The Trust

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Elijah Wood, Jerry Lewis, & Sky Ferreira

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

There are certain actors and actresses whom I will watch in anything they release, Nicholas Cage is one of those actors. Even in the worst movies, he always gives a strong performance and I enjoy watching him work, but even the Academy Award winning actor couldn't save The Trust. Cage plays Stone, a lifelong cop still on the bottom of the pecking order. Luckily for him, he's paired with the much younger Waters (Elijah Wood), another cop with few aspirations. Together they don't make up a team of elite crime fighters, so on their off hours, they're small time criminals, and as it turns out they're not great at that either. One day while investigating a case, they notice a safe in the evidence room and decide to bust it open, what's inside leads them into a mess of police corruption. For starters, this movie doesn't make sense! Everyone talks in riddles, it's impossible to know who is on what side, and most important of all, what's the point? If these guys are corrupt cops, why do they care so much when they discover that they aren't the only ones? They're losers who don't care about anything, until they find out there are other bad cops, then all of a sudden they are Starsky and Hutch? I love the cast, but between the riddles, the constant twists, and the strange dialogue this film was just a mess, and pretty much unwatchable. 

100,000 Views!!!

Six years ago when I started this blog, it actually took some encouragement. I was asking, "who am I and why will anyone care what I think about movies and TV shows?" My friends reminded me that I was always the one they came to for on advice about movies, and even strangers on Rotten Tomatoes, Flixster, and IMDB would message me, just based on my reviews. Their comments made my day, people I didn't even know were telling me I should open up my reviews to the net, so people who weren't active on sites like that could see my reviews and comment on them. While the discussions and comments have never gotten to the level I would have liked, I never in a million years would have imagined that my link would have been clicked a hundred thousand times, I am eternally grateful and humbled.

In six year we've been sponsored, provided you with over 950 reviews, started a Facebook fan page, that provides over 150 followers with previews, movie news, and streaming schedules. We've even had the occasional celeb google their name and stop by to leave a comment. This blog is bigger and better than anything I could have ever imagined and we're not even close to being done...

As many of you know by now, I am out of work and currently caught in the horrible position of working odd and seasonal jobs. It makes my schedule ridiculously unpredictable and leaves me without a cent to put into the blog. That is why it isn't update weekly, as it had been for the past four years. Once I have a job and get back into a routine, not only will weekly reviews be coming back, but I also plan on spending a few bucks to have the page completely re-designed to give everyone a fresh new look and hopefully attract new followers!

Please keep clicking that link, sharing our reviews across social media, telling your friends about us, and enjoying all the great films and television shows we recommend, because it's our job to tell you what's good!

Wonder Woman (2017)

Starring: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, & Robin Wright

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

So DC finally got one right, isn't that what everyone's saying? I completely agree, Wonder Woman was much better than anything else DC has released in a very long time, and it was a pretty great film, but was it as amazing as everyone say it was or are we all a bit bias due to the hype surrounding the film? In the first blockbuster superhero film featuring Wonder Woman since the 1970's, we see Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) sitting in her office, remembering how it all started, and we are thrown back to the Island of the Amazons, where she is a little girl. We see her grow up and go through her training, with her aunt played admirably by the Princess Bride herself, Robin Wright, making an epic comeback. After which, a series of events lead her to meet a man and leave the island to join the war effort in England. Gal Gadot played Wonder Woman and she was truly something special, I mean to take nothing away from her or her performance with this next statement, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point this out. While everyone got caught up in the hype of the fact that DC made a good movie, that didn't center around Batman, and the fact that this film was centered on a female superhero, they failed to see just how unoriginal the story actually was. As I was watching the scenes on this Island, with Diana growing up, not knowing what she really was, and leaving before she was ready, I was very much reminded of Thor, but that was just the first hour of the film. I thought things would get better but they didn't. She becomes this unexpected larger than life hero in World War I, much in the way that Captain America did in World War II. Both of them fought really bad guys who weren't the "main" bad guy behind the war, and then there is the whole God angle, which brings us right back to Thor again. The film was so well done, I think it is more than time we had a strong female hero that young girl can emulate and look up to, and I thought Gal Gadot was a breath of fresh air, who gave an outstanding performance. As far as originality goes, to me it just wasn't there, as it seems the writers took elements from two of the more popular Marvel films and mashed them together. The Bottom Line, Wonder Woman is absolutely worth seeing, however I'm all for original ideas, and I want to see something different, especially at a time when a new superhero film is coming out every month. 

