The Oak Room

August 31, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in film fest, fantasia festival, reviews, hunter bush

Written by Peter Genoway
Directed by Cody Calahan
Starring RJ Mitte, Peter Outerbridge and Ari Millen
Running time: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Unrated-contains salty language, violence both explicit and implied and emotionally upsetting formative childhood recollections

by Hunter Bush

There’s a lot happening in the margins of Cody Calahan’s nested-narrative thriller The Oak Room. For a film with a story tucked inside a story inside a story, a lot goes unstated but while some details never quite coalesce, enough becomes clear for us to infer the shape of things. Adapted by Peter Genoway from his own stage play, on its face The Oak Room is the story of two men in a bar talking about two other men in a different bar, but what it’s really talking about is the power and nature of stories.

Hentai Kamen

August 30, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in film fest, fantasia festival, reviews, hunter bush

Hentai Kamen: The Forbidden Hero (2013)
Hentai Kamen 2: The Abnormal Crisis (2016)

Written and Directed by Yûichi Fukuda
Based on the manga by Keishû Andô
Starring Ryôhei Suzuki, Fumika Shimizu and Tsuyoshi Muro
Running times: 1 hour and 46 minutes (HK) and 1 hour and 59 minutes (HK2)
Unrated- contain Cartoon Violence, Repeated Instances of Teabagging, Panties as a Plot Device, Light Kinkshaming and Near-Constant Use of the Word Pervert As Both a Positive and a Negative

by Hunter Bush

I requested the screeners for both Hentai Kamen films completely accepting of the potential for there to be nothing about them worth writing about. And then the trailer for the new Batman dropped. Now gang, I’m not gonna crap all over the trailer for The Batman, though I am not wildly enthused by it for a variety of reasons because it isn’t The Batman’s fault - and in fact, what I have *heard* about the film is much more enticing than what I’ve now *seen* of it - it’s almost all superhero films. Even the Marvel movies - unarguably more colorful, fun, and just plain lively than most of DC’s output - have a tendency to get high on their own supply to a degree that I started to get seriously fatigued leading up to that final Avengers. A fatigue that persists, but has grown to encompass most superhero films.

A24 Meets d20: Playing A24’s GREEN KNIGHT Game

August 24, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in hunter bush

by Hunter Bush

With assistance from Allison Yakulis and Krystal T. L. Brackett

Earlier this year, which seems… SO long ago, A24 - production company behind such recent flicks as Uncut Gems, Midsommar, and The Lighthouse - dropped an impressive looking trailer for a new film from David Lowery, director of both well-respected indies - Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013) and A Ghost Story (2017) - and wider release adaptations - The Old Man and the Gun (2018) and the Pete’s Dragon remake (2016). This flick looked to combine Lowery’s independent leanings with his penchant for adaptations, and do so with a healthy dose of the kind of eye-catching visuals that have become synonymous with A24’s output. That film was The Green Knight.

Fried Barry

August 23, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in film fest, fantasia festival, reviews, hunter bush

Written and directed by Ryan Kruger
Starring Gary Green, Chanelle de Jager, Brett Williams and Joey Cramer
Running time: 1 hour and 39 minutes
Currently unrated, but it contains copious drug use, sexual content, violence, adult themes and the birth of an alien/human hybrid

by Hunter Bush

Director Ryan Kruger’s Fried Barry is A LOT. The story of a burned-out, deadbeat dad who’d rather spend his time in bars or shooting up than at home with his family. One afternoon he’s just up and abducted by aliens who possess his body and take it on a whirlwind tour of the city and its seedy underbelly. It’s entertaining and surprisingly well-acted, but ultimately really exhausting.

Fantasia Festival 2020 Preview

August 17, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in film fest, fantasia festival, rosalie kicks, benjamin leonard, allison yakulis, hunter bush

Compliments of your friendly cinematic pals at Moviejawn

Heading into its 24th year, the Fantasia Festival is known for the celebration of up and coming filmmakers within genre cinema. The Moviejawn crew is ecstatic to be covering this diverse and eclectic fest. With such a wide range of flick options, Fantasia is the type of event that has something for any movie lover.

Now Presenting: Moviejawn's Summer 2020 Issue

August 11, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in zine, rosalie kicks, fiona underhill, liz locke, ryan silberstein, benjamin leonard, zoe crombie, nikkolas nelson, judson cade pedigo, stacey osbeck, suze l. cima, hunter bush, anthony glassman, Matthew Crump, ashley jane davis

by Benjamin Leonard, Best Boy

Greetings movie friends! As I’m sure most of you know, in addition to our website which mostly covers new movie reviews, we also make a quarterly print zine. I thought it’d be fun to give everyone a quick glance at all the films that are covered in our most recent issue (which focuses on circuses, carnivals and fairs) and where you can find them. Step right up! to follow the links for the titles and it’ll take you to a listing of where it can be found (mostly powered by JustWatch.com).

