Movie Review: Tusk (2014)

It's no secret to anyone who knows me or listens to the podcasts I've been on that I am a huge Kevin Smith fan.  From the first time I watched Clerks I was enthralled with his work.

I finally got around to watching Tusk and at first I wasn't sure what I thought of it.  There's the Kevin Smith humor but it's mixed in with a little bit of a Human Centipede-esque type of film.

Tusk is about an obnoxious podcast host(Justin Long) who travels to Canada to interview an internet sensation.  Unfortunately for him, he is unable to get the interview but he finds out about another person(Michael Parks) who seems like he may be interesting to talk to as well.  Things don't go well and the podcast host will go through some serious changes.

Smith is able to get the most out of the actors in this film.  Michael Parks is masterful as the walrus aficionado.  Justin Long plays his part as the podcast host as excellently as well.  As with most Kevin Smith films, the cameos are fun to watch for(I didn't even recognize Johnny Depp, guess I better watch it again).  The Canadian humor is funny as well.

As for the film itself, it wasn't exactly my favorite.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy the film, it's just not one I would watch regularly.  It's definitely worth checking out but be warned, it's not for those of you with a weak stomach.

On a scale of one to five, Tusk recieves Four Pile Drivers.

Please comment below and let us know what you thought of Tusk.

Please check out my other reviews here on Cinema Head Cheese and also check out my other blogs & podcasts on MaskerpieceTheatre.blogspot.com

This blog is from one of my posts on Cinema Head Cheese and you can read more of my movie reviews there.

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Comic Book Review: This Damned Band #5 - Dark Horse Comics (2015)

Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Tony Parker
Colors by Lover Kindzierski

The band is on their way to a huge stadium show in Texas.  The mystery of why so many groupies have left the band or have gone missing is still looming.  A lot is happening and a big reveal at he end!

This Damned Band is not written the way a lot of comic books are.  A documentary crew is following the exploits of the group as they go on tour, hang with groupies and do hallucinogenic drugs and seeing the devil.  Those sentences were just in case you haven't been keeping up on this series.  If you haven't, I recommend that you get yourself over to your local comic book shop and pick up these five issues before the sixth and final comic book comes out.

The characters are definitely on edge in this issue.  With the missing groupies, with the band playing what might be their final show together and with the potential sacrifice at this concert...  Okay, I might be giving too much away there.  Paul Cornell is building up something big with this issue, especially with the aforementioned reveal at the end of this issue.

How cool is the cover to this book?  Actually all covers have been awesome as they are reminiscent of rock concert posters.  I like how this particular cover prominently displays "This Damned Band" and includes the writer, artist and colorist as the opening act.  Ticket price is the cost of the comic book.

Tony Parker and Lovern Kindzierski are working like a super-team in this series.  Parker is putting so much into every panel yet making it look effortless.  There is so much detail in the backgrounds but none of it feels overly "busy."  This can be a tough task as you want detailed artwork but you also want the focus of the panel to be in the right place.  Tony Parker has been absolutely stellar in that department.  If that wasn't incredible enough, Lovern Kindzierski adds colors that work page after page.  The colors add a wonderful amount of detail to Parker's work.  Look at the paisley dress worn by the Alice.  Absolutely remarkable.

Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Telos - Issue 3 - DC - Comic Book Review

Telos - #3 - DC

Written By: Jeff King

Art By: Pagulayan, Vitorino, Paz, Deering, Parsons & Steigerwald

The issue begins with a full page battle image of Telos and gang fighting the monstrous and terrifying Validus. This battle is not easily fought as Telos is forced to use incredible power to remove the threat from his companions. Telos and gang find their way into the “gateway” and learn startling things about Computo’s power in Colu and what he has been up to. Brainiac and Computo also share a brief exchange and we are reminded that each party involved is just a pawn in the game Brainiac is playing. Nothing is ever as it seems and another surprising monster awaits Telos as the issue ends.

I’m really enjoying this series but I’m starting to wonder why Telos isn’t using the power he has to its full capacity. It would end conflicts much quicker. It raises a question because in this issue we see increased use of his power drains his energy levels. My question is, does full use of his power now drain the energy/life from him making him weak? If so, that makes his character more believable since a matter changing, all powerful,  being can’t just go around using full power all the time.