Cult (TV Show)

Starring: Matthew Davis, Jessica Lucas, Alona Tal, Robert Knepper, Marie Avgeropoulos, Jeffrey Piece, Kadeem Hardison, James Pizzinato, Christian Michael Cooper, & Shauna Johannesne

Rating: 4 out 5 stars

In the age of streaming, DVRs, and On Demand, networks still aren't getting it! Even the best and most innovative TV show to come along in years isn't going to survive, if you debut it with minimal advertising in the middle of the summer! This is the reason why Cult didn't last and why it isn't currently the top rated show on the CW network. 

The wildly creative idea was the brainchild of Farscape's Rockne S. O'Bannon and took nearly a decade to come to television. Cult is a TV show within a TV show, that features a cult, within a cult, I will attempt to explain. The show Cult is centered around a fictitious show called Cult. That fictitious show is centered around an FBI agent (Alona Tal) who lived her whole life in a cult, only to escape and join the FBI, with the hopes of locking up her old family for the abuses she endured. In retaliation, the cult has abducted her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew, who she is attempted to rescue. Back to the "real" Cult, the fans of this fictitious show, claim to see hidden messages in the show, that lead them to commit crimes on behalf of the shows mysterious creator, a man no one has ever met. One such crime is to kidnap Nate Sefton (James Pizzinato), the younger brother of a reporter, Jeff (Matthew Davis). Jeff makes it his mission to investigate these followers of cult, to find his brother, and to figure out what their up to, but he needs help. Jeff recruits Skye Yarrow (Jessica Lucas), a researcher on the show, whose father, was also a reporter, who disappeared fifteen years ago, while attempting to investigate the same man who created this TV show. Every episode is a wild ride into an underworld that has existed for decades, that no one knew anything about, and as always is the case with shows like this, each episode is better than the one before it, as it builds up to an epic conclusion.

This is the kind of show that had so many original ideas and so much material it could have gone on for years. Cult would have appealed to main stream audiences across every demographic and (pun intended) would have garnered a huge cult following, if it wasn't for the CW. I remember when this show premiered, the CW literally started to advertise for it a week before it aired, and then rarely after that. Cult was on Tuesday nights in the middle of the summer, when lets face it, most people are out enjoying the nice weather. Since the show had no previous exposure, there was no reason for anyone to watch on demand or even DVR it, so it was cancelled. It just doesn't make sense to me, why even spend the money and make the show if you're not going to give it a real chance? If this show debuted on the fall line-up after Supernatural, the ratings would have been enormous, the show would still be on! 

You have a terrific young cast playing duel roles, an experienced creator, with a team that's already had success with Seaquest, Farscape, and Alien Nation, there was no reason to bury this show, but a las, Cult met it's fate after just thirteen episodes, which are currently streaming on Netflix. For all my followers who claim they have nothing to watch, here is 13 hours of some of the most imaginative and creative writing you will ever see on TV, add Cult to your queue and start watching tonight!!!