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 18 - August 2020

August 03, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in EOINA, hunter bush, allison yakulis

by Hunter Bush

Howdy, howdy one and all. How's everybody doing? Dark lord but it is hot out! I dunno how things'll be where you are, or when this drops but as I'm writing it we are heading into the dog days of summer in Philly. Nevertheless I'm back hunched over my laptop, the click clack of my fingers on the keys battling the susurration of a fan and clink of ice cubes in my glass, all to bring YOU, dear reader, the latest installment of Everything Old is New Again!

Elvis From Outer Space

July 07, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Written and directed by Marv Z. Silverman and Tracy Wuischpard
Starring Martin Kove, Alexander Butterfield and Frank Cavestani
Running time: 1 hour and 31 minutes
Unrated but contains: some salty language, one very tame sex scene, mild violence, pornography playing on a TV monitor and aliens that wouldn't stop looking at me!

"No Thank You. No Thank You, Very Much"
by Hunter Bush

How? How did I draw two films to review, back to back, that are so similar? In my most recent previous Moviejawn piece I wrote about Vampire Burt's Serenade, a film made from the bones of an earlier film, re-edited and re-released under a new name; an obvious passion project (what other explanation could there be?) made by someone with seemingly no understanding of the Hows and Whys of filmmaking. The same could be, must be and is right at this moment being said, by me, about Elvis From Outer Space.

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 17 - July 2020

July 06, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in EOINA, hunter bush, allison yakulis

by Hunter Bush

How's everybody doing out there? States are reopening, businesses resuming in some feeble attempt at "normalcy" but I keep getting this sinking feeling... and maybe this is just me but, does anybody else keep feeling like we're in the middle of Jaws when the mayor (Murray Hamilton) refuses to close the beach in the middle of prime tourism season despite the warnings of experts? Ugh. Well, I hope wherever you are you're doing well and staying safe.

Vampire Burt's Serenade (2020)

June 10, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Written and directed by Ken Roht
Starring Kevin Scott Richardson, Sharon Ferguson, Brandon Heitkamp and Diva Zappa
Running time: 1 hour and 16 minutes
Unrated, but contains graphic language, toothless sexual content, obnoxious drug use, cartoonish violence and instances of mild monsterism.

by Hunter Bush

“A Vampire Movie with No Stakes”

When a vampire kills the emcee of a popular strip club, the strippers set out to get revenge by surprising the vampire where he'd least expect it, picking up drugs from his dealer. That pretty-well sums up Vampire Burt's Serenade in a nutshell, though there is more than that going on. Much more. Some would say too much more. I am one of them.

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 16 - June 2020

June 03, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in EOINA, hunter bush, allison yakulis

By Hunter Bush

Welcome welcome, one and all. The quarantine persists and I would hope that if you're reading this, you are still socially distancing and taking care of yourself. But - to paraphrase my jr. high sex ed teacher - just because you're playing it safe doesn't mean you can't have fun. And around here, fun means Movies! In EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN it specifically means the movies that are Remakes of older flicks, or Adaptations of some other work or even Long-Gap Sequels to some long ago film that someone was just dying to add to the legacy of.

Dreamland

June 01, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Dreamland
Written by Tony Burgess and Patrick Whistler
Directed by Bruce McDonald
Starring Juliette Lewis, Stephen McHattie and Henry Rollins
Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes

by Hunter Bush

Dreamland takes place in a world that's like ours, and yet not. Characters drift through it at a lackadaisical pace that heightens the film's tension by seeming to ignore that there is tension at all, or they get carried along almost nonchalantly by events, like a particularly "chill af" leaf on a river of gangland violence. Choices are made that would make no sense in a world where logic mattered, while here in Dreamland they seem like the only option worth choosing. With a title like Dreamland is it any surprise that this film is, well... dreamlike?

DANZIG Sings ELVIS

May 12, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Released on Cleopatra Records

by Hunter Bush

In a well-known deleted scene from the 1994 film Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) have a discussion about Elvis and The Beatles. "Beatles people can like Elvis" Mia explains "and Elvis people can like The Beatles, but nobody likes them both equally." Surprising no one, Vincent is an Elvis man. Glenn Danzig, co-founder of seminal East Coast horror punk band The Misfits - and recently director of his first feature film Verotika, based on his line of adult oriented comics of the same name - is also unsurprisingly an Elvis man, having long been known by the potentially self-assigned nickname "the evil Elvis". Now, as the title of his latest record promises: DANZIG Sings ELVIS.

