The Blu Spot

The Film: Writer/director Craig Brewer is another one of those filmmakers who's not exactly a household name, but there's a good chance you've seen or heard of some of his projects, including "Black Snake Moan," "Dolemite is My Name," "and "Coming 2 America." As his filmography shows, music has been quite a large part of his work, leading to projects like "Hustle & Flow," a remake of "Footloose," and the documentary "Katy Perry: Part of Me," which brings us to his latest ende

The Film: Back in 2022, a bizarre little action flicked called "Sisu" was unleashed, telling the simple tale of a former Finnish soldier trying to reclaim his stolen gold from Nazis near the end of World War II. It was a film that was big on gratuitous bloodshed & absurdity, but sadly very light on story, which ended up hindering it quite heavily, and yet, it still managed to garner decent reviews from those that praised its over-the-top action sequences. It wasn't exactly wh

The Film: Writer/director Osgood Perkins has had something of a questionable career thus far, delivering a collection of middling-to-sub-par horror films that are typically forgettable and have a number of issues to them, including such works as "Longlegs," "The Blackcoat's Daughter," "I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House," and most recently, "The Monkey." For his next feature, "Keeper," he has opted to fill only the director's chair and leave writing duties to Nick

The Film: Ever since it premiered way back in 1959, Rod Serling's "The Twilight Zone" has been a much-beloved program that is often cited as one of the greatest shows ever made. Over the course of five seasons, it told fascinating moral tales that often had endings you weren't quite expecting, delighting & entertaining audiences of all ages. This made it no surprise that, 20 years later, the idea was brought up to bring the concept to theaters, with four big directors (John L

The Film: Hot on the heels of Shout! Studios' recent release of "Bullet in the Head" comes the next entry in their Hong Kong Cinema Classics series, "Once a Thief," another John Woo outing that may not be quite as well-known to some as his more popular works like "The Killer," "Hard Boiled," or "A Better Tomorrow." Once more, Shout! is giving the film a stunning upgrade and loading it up with over two hours of extras, so let's delve right in and see how this Woo work stacks u

The Film: Once again we return to Shout! Studios' incredible Hong Kong Cinema Classics series with another offering from the great John Woo, the filmmaker behind such action classics as "Hard Boiled" and "The Killer." This time we're taking a look at an entry in his filmography that's perhaps not as well-known as his more popular works entitled "Bullet in the Head," a curious blend of drama, crime, action, and romance that he made not long after the latter of the aforemention

The Film: Writer/director Derek Cianfrance may not be a filmmaker with a household name, but chances are that you've seen, or have at least heard of, his most well-known projects, which includes "Blue Valentine," "A Place Beyond the Pines," and the HBO miniseries "I Know This Much is True." Looking at his filmography, the material he works with typically skews towards drama, which makes it understandable as to why he would eventually want to try something a little lighter. Th

The Film: When it comes to writing comedy, it's one of those talents that you either have or you don't. There are those that can actually come up with well-formed, clever jokes that get plenty of laughs, while others will settle for aiming much lower, populating their project with lazy, uninspired humor that clearly shows that the writer just doesn't have a knack for it (with the recent attempted reboot of "The Naked Gun" being a prime example). This brings us to Jim O'Hanlon

The Film: When Tobe Hooper's "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was released back in 1974, it became something of a phenomenon with audiences that made it quite a big hit at the box office. Made for under $140,000, the film's visceral, violent nature brought horror lovers out in droves to experience its macabre tale of a group of friends who cross paths with a family of cannibals. The critics may not have cared much for it at the time, but it has since gone on to be regarded as on

The Film: Writer/director David Ayer has had a curious roller coaster of a career, hitting a decent peak early on with the compelling cop drama "Training Day," but also delivering a number of sub-par films like his dreadful "Suicide Squad," his bland war flick "Fury," and most recently, a pair of standard Jason Statham shoot/beat-'em-ups with "The Beekeeper" & "A Working Man." However, when you dig a little deeper into his filmography, you notice another little cop drama call