#23 – Countdown to Christmas: BAD SANTA

Who knew that the Coen Brothers would be involved with a film as filthy as Bad Santa? Known for creating such elegant pieces of drama and such witty pieces of comedy, their name on a raunch fest like Bad Santa seemed unimaginable at first. Then, the movie was released to critical and commercial acclaim, and our light bulb moment had been reached.

Bad Santa, starring Billy Bob Thornton as Willie, an alcoholic shoplifting Santa Clause, is every bit as raunchy and crude as you might think it’d be. Though with that raunchiness comes just as much heart and moral decency as any other Christmas movie. For those of you who don’t know, the plot revolves around two cons named Willie and Marcus (Tony Cox) pose as Santa Clause and his elf at a local mall to rob all of the stores on Christmas Eve. Everything goes smoothly until the security manager Gin (Bernie Mac) discovers their plan. While this shit is hitting the fan, Willie befriends a young boy known only as, The Kid (Brett Kelly).


Willie then gets involved romantically with The Kid’s mother Sue (Lauren Graham), more shit hits the fan, but it’s all really funny in that miserable kind of way.

Bad Santa works mostly because of how unlikable all the characters are besides The Kid. His roley-poley little body mixed with his innocent facial expressions are the ying to Billy Bob’s beer swigging yang. The two gel in an unlikely way that will warm your heart and possibly creep you out all at the same time.

Out of everybody involved though, it’s Tony Cox’s evil but wise Marcus that steals the show. With some smaller roles in films like Friday and Me, Myself, and Irene, his comedic timing is almost perfect, and he represents how evil Willie could be, but somehow has the heart not to be.

I’ll admit, I watched Bad Santa at far too young of an age (8 to be exact), but now, it’s a Christmas tradition for my friends and me. I mean, what other Christmas movie will make teenagers come over to your house?

4/5 Charlie Brown Trees.

For more COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS – Click it Here! 

Also Check out our COUNTDOWN TO HALLOWEEN… 


‘In Case You Missed It’ Review: Attack the Block`

Everyday on the news, you hear about some gang that killed a lady walking home from work, or kidnapped a child and sold her for a couple of keys of cocaine. To us, this has become the norm. To me, that’s a little bit screwed up, but that’s a whole different conversation for a different post. The thing you don’t hear about gangs doing is surviving alien attacks. Now that is some news worthy shit.

London, England is known for its young gang problem, and in the film Attack the Block, we meet some of the personalities that make up this demographic. On her way home from work, Sam (Jodie Whittaker), a young lady in medical school, is mugged by a group of young hooligans who hail from what is known as, The Block. The four teens, who are known as Pest, Jerome, Dennis, and their leader, Moses (Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, Franz Drameh, and John Boyega, respectively), unknowingly live in the same building as Sam. They take orders from the boss of a local drug dealer, Ron (Nick Frost), named Hi-Hatz (Jumayn Hunter). Ron’s friend, Brewis (Luke Treadway), is a rich-boy, budding zoologist with more street smarts than he lets on. All these characters are connected by one place, The Block, which is the central location of a sudden alien attack.

Attack the Block is a fast-moving, brutal, funny, and action-packed horror comedy from the producers of Shaun of the Dead. With a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a mere 6.8 on IMDb, I wondered whether or not this movie was going to be good. It seemed like viewers didn’t enjoy it, yet it attained critical acclaim. Regardless, I pressed play with an open mind, and let the dirtiness of London wash over me.

 I’m here to report that, as far as I’m concerned, Attack the Block is pretty damn cool. Starting off unevenly, with some cheesy dialogue and a confusing introduction to the characters, I was afraid that this was going to be a long 89 minutes. But, once the film hit the 15-minute mark, it seemed like everything switched into high gear, and it didn’t let up until the end credits rolled. The film’s low budget was not noticeable at all, as the monsters were extremely well constructed and scary. The acting from the hooligans was surprisingly accurate and well-rehearsed, especially from the lead, John Boyega, who looks like the illegitimate son of Mike Tyson and Denzel Washington. The writing is quick and layered, and the camerawork doesn’t rely on shaky-cam at all. Don’t get me wrong, I love shaky cam, but it wouldn’t have worked in this film, and I’m so glad they didn’t use it.

Above all, Attack the Block is both a great action movie and a social commentary on the state of the projects in London, as well as this generation’s desensitization to such extremes that it causes them to go out and fight the monsters as opposed to hide from them. I’m probably way off when it comes to this, but I’m trying to be deep, give me a chance here.

Regardless of my bad explanation of the film’s social commentary, you should most definitely watch Attack the Block when you get the chance, you won’t be disappointed.

4/5 Bears

Prometheus: Hi-Res Images, Interviews and Teaser Trailer

For a movie that is allegedly a prequel to the mega popular and for the most part amazing Alien saga, the amount of news we’ve seen is scarce. Compared to the daily updates from movies like The Dark Knight Rises, its surprising that Prometheus has largely stayed off the radar, with the exception of a few pieces of news here and there.

For those of you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, Prometheus started its life as the next installment in the Alien saga, but it grew in the development stage into its very own movie. While still maintaining close ties to the Alien world, it turned into… well… we don’t really know yet. An origin story that needed an origin story, basically. And it all started because of this guy.

Continue reading Prometheus: Hi-Res Images, Interviews and Teaser Trailer

#24 – Countdown to Christmas: THE ICE HARVEST

The Ice Harvest, directed by the great Harold Ramis, is still just plain awesome.

A lawyer (John Cusack) swindles his boss (Randy Quaid) out of $2 Million, and has to hold it together for one night so he and his partner in crime (Billy Bob Thornton) can skip town. What follows are hijinks, strippers, Christmas carols, booze, and murder. Continue reading #24 – Countdown to Christmas: THE ICE HARVEST

Daniel Day-Lewis is Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln is an upcoming biographical drama directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

When I had first heard about this Liam Neeson was attached to play the lead, but that was years ago and I hadn’t heard anything else about the film until now. Apparently Neeson left the project after years of waiting for it to get the green light. According to Neeson, he felt he was too old to play the part. Personally, I felt Neeson was an excellent choice to play Lincoln. However, once I heard Daniel Day-Lewis got the role I just about creamed myself.

This will be the first time Spielberg and Day-Lewis have worked on a film together and I’m very excited because DDL has a habit of disappearing into his characters.

For his role as ‘Bill the Butcher’ in Gangs of New York he took lessons as an apprentice butcher, never left character between takes (including keeping the New York accent), and even caught pneumonia because he wouldn’t wear a warmer coat stating that it wasn’t in character to do so. This along with the picture below leads me to believe that Lincoln will be a movie worth paying ticket price to see.

Continue reading Daniel Day-Lewis is Abraham Lincoln

Hero Express: Lizard Revealed, Hawkeye Spin-Off, and MiB III

Welcome back to the Hero Express, your one-stop sometimes SPOILER filled shop through the news filled world of superhero’s in Film, TV, Video Games and whatever else floats your boat.

Continue reading Hero Express: Lizard Revealed, Hawkeye Spin-Off, and MiB III