Batsh*t Bride

May 04, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Written & directed by Jonathan Smith
Starring Meghan Falcone, Josh Covitt and Jonny Svarzbein
Running time: 1 hour, 21 minutes

by Hunter Bush

Heather (Meghan Falcone) is an event planner going full "Bridezilla". In the days leading up to her own wedding, she's cracking the whip on her family, her fiance and the group of friends she's enlisted to help her pull the big day off. What's worse, she's outbidding another young woman for elements from her wedding like the dress and the flowers! Truly cutthroat. Heather is a character you don't like, right from the jump but that's about all that sets Batsh*t Bride apart from any number of bland comedies released in a given year.

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 15 - May 2020

April 30, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in EOINA, everything old is new aga, hunter bush, allison yakulis

By Hunter Bush

Holy hell. How are you all doing out there? I know that the world is a very different place right now and that can be scary and frustrating. And boring. To help combat that boredom, this EOINA is going to be a little different. I'll still be covering Remakes, Adaptations and Legacy Sequels as per usual, just in a slightly different format. Welcome to Quarant-EOINA.

Butt Boy

April 16, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Directed by Tyler Cornack
Written by Tyler Cornack & Ryan Koch
Starring Tyler Cornack, Tyler Rice and Shelby Dash
Running time: 1 hour and 40 minutes

by Hunter Bush

Classic joke structure is as follows: the Set-Up does exactly what the name implies, giving you all the information you should need to understand the joke and the Punchline provokes a laugh, usually through wordplay or by subverting expectations in some other way.

The Foreigner

April 13, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in streaming picks, hunter bush

Directed by Martin Campbell
Written by David Marconi, based on a novel by Stephen Leather
Starring Jackie Chan, Pierce Brosnan, Charlie Murphy
Running time: 1 hour and 53 minutes
MPAA rating: R for violence, language and some sexual material

by Hunter Bush

The Foreigner is a solid espionage/revenge thriller which suffers from some odd choices, the most noticeable being some of the dialogue, and a few instances of really sloppy editing. Jackie Chan plays a London man with a shadowy past whose daughter dies in an IRA bombing. When a government official (Pierce Brosnan) neglects to help him get revenge, Chan sets out on a quest for vengeance. You know, the usual. But with the pandemic induced release of No Time To Die delayed until the end of the year, I thought maybe some of you needed a James Bond-esque fix.

Close Encounters of The Fifth Kind

April 06, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Written and directed by Michael Mazzola
Starring: Dr. Steven M. Greer, Jeremy Piven, Jeremy Sheehan, Adam Michael Curry, Joe Martino, Jan Harzan and Dr. Russell Targ
Running time: 2 hours

by Hunter Bush

Where do I even start, y'all? In Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind, Dr. Steven M. Greer asks viewers to accept strange truths: that intelligent life exists beyond our planet, that world governments have chosen to cover up most of what they know about the ETs and that contact between them and us is not only possible but is actively happening, though perhaps not in the way you think. The movies would have us believe that to communicate with other intelligences, we'll have to use some "universal language" like music (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) or mathematics (Contact), but the real mode of communication is both simpler and much more complex. Dr. Greer's hypothesis is that the true universal language is the primary thing binding us to any intelligent life that may be out there: consciousness itself.

The Hunt

March 13, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in reviews, hunter bush

Written by Nick Cuse and Damon Lindeloff
Directed by Craig Zobel
Starring Betty Gilpin, Hilary Swank and Ike Barinholtz
Running time: 1 hour and 29 minutes
MPAA Rated: R for strong bloody violence and language throughout

by Hunter Bush

A bit of a disclaimer: Famously, the band on the Titanic continued playing even as the ship was going down, and there are moments where writing about movies at this point in time has that feeling. The world is a mess, people are anxious and things seem uncertain, but people need something to take their minds off of it all. Be prepared, stock up on canned goods and for Satan’s sake *wash your damned hands* but beyond that, worrying about COVID-19 isn’t going to help any. So that, to me, is why movies and all we who love talking about them, should keep on keeping on. Like any bad times, we’ll get through it together; us and you and the movies. So, now, on to my actual review of The Hunt.

Everything Old is New Again, Vol. 14 - March & April 2020

March 04, 2020 by Rosalie Leonard in EOINA, everything old is new aga, hunter bush

by Hunter Bush

Welcome, welcome, one and all to another installment of Everything Old Is New Again, the column where I talk about upcoming movies that are one of the following: Remakes - movies based on a previous movie; Adaptations - based on some other pre-existing work; or Long-Gap Sequels - a direct continuation from an earlier film, but after an unusual length of time (these are also called Legacy Sequels or sometimes Requels since they're usually intended to gently reboot a franchise without erasing the previous entries).