Media Man

The Crow is a 1994 gothic fantasy action film written by David J. Schow/John Shirley and directed by Alex Proyas. Based on the James O'Barr comic book of the same name, the film has grown a cult following due to its dark, emotional themes, excessive violence and the on-set death of the film's star Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee. Story The night before Halloween, a group of psychotic thugs breaking into the house of musician Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancee Shelly. They beat and rape her to death and toss him out of a window. One year later, a magic crow brings Draven back from the dead to exact his revenge, giving him supernatural powers to aid him in his quest. The setup for the film is a pretty unique on its own, but it probably wouldn't have been able to carry the whole movie. What makes the film work is the execution of the concept, which is balls to the wall gothic in every frame. When I say gothic, I'm not just talking about the superficial subcultura...

Blade Runner  is a 1982 noir sci-fi written by Hampton Fancher/David Webb Peoples and directed by Ridley Scott. Based on the Phillip K Dick novella Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?  the film received a lukewarm reception at best upon its release, but has become a cult classic popular enough to be a household name, despite multiple confusing cuts. (Please note that I watched the "final cut" for this review) Story Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a blade runner, is tasked with hunting down a group of rogue androids who have taken to the streets of Los Angles. That's really all there is to the plot, but the story actually has a lot going on. There's no problem with a story having layers, but the problem is that a lot of it isn't concrete and so it's very difficult to describe in written form. There are long stretches of the movie that go without hearing a word of dialogue, just letting you soak in what's been going on in the plot so far and making you...

With the premiere of The Reichenbach Fall in 2012, BBC's Sherlock  delivered one of the best season finales of the past decade and possibly of all time. But it wasn't just a great season finale; it was a fantastic Sherlock Holmes story overall. In my opinion, this hour and a half segment of television perfectly encapsulates the character, the fanbase and the entire Sherlock Holmes legacy. And it did that by deconstructing the entire mythos as it's been built up for the past two centuries. Let's start with the quickest possible synopsis of the episode: After criminal mastermind Jim Moriarty robs three highly secured locations simultaneously seemingly without lifting a finger he's put on trial. He miraculously gets off scot-free despite presenting no evidence for himself and visits Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street. There he reveals that he threatened or bribed the jury to get him off and that he intends to burn Sherlock through one final problem. A few months later...

Shaun of the Dead  is a 2004 zombie comedy written/directed by Edgar Wright and cowritten by Simon Pegg. The film is the first of the cult classic Cornetto Trilogy, which also includes Hot Fuzz  and The World's End . The film has gained a cult following since its release and garnered a reputation as a newer Halloween classic. Story The lives of two slacker idiots (Simon Pegg/Nick Frost) are thrown out of balance when their quiet suburban town is affected by a zombie outbreak. Now, armed with a shovel and a cricket bat, they must use what few wits they have to keep themselves and their group of friends alive to make it to their local pub to wait out the apocalypse. I've gone on record saying that Edgar Wright movies aren't my favorite in the world. A lot of times they don't really make me laugh and that's a problem when you're looking at a comedy. The jokes he tries to tell always seem like the most obvious jokes you could possibly tell in any given circumst...

Split  is a 2017 supernatural thriller written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It's one of the most talked about films of the year and is considered Shyamalan's comeback after a long string of duds. Story A trio of girls is abducted by a disturbed man named Kevin (James McAvoy) with 23 individual personalities living inside his head, each completely aware of the other, three of whom have taken over Kevin's body, subduing the others so they can't interfere with a dark and sinister plan involving the three girls. Meanwhile, one of the girls (Ana Taylor-Joy) tries her best to break out of their prison by manipulating the more vulnerable personalities into doing what she wants. Before seeing this movie I was really nervous about it, even when reports started coming in that it was pretty good. Shyamalan hasn't been good since Unbreakable  or arguably Signs  and now he's coming out with a movie with a concept that would be tricky to pull of for most seasoned ...

Zodiac  is a 2007 crime thriller written by James Vanderbilt and directed by David Fincher. The film is based off the real life account of Robert Graysmith, a newspaper cartoonist who independently attempted to solve the Zodiac murders. Story The story is focused on the infamous unsolved Zodiac murders that occurred between the 60s and 70s in California. In particular, it focuses on two characters obsessed with the investigation: Graysmith, our previously mentioned cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Dave Toschi, a homicide detective (Mark Ruffalo). The pacing for the movie is a bit weird. Since the actual events of the Zodiac murders happened over a period of almost a decade there's a lot of time jumping to get get to certain, important events in the process of the investigation. This results in the movie not really feeling like it has a proper structure. I mean, it has a beginning, middle and end, but the the middle is entirely comprised of following lead after lead of the...

Don't Breathe is a 2016 horror thriller written by Fede Álvarez/Rodo Sayagues and also directed by Fede Álvarez. The film was one of the most talked about films of last year and garnered a large amount of critical praise. Story A group of poor Detroit kids make a living for themselves by robbing the houses of wealthier people in order to raise enough money to move out of the city. At long last, they find a mark that might allow them to do that: the house of an old blind man who has a large amount of cash stashed inside his house and since he's blind they could hypothetically sneak around the house with him inside without him knowing they're even there. The problem is that this man is a retired war veteran whose knowledge of the layout of his house and expert combat training make him a dangerous threat to the would be robbers. Now, they just need to survive the night and get the hell out of the guy's house. The set up is ingenious. It's the kind of thing Hitchco...