to the other dimension? Let him, for all we know he may not have been wanting to suck Earth there, if they did address that in the film, then okay, it would still feel forced. The clobbering time line? Which one? Both, ugh the 2007 scene with Ben's older brother was stupid, the line the Thing gives when he punches out Doom was fantastically weak. You know what, this would be cool, have David Cronenberg make a body horror version of the Fantastic Four....well maybe not, but someone should, someday. Would never get greenlit but come on, body horror yo!

REC Series ranked

I finally saw Rec 4, so here is the franchise ranked.

Rec 3.
This one may not be the same sub genre as the first two but it is batshit crazy, from begining to end, over the top & full of gore.

Rec 2.
Fits more in line with the first one but this one goes for the jugular from the start.

Rec
Had it been released a few years later, it would have been an after thought in found footage but this one sticks out, i love the first three.

Rec 4.
This one doesn't suck but it did not live up to the first 3 at all, it has its moments but overall i was disapointed by it

Mission Impossible Franchise ranked

For almost 20 years Ethan Hunt has been taking us on Impossible Missions let us look back at the best of the franchise.

1. Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol.
This film had the best development of characters, the best chemistry, and it looked like everyone was having a blast on the set. Funny that a animation director in Brad Bird would deliver the best action of the entire franchise. Plus it has one of my favorite openings in action movies, the way it cuts into the theme song felt so organic & kick ass.

2. Rogue Nation

This one may not be the best shot or have the best villains but it is a close second on that front. Ghost Protocol may still be the funnest entry but this one is just as fun, i think the main reason it does not dethrone it, is because alot of the film is super contrived.

3. Mission Impossible 3
This is the film that made me a fan of the franchise, JJ Abrams brought me into it with his show Lost, but the franchise took on a new life ever since Bad Robot became the production company plus it has the best villain in the series with Phillip Seymour Hoffman, oh plus Simon Pegg in it for the first time!


4. Mission Impossible
This one has grown on me, it is very much a Brian De Palma film, his stamp is all over it, and it is a tad cheesy too. Possibly the best shot of the series!

5. Mission Impossible 2
John Woo put his mark all over this film, it is action movie goodness and it's most bang & pow atleast for early 00's cinema.

Wet Hot American Summer

When Reno 911 came out i became aware of a comedy troupe known as the State, as soon as Comedy Central played Wet Hot American Summer i fell in love. To me, to this day it is the second funniest film ever made, right behind Anchorman. 14 years later we get the series, and thank you Netflix for doing so! The show is a gift to the fans, the basis for certain characters, the arkcs the connected characters, and most importantly the soul & heart of the film are alive & well, this show was well worth it. I usually do not binge watch shows, but i devoted 4 hours for this glorious occasion. From the opening credits i was celebrating the fact that instead of 8 half hour episodes, it felt like a 4 hour long film, a 4 hour long film with no pacing issues. The hours flew by as we watched Coop try to chase his "girlfriend" be toyed with and almost try a threesome, all to catch the eye of Katie. We watched Katie gain the affection of Andy which started a war between Camp Firewood & Camp Tigerclaw. We saw Victor show his virginity & Neil lose his, we saw Ben & McKinley fall in love, Gene & Gail fall out of love and see Gail fall for Ron. We saw the can of vegetables die as a human and respawn, we saw the Beekeeper never bathe, we saw Beth & Henry begin something special, we saw Lindsay become a teen after being an adult and Abby get her period into womanhood, Steve got more screentime plus JJ, Gary & Susie all got their spots as well did plenty of new comers into the fold, the bit parts were great, Jon Hamm, Chris Pine, Jason Schwartzman Kristen Wiig, Randall Park, Lake Bell, Michael Cera, Rob Huebel(in a small part), and Weird Al were all awesome. The sight gags & word play were top notch and did not disappoint me one bit, this universe is right up my Community loving alley. I hope for a second season that shows what they all do at 9:30 10 years later!