‘American Mary’ Review: Tasteful Torture Porn
She doesn’t want to kill you, she just wants to split your tongue and cut your penis open. Wait…that’s actually a lot worse.
The sibling filmmaking duo of Jen and Sylvia Soska has done something interesting with their second feature: they’ve created a tasteful torture porn flick. Don’t get me wrong, American Mary is still a grotesque and disconcerting movie. It happens to have some redeeming qualities, however.
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Staff Review: Spoiler-Free!
An Enterprise In Trouble
Being the rare instance where a storied genre favorite is also a tentpole summer release, lots of people around the FEZ Palace have an opinion about about J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek Into Darkness, itself a sequel to his much-anticipated Star Trek reboot four years ago. So, what do we think? Read our reviews below, then stick around for a new N5 Show on Monday where we go into spoiler territory!
‘Strip Search’ Recap: Season 1, Episode 23 “A Jungle & Some Speed”
Attack of the Manic Blurs!
This episode was pretty uneven. It’s one of the best morning challenges in the house so far, but the “people” moments that bookend it seem to go on for days.
Amazon Passes On ‘Zombieland’ TV Series, Creator Says It Was “Hated Out Of Existence”
Let’s just pretend this never happened.
Well, that was fast. It’s been almost two months since Amazon announced it had funded a Zombieland TV series pilot and a month since it debuted. Now it’s cancelled.
‘Strip Search’ Recap: Season 1, Episode 22 “Elimination #7”
The meek juvenile versus the experienced auteur.
…and then there were five. Katie sent Monica and Lexxy off to prove themselves before the creators. I say it every elimination, but we don’t get to see what these artists are really made of until they show up for elimination, then half of them are dismissed right away.
I Don’t Much Care For This New Daft Punk Album
Daft Punk means business.
I respect Daft Punk’s ability to funkify things; to elevate things in the room. I’ve enjoyed a bunch of their work over the years thanks to a Newgrounds cartoon for “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and their score for 2010’s Tron: Legacy. Yesterday, their first album in eight years, Random Access Memories, leaked to the internet. This isn’t a guide on how to get it, but I must say, I’m pretty put off by the result.
1968 Kids Meal Comic Depicts Children Enjoying ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
I’m Going To Be A Space Pilot.
Ask any filmmaker, aspiring or otherwise, and they’ll tell you that Stanley Kubrick and his 2001: A Space Odyssey are major influences. Of course. His 1968 science-fiction classic launched a lot of careers and inspired millions, even after its plodding and ethereal themes were replaced by the rapid-fire space fantasy of Star Wars nearly a decade later. After 45 years, it’s honestly hard for me to envision kids hopping for joy at seeing such a mature film, much less a comic starring kids who won’t “tell the ending”.
‘Arrested Development’ Season 4 Is Two Weeks Away; I Must Prepare
Nothing going on here! Just… nothing!
I’m one of those people. The ones that wouldn’t tune into FOX on Sunday nights to watch Arrested Development while every critic and their grandma was ranting about how excellent it was. I’d tried to watch clips online, which are virtually useless without the context of the series. Seriously, it’s like trying to snap onto a railroad while the train’s on it: you have to be on from the beginning. Anyway, I’m all aboard the Good Ship Bluth as it sets sail on Netflix in 13 short days. I’m ready for it all.
‘Upstream Color’ Staff Review: It’s Out There, It’s In There
“They could be starlings…”
Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color is a puzzling film. It’s beautiful, it’s interesting, it’s something else. An abstract presentation on the meaning of life, Russell and N tackle this review with their thoughts on Carruth’s film, his first since his debut with 2004’s Primer, a mind-bending puzzle box of a thing. Note: there will be spoilers.
‘The Great Gatsby’ Review: It Only Touches the Surface
Gatsby must be as pissed off about Tobey Maguire’s narration as I am.
I suppose anyone setting out to adapt F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic novel is destined for failure. The Great Gatsby is one of those rare literary experiences that is simply too perfect to be adequately captured on the big screen. Still, Baz Lurhmann swings for the fences on this ambitious adaptation and he achieves some moderate success. Lurhmann has created a film that is both captivating and infuriating in equal measure.
