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April 28, 2019

A Simplistic Review: Avengers: Endgame (Spolier-Free)

Over a decade of storytelling, 22 films, BILLIONS of dollars invested, and this is what we get?!

Let me just give a BOW of respect for what Paramount, Marvel, Disney, Sony, Fox, and anyone else who was involved in the creation of the MCU and the on again, off again relationship all the studios have had in order to generate this juggernaut which has led to “Avengers: Endgame.”

I swelled up and cried a lot in this film, because at the end of the day, strip away the bombastic characters, large scale battles, and all the special effects, because this “Endgame” is a character driven story with superheroes you’ve spent the better part of your life around.

There is something to be said about what The Russo Brothers have done here. They created a large scale film with pathos to spare and also enough moments that had your bursting at the seems with excitement. This decade-long journey to the inevitable culmination is huge, it’s exciting, and it’s something that we all just need to take in and enjoy because it’s special.

April 27, 2019

(Ep. 120): Guns – Movie Commentary: April 2019

April 26 is here!

Sure, the mystery movie commentaries were fun. But you knew what you wanted and we knew what you needed. So today we give it like it has never been given…That is why, for no other reason, April 26 was circled on our calendars.

A date we know a lot of you have been counting down towards.

A date that will most likely go down in movie history.

April 26, 2019.

The date Simplistic Reviews finally watched…Guns!

Guns
1990 ‧ Thriller/Drama ‧ 1h 36m

Description

Initial release: November 9, 1990
Director: Andy Sidaris

A South American gunrunner (Erik Estrada) uses an island in Hawaii as his base of operations. A squad of beautiful government airfreighters Donna (Dona Speir) and Nicole (Roberta Vasquez) agents is sent to put him out of business.

Shit yeah! Andy Sidaris! The Sidaris Cinematic Universe continues of the greatest movie series ever! Bombs! Bullets and Babes! This isn’t no children’s Endgame, this is real shit!

April 23, 2019

A Simplistic Review: Guava Island

There’s nothing wrong with VANITY projects. Big music stars have done it for decades. “Purple Rain” with Prince, “Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker,” “Cool as Ice” with Vanilla Ice and who could forget “Swept Away” with the indomitable Madonna. Hmmm, come to think of it…maybe there is something wrong with them.

“Guava Island” is a 55-minute music video for Donald Glover where he gets to weave in some of his newer songs into a film about putting on a festival on a island that is under the control of a guy named Red Cargo who doesn’t want his works to have Sunday off.

Oh, Rihanna is also in this film.

It’s fine, and the opening animation scene reminded of something out of “Coco” and of course the public infatuation will continue for Glover, for good reason of course, the dude is super talented.

April 7, 2019

A Simplistic Review: Pet Sematary (2019)

Let it be known that 2019’s “Pet Sematary” remake is a REMINDER that yes, sometimes dead is better…

No matter what I say people are going to continue to translate Stephen King’s work into films, but man, has there been any one source that has the up-and-down’s like King’s material.

After the remake of “It” hit big back in 2017, it was open season on getting back on King’s D and trying another remake; that one happened to be this year’s “Sematary.”

Sure, there are a couple of things that I like about this remake, but the acting is wooden and it almost feels like the filmmakers are trying to have their cake and eat it too. Is this flick high brown or low brow horror? How much can we change to make this story feel fresh, etc…

Sure, I don’t expect a new generation to check out the original from 1989, considering no one wants to watch an old movie, let’s just dive into a remake, but hopefully this is a lesson that not every film deserves that much coveted remake treatment.

April 4, 2019

(Ep. 119): The Simplistic Reviews Podcast April 2019

The Simplistic Reviews Podcast is back from Spring break…clean…sober…and ready to go. One of those things is true. The boys discuss everything they missed since they’ve been gone. From James Gunn rehiring, to the etymology of the word “trump”, to that famous last line in Lethal Weapon 2. You remember that one right? We sure didn’t. Doug Funny, Oregon Trail, Jenny & Melissa McCarthy…all points of interest or disinterest on this Spring fling episode of the Simplistic Reviews Podcast.