The art work continues to be a treat as we continue to get beautiful and vibrant colors mixed with dark and brooding scenery. It’s visually appealing and the characters continue to balance each other out. We have dedicated and powerful Telos matched with a wide array of characters who are thought provoking, humorous and strategic. I continue to look forward to future issues. 

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Movie Review: Ex Machina (2015)

Caleb(Domhnall Gleeson) who works for the largest internet search engine in the world wins a trip to hang out with the founder(Oscar Isaac) of the company.  When Caleb meets Nathan, he finds out he is part of something much bigger.  Nathan is in a very secluded and highly secure compound where he is developing Artificial Intelligence.  Nathan wants Caleb to perform interviews/tests to see if his creation, Ava(Alicia Vikander), has a conscience.

Caleb is excited for the opportunity despite the odd behavior of his employer Nathan.  The interactions between Caleb and Ava were shot incredibly well.  Caleb starts to feel things are amiss when he gets into the artificial mind of Ava and his dealings with the heavy drinking Nathan.

Plenty of plot twists keep you wondering what may or may not be real inside this film.  Why was Caleb brought here?  What does Nathan really want?  Can Ava love someone?

On a scale of one to five pile drivers, I'm giving "Ex Machina" four pile drivers.  The film kept me interested from start to finish and really kept me guessing.

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Inhumans - Issue 2 - All New All Different Marvel - Comic Book Review

Inhumans - #2 - Marvel

Written By: James Asmus & Charles Soule

Art By: Stefano Caselli & Andres Mossa

The princess leading the Inhumans is having a discussion with SHIELD Agent Daisy (aka Quake) and discussing the possible ramifications of their involvement in meeting with a dictatorship who supplied weapons to Hydra. The Inhumans travel to Sin-Cong and meet with the leader while searching the city for NuHumans. Unable to locate any Inhumans they retire back to their ship and are awoken by a mysterious nightmare they all experience while a small band of their fellow Inhumans searches the outskirts of the city for anyone affected by the Terrigen Cloud.

The story continues with an emphasis on diplomacy and political maneuvering as the princess of the Inhumans meets with a dictator to search for anyone affected/altered by the Terrigen cloud in his country. What they find within the city is not surprising as the citizens seem to say, exactly, what the Commissar said. The findings on the outskirts though was pretty revealing and not what was expected. I was glad they wrote a twist in that furthered the story.  Also, it gave depth and character to the country and the city. 

The story continues to delight and the art work is enjoyable without being distracting. There was a brief squabble during the dinner scene that was fun to see and quite revealing. We begin to learn how far this ruler of Sin-Cong is willing to go to make weapons and build an army. An overall good time and the intensity of the story continues to grow and develop into something rich and socially aware. I’m very pleased and looking forward to the next issue. 

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Movie Review: Insurgent (2015)

The sequel to Divergent picks up where its predecessor left off.  The film follows Tris(Shailene Woodley) and Four(Theo James) who are known as Divergents in a world that has separated all people into factions.  If you haven’t seen “Divergent,” this film will make no sense to you.

Alliances are tested as are the wills of the characters in “Insurgent.”  Tris is having difficulty dealing with the guilt of the people she lost.  Four is right there by Tris’ side, as he was in the first film.  Miles Teller reprises his role brilliantly as Peter, a character that keeps you guessing as to which side he is on.

Kate Winslet is still the baddie for this film as she plays Jeanine, the person keeping order and hunting down the Divergent people.  In this installment, you find that Jeanine is not just interested in the Divergent folk to eradicate them, but for another reason altogether.

The sweeping landscape scenes look incredible in “Insurgent.”  The green of the forest and the shots of the city ruins gives this film a distinct and beautiful look.  There’s also a ton of violence and characters that were killed in ways I did not expect.

“Insurgent” receives three out of five pile drivers.  I don’t think it was quite as good as the “Divergent,” but the film ends in a way to make you look forward to the next.

This movie review is from one of my earlier posts on Cinema Head Cheese and you can read more of my reviews there.

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Inhumans - Issue 1 - All New All Different Marvel - Comic Book Review

Inhumans - #1 - Marvel

Written By: James Asmus & Charles Soule

Art By: Stefano Caselli & Andres Mossa

Gorgon is flying to Australia with two young Inhumans who he is also training during the flight. Upon arrival, they find the people who weren’t transformed by the Terrigen Mist are growing resentful and hateful of the NuHumans inhabiting the cities with them. We discover a rescue mission is in progress and meet some of the new leadership the Inhumans have. We also discover that not everyone who was transformed by the mist is happy about it. The issue concludes with some surprising political tactics and that the Inhumans are here to stay.

