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Top 10 Horror Movies You Haven’t Seen

October 12, 2015 Alex Brannan

October is upon us, and the tidings of the season are centered on one glorious, oh-so-beautiful word: Horror.

To pay homage to the genre that dominates the Halloween season, here are 10 horror films that you may have never heard of. In my opinion, these movies are under the radar and deserve a higher viewership.

Trick ‘r Treat

There are plenty of anthology horror films out there, and some are better than others. What hinders most of them is the jerky narrative structure in which the segments do not have a cohesion to a larger arc. Trick ‘r Treat is different. Taking place in a small residential town, each segment of the film involves characters in the town on the night of Halloween. The characters’ stories overlap with each other, and the viewer is able to see Continue reading Top 10 Horror Movies You Haven’t Seen →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) Movie Review

October 11, 2015 Alex Brannan

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the first EON-produced James Bond film not to star Sean Connery in its lead role. Instead, we get George Lazenby appearing in the opening scene of the film. He introduces himself to a lovely woman in the normal James Bond way. Then, he fights off violent criminals in the normal James Bond way. Yet, this opening scene and subsequent opening titles sequence are self-aware of this sudden change in casting. Lazenby, his face a sly grin oozing with cheekiness, says, essentially to the audience, “This never happened to the other fella.”

Despite this acknowledgment that the Lazenby Bond isn’t the same as the Connery Bond we have come to know and, at times, love, the following scenes depict Bond as usual. He is awarded a luxury suite at a hotel. He plays baccarat. He drinks Dom Perignon ’57 as he sits down with a beautiful woman. He even stops to dine on caviar after fending off an assailant.

But Lazenby isn’t Connery. Lazenby is Bond to the next level. He is quicker to Continue reading On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

You Only Live Twice (1967) Movie Review

September 30, 2015 Alex Brannan

You Only Live Twice, the fifth James Bond film and the fifth to feature Sean Connery in the lead role, opens on space, where a manned, United States spacecraft is hovering over Earth’s orbit. As one of the two astronauts leaves the craft, a larger spacecraft starts barreling toward them. This larger, unidentified spacecraft swallows the U.S. craft whole, leaving the external astronaut for dead in open space and the U.S. government up in arms over their lost craft.

After seeing this international kerfuffle over the missing spacecraft–the U.S. blaming the Soviets and England blaming the Japanese–we meet Bond in Hong Kong, where he is Continue reading You Only Live Twice (1967) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Thunderball (1965) Movie Review

September 29, 2015 Alex Brannan

In the opening scene of Thunderball, James Bond (Sean Connery) attends the funeral of a man that he wishes he could have killed himself. Following the ceremony, there is an action sequence almost immediately. It is very well choreographed and fast paced–something that can’t be said about all of the action sequences in this movie. He eludes more armed baddies and escapes into the Paris day.

Oh, and he also has a jetpack. Just saying.

The opening credits sequence kicks in, and we hear Tom Jones singing the titular theme. It is a well-sung song. Perhaps it is apocryphal, but the story goes that Jones passed out in the recording studio after Continue reading Thunderball (1965) Movie Review →

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Listen to Me Marlon (2015) Movie Review

September 26, 2015 Alex Brannan

Listen to Me Marlon opens on a digital rendering of Marlon Brando’s face as he laments that the process may signal the end of great acting as we know it. We cut back to this face intermittently throughout the film, it serving as a motif for the disparity between Brando and, really, the world.

The film is a series of recorded audio tapes that Brando recorded himself. Tapes that have not been heard by the public until now. We also get Continue reading Listen to Me Marlon (2015) Movie Review →

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Everest (2015) Movie Review

September 25, 2015 Alex Brannan

In 1996, a pair of commercial expeditions to the summit of Mount Everest went terribly wrong. Rob Hall (Jason Clarke) and Scott Fischer (Jake Gyllenhaal) both lead competing commercial expedition companies. They decide, due to overcrowding of climbers attempting the voyage up on the same day, decide to work together to reach the summit.

The dramatics are set up early on, as we see Continue reading Everest (2015) Movie Review →

All Movie Reviews, Horror, Indie Films, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Willow Creek (2014) Movie Review

September 24, 2015 Alex Brannan

Caution: minor plot spoilers ahead

Indie found footage horror flick Willow Creek cold opens on nothing. Darkness all around as the camera sits idle in a patch of grass blowing lazily in the breeze. We sit in this moment for a tad too long, then the sound crescendos into the title card.

Next, we are in a car with a couple. Jim (Bryce Johnson) is testing out the sound equipment, goading his girlfriend Kelly (Alexie Gilmore) to speak into the microphone while she drives. She recites lines from a feminine hygiene product commercial that she failed to book. They joke about the Continue reading Willow Creek (2014) Movie Review →

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Goldfinger (1964) Movie Review

September 24, 2015 Alex Brannan

The cold open of Goldfinger has in it seemingly every James Bond trope. Bond (Sean Connery) sneaks and fights his way into a guarded facility. He uses a gadget to blow something up (for God knows what reason). Then, he strips down to a white suit and diffuses into the social world, where he rendezvouses with another agent. There’s also an attractive woman dancing, just for good measure. A woman Bond then attempts to bed, only to be approached from behind by an armed assailant. And, as always, the altercation ends in a one-liner.

It is James Bond in a nutshell.

Following this cold open, we get one of the better Bond opening title sequences. A stark black background and projected film footage casts gold-painted women in shadows. All the while, Shirley Bassey’s voice erupts above the stagnant visuals. It isn’t hard to see Continue reading Goldfinger (1964) Movie Review →

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From Russia With Love (1963) Movie Review

September 22, 2015 Alex Brannan

From Russia With Love, the second film adaptation of Ian Fleming’s work to depict MI6 agent James Bond, cold opens on a cat and mouse chase at night. Bond (Sean Connery) steps out of the shadows and moves silently across the grassy landscape, knowing that he is being tailed. The assailant (Robert Shaw), stalks Bond, then retreats to the cover of a nearby bush to wait for the perfect moment to strike. Surprisingly, he gets that perfect moment. Bond goes down, choked by wire at the hands of the assassin. The super spy is bested.

Or is he.

Lights go up, and an army of men are revealed. The event was a training exercise and Bond: a grunt in a Connery mask. Someone is out to get Bond. Someone very powerful.

Continue reading From Russia With Love (1963) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Dr. No (1962) Movie Review

September 21, 2015 Alex Brannan

1962’s Dr. No is the first adaptation of Ian Fleming’s work, bringing to the screen his iconic super spy character James Bond. The first time we see Bond (Sean Connery) in this film, the stage is already set for Connery to set the precedent for how the spy is meant to look and act on screen. He puffs casually at a cigarette as he gambles and flirts with his female competitor (Eunice Gayson). His look is suave, his mannerisms subtle and laid back. Connery immediately embodies Fleming’s sharp-witted and womanizing Bond.

The film is littered with retrospective moments in which we can see precedents being set for the franchise. The iconic score blares in right off the bat, as we stare down the barrel of a gun. This theme repeats itself many times throughout the film. Bond and M (Bernard Lee) discuss Continue reading Dr. No (1962) Movie Review →