ARQ

Starring: Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, & Adam Butcher

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

First it was original TV shows, then documentaries, and now Netflix is making it's own feature films. ARQ is the companies first foray into science fiction and it hasn't gotten great reviews, due to the fact that it takes place in a time loop. I love science fiction and my favorite type of sci-fi is anything that features the manipulation of time, time travel, alternate history, time displacement, and yes, even time loops. In an apocalyptic futuristic world, Renton (Robbie Amell) has created a new form of energy, one that can possibly turn the tide and save the world. Renton wants to give this gift to all of humanity, but his former employer has other ideas and decides to steal the technology in a violent home invasion, where Renton is killed. After being killed, Renton reawakens starting his day all over again, with a complete memory of what happened. He soon discovers, the longer he lives, the more he learns, but will it be enough to figure out how to escape his current predicament, as well as the unusual time loop he seems to be caught in? Science Fiction fans love this type of film, because it gives us a chance to figure out things at the same time as the main character. It also gives us the chance to think about what we'd do in that situation and see if the character agrees or has some other wildly innovative idea that we didn't even think of. These films also tend to have a lot of noir type twists and turns and can be really thought provoking. The flip side of that, is that you can see some of the same scenes as many as ten times, and if you've never seen anything like this before and aren't a fan of the genre, it can be extremely confusing. That being said, I thought ARQ was exceptionally well written and done to near perfection, some of the twists just blew my mind. On a side note, as a fan of the film Saint Ralph, I was shocked to see Adam Butcher all grown up, playing a hired gun, I really got a kick out of that. ARQ isn't for general audiences, it is genre specific for fans of science fiction. If sci-fi isn't you thing, obviously you're not going to get it and you're not going to like it. If you are a fan, this was really well done, in particular the writing was fantastic, this film will keep guessing right up until the very end, which in and of itself was shocking.

Dark Summer

Starring: Keir Gilchrist, Grace Phipps, & Peter Stormare 

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

The best actors in Hollywood need to get that big role before their career can take off. No matter how good they are, until they find that role, they won't be a household name and are forced to take whatever roles they can get. Even megastars, like Chris Pratt got his start on a low rated CW drama, and did B-movies for a decade before he was cast as Star Lord, this is the position Keir Gilchrist finds himself in now. Gilchrist is an exceptional young actor, who always gives his best, but without that big role on his resume, he's forced to take jobs like this one. Dark Summer follows Daniel, (Gilchrist) a 17 year old who has recently been sentenced to house arrest for stalking a girl from his school. To make matters worse, his parents are away for the summer and Daniel is all alone. As boredom ware away at him mind, Daniel starts to see things and wonders if he's being punished for his crimes by some supernatural entity, or if he's just going insane from boredom. For much of this movie, the actor is bored, and if the actor is bored, what do you think the audience is feeling? Daniel's days are filled with monotonous discussions with friends, who sneak over, and of course investigations that turn up nothing. As for his nights, they are filled with a lot of jump scares and loud noises that again ultimately turn up nothing, as Dark Summer is just one of those films where nothing happens until the last twenty minutes, and by then, who really cares anymore? The bottom line, even a great actor couldn't save this film, it's your typical supernatural horror film, filled with a lot of jump scares, good looking people, and a whole lot of nothing else until the very end.

Mother's Day (2010)

Starring: Rebecca De Mornay, Patrick Flueger, & Warren Kole

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

From the Director of Saw 2, 3, & 4 comes an even scarier film, a story that is not only brutal, but also entirely possible. Three recently released prisoners are back to their old tricks, as they have just robbed a bank and escaped a shoot out with the police. With no where else to go, they flee to a familiar place, their mother's house, only while they were away, she lost that house to the bank and it had been re-sold. The trio stumbles right into the new owners house warming party and quickly take them as hostages. These boys are brutal, but they aren't very smart, not knowing what the next step is, they do they only thing they can think of and call their dear old mother for advice. Mother's Day is your typical film about hostages held at bay, trying to escape the brutal hold of their captors, with one exception, Rebecca De Mornay, a veteran actress of these types of films. De Mornay's is the one who raised these monsters, but she's also the voice of reason, with a cool calm demeanor, that will send a chill down your spine. Her performance in this film is what takes a simple hostage film and turns it into something deeper, darker, and more sinister. Of course a film like this isn't without it's flaws, as it is extremely predictable. They throw in all the things you would expect to see in a film about a hostage situation, and outside of the named actors you recognize, the rest of the cast, wasn't very good. That being said, I really enjoyed the triple dynamic between mother, psychopathic children, and the hostages, aside from that, this film was pretty much forgettable.