Being very unfamiliar with the Inhuman mythos I found this issue to be satisfying. I don’t know all the characters but I understand their powers and the limitations. This issue had some great art work for one battle scene where an “elemental” used her powers to fight a crowd of people. she used fire, water, wind and the earth itself to neutralize the mob. Overall, the art work was enjoyable and the story was too. 

This story deals with social commentary on accepting people who change and realizing that deep down they’re still people, just different. The political maneuvers used at the end was a nice surprise. I didn’t expect the twist and was pleased to see this story takes itself more seriously than just super powered beings living among humans. In conclusion, I enjoyed the all new all different Inhumans and am looking forward to future issues.  

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Movie Review: The Dead Lands (2015)

We have a film that starts with a chase and a kill using primitive Maori weapons.  What a cool way to get a movie going!  "The Dead Lands" takes place around the 16^th century in New Zealand, prior to any European exploration.  Two tribes have a long running truce until someone defecates on an ancestor’s skull(literally).  Without their chief present, Wirepa(Te Kohe Tuhaka) is representing  his tribe and he is ready for war.  Wirepa frames the film’s hero Hongi(James Rolleston), who is the son of the rival tribe’s chief(George Henare).  The chief does everything he can to get out of going to war but Wirepa is insistent.

Wirepa and his tribe attack Hongi’s people at night killing off all men except Hongi who, during the attack, ends up at the bottom of a cliff.  The next day, Hongi sees the aftermath and decides he needs revenge.  Hongi has a vision in his sleep of his grandmother(Rena Owen) and she offers advice within the dream.  He tells her he will go where no one dares go, to the Dead Lands where it is said there is a man, possibly a monster, does not welcome outsiders and eats people.   It is then that Hongi decides he will recruit the warrior from the Dead Lands to assist him in his quest to find Wirepa.

Wirepa and his men also happen to be in the Dead Lands, as our main villain is feeling pretty high and mighty and wants to shave off about 5 days from his trip back home. 

Hongi finds the warrior(Lawrence Makoare) and asks for his help in killing Wirepa and his men.  We begin to see the growing relationship of these two.  The flesh eating warrior is reluctant as it’s just been him and his wives for so long.  Throughout the film, you see why the warrior has secluded himself and where the similarities between the two of them form and why he ultimately decides to help young Hongi.

Without giving too much more away, we continue to see Hongi and the warrior track Wirepa’s group and also meet another tribe whose main spokesperson is played brilliantly by Raukera Turei.  This run in, although seemingly peaceful, delves into the mind of the warrior and challenges Hongi’s perception of him.

The fight scenes are incredibly violent and the scenery is beautiful yet also shows some of the treachery of the land.  "The Dead Lands" takes you back to a primitive time, and is exclusively spoken in the Maori language.

The blu-ray extras include a behind the scenes look at the filming, the actors, and also an insight inyo their training.  Maori tribal experts were brought in to make "The Dead Lands" as authentic as possible.  James Cameron is also on one of the blu-ray bonus features singing the praises of "The Dead Lands."

All in all, "The Dead Lands" is an entertaining film.  Lots of action, characters to enjoy and watch grow plus a bad guy you can really hate.  On my scale of 1 to 5 Pile Drivers, "The Dead Lands" gets 3.5.

This blog came from one of my early posts on Cinema Head Cheese.  You can read more of my movie reviews there.

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Box Office Review (Spoilers)

Star Wars is back! The franchise has returned even though Luke Skywalker is in hiding. J.J. Abrams has revived a franchise that was, arguably, not going to be making a film for decades. The disaster that was the prequels crippled the Star Wars franchise in ways that many couldn’t believe possible. Abrams took it upon himself to revive a beloved franchise and with the help of Disney, Lucas Film and Kathleen Kennedy succeeded.

Now, please click the link and it will open in another window. Press play and let the music accompany your continued reading…

The Force Theme

If you listened carefully to the score of this new film you heard this particular melody throughout. The music foreshadowed which characters would be utilizing the force and feeling it awaken within them. This was only one aspect of story telling the talented John Williams composed for “The Force Awakens” and what a perfect piece of work he wrote. The new themes for the characters to help us discover their character, the quick notes that helped emphasize the importance of particular moment on screen, the score was divine. The score was engaging. The score was a piece of this movie just like it was for the original trilogy.