MUSIC
Fast Times Club By IDOL
Gold Medal By Sounds Like Sander
April 1, 2019

A Simplistic Review: Dragged Across Concrete

This April Fool’s review is brought to you by Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn. I’m sure a bunch of you thought it was a joke when they starting showing up to award shows together, but “Dragged Across Concrete” is no joke, it’s an actual film, and it’s actually an UPWARD movement in the reestablishment of Gibson maybe making his way back into the Hollywood stream. Not mainstream, but at least dipping his toe back in the waters.

S. Craig Zahler’s filmography might be short, but damn is it impressive. From horror-western fare, prison exploitation and now heist films, he’s getting impressive results away from the mainstream and creating pretty kick-ass films.

Gibson and Vaughn are great, but the star of this film is Tory Kittles as the freshly releases ex-con looking to make good on taking care of his family by any means necessary and still having a moral code.

“Bone Tomahawk” and “Brawl in Cell Block 99” are great on their own, but I think “Concrete” is Zahler’s best work to date and he’s shaping up to be the Neo-Tarantino we all deserve.

April 1, 2019

(Ep. 118): Mystery Movie 2 – Movie Commentary: April 2019

So last time we tried something new, something mysterious, something crazy!

The people responded and wanted more or we’re just untalented hacks…anyway we did it again!

Matt and Justin watch a movie just in-time for another movie that’s due out April 5. Wow a movie commentary tie-in? Kinda…But unlike last time, both Matt and Justin have seen this film before.

Sure, it may be just a one off type of film but damn its really mysterious is it not?

So join Matt as he joins DJ in a movie commentary like none other…a mystery movie…eh movie commentary!?

March 27, 2019

A Simplistic Review: Us

There’s a lot to unpack in “Us.” But I’ll keep it…simple

Does it have the same affect that “Get Out” created in 2017? I don’t think so. Did Jordan Peele create another socio-political horror film about how the poor are marginalized and cast away while we as an American society put on a happy face even though, deep down inside, we’re ashamed of the unabashed consumers that we’ve become while living a soulless existence? I think that’s a little more accurate.

“Us” is a nice SWITCHAROO for an audience that thought they were going to see “Get Out 2: Electric Rod-a-roo.”

Sure, there’s plenty of commentary to sink your teeth into, but drilling down this is a film that is part “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” part “Dawn of the Dead” and part “The Strangers,” all while shaking up the tired horror cliche by subbing out your typical white family in danger with a black family, and making a very strong point.

Which is…

Why have horror films always just settled for white actors to be the stars horror films while marginalizing black actors to the roles of “the first to die” or “the sage-like advice giver?” Peele is making a statement that a lot of white folks probably aren’t ready for; get ready to be the new “first to die” in the horror genre.

March 22, 2019

A Simplistic Review: Inside Llewyn Davis

I think I like being the guy that checks out movies anywhere between 3-6 years after they come out and are heaped praise by any and all movie critics; I’m TARDY if you will. But gee golly did I enjoy “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

Oscar Issac is fun playing the down-on-his-luck, struggling folk singer in 1960s New York, where he is always just one step behind. Of course, I don’t know the plight of folk singers in the 60s around the Greenwich Village neighborhood in Manhattan, but I can imagine the bohemian lifestyle.

What the Coen Brothers do here that is so special is that while there is a ton of music, and great music at that, it shows a stark contrast to what life is like when you come off the stage. Infidelity, unwanted pregnancies, lost cats, hanging out with dope fiends, and of course getting punched in the face by the husband of the person you heckled on stage.

As as whole, “Davis” is great, but man, it’s pitch black comedy, but what else would you expect from the Coens.

March 20, 2019

A Simplistic Review: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

It took me a long time to like “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” And honestly, to this day, I prefer the remake from 2003. I know that probably hurts my horror film credentials, but shoot, I also prefer the remake for “The Hills Have Eyes” as well as the remake for “It” and a few other films that are simply better made films, at least aesthetically

1974’s “Chain Saw” is grimy, ugly, grim, but digging down created a SYSTEM for early slasher films to thrive and made people uncomfortable and was seen as pornography that was ruining society, which I can always get behind.

Perhaps watching the original “Chain Saw” with the wisdom of Joe Bob Briggs and “The Last Drive-In” helped re-open my eyes to how much this film changed the landscape of the genre and created the actual “Formula” that predates other proto-slashers like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th.”

Tobe Hooper created a nightmare landscape with some of the most memorable cannibals you’ve ever seen along a lonely, dust road in central Texas that is forever the stuff of legends.

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