Band vs. Brand is a documentary about keeping your integrity in the face of the crushing music industry. There are a ton of talking head interviews. Some of the people are actually recognizable, while the rest feel like fodder to pad this one out to feature length. What annoys me is that I think the documentary trots around a central idea, but never gets there. As someone who doesn’t work in the music industry, it might just be me missing out on a key issue. However, the film doesn’t help me to find it.
Band vs. Brand is available Feb 12th
American Nightmares is the latest horror anthology from the creators of Tales from the Hood. While it took that original film ages to find an audience, I’m hoping that this one doesn’t suffer a similar fate. While this entry is nowhere near TFTH level of quality, it throws a lot against the wall to see if it sticks. Somehow the story of the clown prostitute plays way better than the racist family hopping dimensions to get away from minorities. I would have loved to listen to a commentary on this one. So many story decisions needed an explanation.
American Nightmares is available Feb 12th
Room 304 follows a gang of Danish hotel occupants going about their day and doing their best to find a way to make it through. Some of them are having life altering moments, while others are just trying to stay away from creepers. It’s all fairly typical and plays like the third generation Altman style brand riff that it’s meant to be. That being said, I can see it boring many to tears.
Room 304 is available now!
The Apparition follows a war zone reporter who has a new assignment. Validate a vision of the Virgin Mary for the Catholic Church or burn in Hell forever!!! Being the only DVD in this bundle that actually had special features, the interview with the director helped put a lot of what I saw into context. While not as trite as an American film handling the same situation, the movie doesn’t flinch from trying to force a female professional from identifying with the religious aspects at hand. Marguerite was better, but I’ll still take this Giannoli outing.
The Apparition is available now!
Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel makes me think I’ve seen this entry before. I remember the game show in space angle that helped to explain away a lot of the Kaiju. However, half of the episodes seem like they were mixed between both seasons. I guess that’s due to the permeable definitions of what was a season and how footage bled between them. Honestly, I watched a four year old baseline all three discs of the show in a day. So, I guess that’s the upside.
Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel is available Feb 5th