The main faces we all expected were there. I won’t spend much time on the fact we saw them and it was awesome. I’ll simply mention it and move on… It was awesome seeing them all back on the big screen! The particular point of concern I had was will this film do service to the original cast or will it be a means to pay homage and move on with the new characters. After watching this film 3 times over the weekend I have concluded it was a well balanced blending of the characters we love and the ones we will grow to love. I can only think of two characters who I’m still perplexed by. I’m not sure how they served the overall story in a unique way that only they could do. It felt like they could’ve been easily replaced in this film. Those two characters were Ackbar and Captain Phasma. Sure, Phasma looks cool and will sell lots of toys. She didn’t really do anything unique in this film that couldn’t have been done by ancillary characters. Ackbar, in my opinion, was just there to remind everyone how long this fight has been going on. He didn’t serve any service to the story other than that and that wasn’t truly necessary.

Who shined the most? Was it Adam Driver? Was it John Boyega? Oscar Isaac? Domhnall Gleeson? Nope. The shining star in this film was the new, incredibly talented and unknown Daisy Ridley. All the actors in this film did a spectacular job establishing themselves in this universe. They all performed marvelously and provided us developed, formed and 3 dimensional characters who were more than what we saw in just one film. That’s what you want from any actor in any movie and that was a highlight for me watching this film. However, Daisy Ridley was the shining star. Lupita Nyong’o was such a treat as well and I hope her character is in the rest of the franchise but Daisy Ridley stands above the fray. This talented young actress from England who had zero big budget films under her belt and only a single independent comedy/fantasy/horror film won me over. She’s a strong, independent survivor who we find out is much more than she appears. She’s force strong and stronger as the film progresses and the mystery surrounding her character is engaging and entertaining. Her presence on screen is captivating. I can’t say enough about how much I enjoyed her acting.

This new Star Wars did provide foreshadowing for everyone who was really paying attention or saw it 3 times like I did. The theme of “as long as there is light we have hope” was something that kept being mentioned. We see Han Solo talking to his son Kylo Ren and there’s hope as the sun is still up in the sky but as soon as the sun vanishes and darkness falls, hope is lost. Kylo Ren completes his decent into the dark side of the force by killing his father and hunting down Finn, Rey and Chebacca. Then, moments later, while the sun has vanished we see light from a fire that occurred from an explosion. Top pilot Poe Dameron closes the wings of the X-Wing fighter, flies into the gap and destroys the one thing helping the planet store the power of the sun for attack. The First Order’s new solar system destroying space station doesn’t explode. Instead, it turns into the very same sun it devoured. That my friends is called poetic justice and it was pretty sweet to see on the big screen.

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is in theaters now. I give this film a purple lightsaber, a 12-parsec Kessel run and force pushes until the Republic is restored. Go see this film or go see this film again. Hearing Obi-Wan talk to Rey, seeing Luke Skywalkers lightsaber in action, enjoying the banter between R2 and C-3P0 while BB-8 tries to figure out their relationship is worth multiple viewings. Plus we get so many visual goodies within the castle of Maz Kanata. Star Wars is back!

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James Bond 007 - Issue 2 - Dynamite - Comic Book Review

James Bond - Issue 2 - Dynamite

Written By:Warren Ellis

Art By: Jason Masters

Bond has landed in Berlin and is set to meet up with his team stationed there but nothing is ever as easy as it seems for James. A brief encounter with a woman in gloves nearly ends his time in Berlin but 007 proves too much for her and her efforts. Shortly after, we meet his Berlin team and the doctor who is helping MI6 and the CIA figure out the drug compounds being used and sold. With a final cut back to London we see the situation worsens back in England as the drug users experience abnormal side effects. 

This issue read just like a Bond movie would play out on screen. Almost immediate action sequences with witty banter and some mild seduction trying to take place. We see Bond handling himself in the familiar fashion that only Bond is capable of with responses that are classic him. 

This was an enjoyable read as we continue to learn about the new world that James is a part of, his view of things, and the state of MI6 and England. We are also introduced to a few new characters but there’s no telling for how long these characters will matter. 

The dialogue keeps things entertaining and the art work has me believing story boards for a Bond film would look similar. All around an enjoyable time.

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