sandwichjohnfilms

Just another underdog documentary but this time featuring a horse. Review by Erika Ashley A group of small town friends and neighbors band together to finance their dreams of owning, training, and racing a thoroughbred race horse. One woman, Jan Vokes, began working in a bar and had the courage and drive to approach her local patrons to join her forming the Dream Alliance. The group contributed nominal fees monthly that financed the purchasing of a retired race mare and aided in the funding of breeding costs and training. The horse, Dream Alliance, himself was a fighter and without his perseverance and the support from his team and owners he wouldn’t have even had a shot. The documentary itself is fairly slow moving but follows the story of a community and its prized horse overcoming adversity. The setup and telling of the underdog story is incredibly predictable and lacks originality. The DVD’s back cover literally describes the entire 85-minute runtime in one swift and p

The story of the legendary Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran proves what goes up, must come down, only to make a comeback. By: Erika Ashley Self-raised in the streets of Panama during the 1960s, Roberto Duran had to fight for everything in his life. He fought for food, money, respect and used his God-given talents and pugnacious nature to learn the art of boxing. With the help from many positive male role models that believed in him, Duran made his way to the top. However, once at the top there is no other way but down and Duran’s fall from grace left him with one only option, to get back up. Roberto Duran’s legacy and backstory is truly inspirational. Going into this bio-pic quite honestly I barely knew anything about Duran and what he accomplished. Having no frame of reference, I thought this film did a great job at outlining his life long struggle having grown up in poverty in a country that was being over-run by America and his need to be successful in boxing in order

A small western film tries desperately to be an Oscar contender. Review by Erika Ashley In the late 1880s, a young boy watches a ruthless, God-fearing “Preacher” murder his father in a cold-blooded knife-duel. Years later the boy, David Kingston, grows up to be a Texas Ranger and is put on a special case when bodies of deceased Mexicans begin popping up in a river outside of a quiet town. The man that runs the town is the very man that killed Kingston’s father 22 years before. Kingston brings his wife along with him reluctantly to investigate the deaths but gets caught up quickly in the inner-workings of a much larger problem. Kingston soon finds himself in a duel, fighting for his wife and his life after he uncovers the truth. I cannot remember this film being released in theaters which forces me to believe that this little ditty snuck under the radar and was forced straight to DVD/Blu-ray. Surprisingly the with two big name actors as front-runners, Woody Harrelson a

First off, the acting is subpar at best and lacks heart. By: Erika Ashley Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy Jewish prince, and his adopted Roman brother, Messala Severus, start out as the best of friends and enjoy their playful competitive spirit. However, Messala feels the constant need to prove himself to the Ben-Hur family and make a name for himself that is not associated with his deceased grandfather’s prior mistakes. Messala flees to join the Roman Military, making his way through the ranks for years, while Judah remains a passive leader amongst his struggling people. Years later the two brothers come together again when the Roman Empire begins to occupy Ben-Hur’s homeland of Jerusalem and a group of radicals end up putting Judah and his family’s lives in danger. Falsely accused of treason Messala is forced to turn his back on his adoptive family and dooms Judah to a life as a galley-slave until his death. More time passes and Judah, fueled by hate, survives a fatal military attac

The content of this documentary was almost embarrassing and overly frustrating listening to her antics and her far far far left babble. By: Erika Ashley Four short years ago, comedienne and longtime feminist, Roseanne Barr ran to be President of the United States of America in the 2012 election. This gritty and raw documentary follows Roseanne from the idea’s conception to the bitter end of defeat. Throughout the film a different side of Roseanne emerges and a realistic view of how an “Average Joe” would go about attempting to run for office. From the very beginning Roseanne is unapologetically honest about her true intentions of running for President, however you cannot help but notice something is much different from before. You see a real elderly woman fed up with modern day mudslinging politics and would rather try to handle it all herself then see another rich politician take office and continue running the country into the ground. The film outlines how Roseanne came t

Wizard World is making positive changes and finally listening to the masses as they continue their tours across the nation By: Erika Ashley Another June, another Wizard World Sacramento in the books. This past weekend Wizard World made its rounds back to the Sacramento Convention Center for their 3rd appearance in the heart of California, bringing with it hoards from fandoms near and far. Having been to many Wizard World events, I would have to say that they are finally listening to the crowds and making positive changes. This was by far the best WW Comic Con I have been to yet and after my reluctance from last year’s WW Reno they have truly outdone themselves. In the weeks leading up to the event I noticed that their media/PR team was working double time at trying to promote the event around the Sacramento region with radio spots, heavy online advertising, and offering half price promo codes like they were going out of style. However, Wizard World may have lost the momentum th

Struggled with the story, but delivered with good action packed scenes to make up for the lack of substance. Review by : Erika Ashley After high school the lives of the most popular kid and the nerdy laughing stock of the school lead drastically different lives. The all-around good guy that was voted most likely to succeed, Calvin Joyner, is living in a stagnant mediocre existence and begins to question his life choices. Just days before their twenty-year high school reunion, Bob Stone previously known as Robbie Weirdicht, reaches out to Calvin in an attempt to reconnect with his idol. Calvin agrees to meet up for drinks but as they hang out and catch up things make a turn for the weird as the night progresses. The next day Calvin is confronted by the CIA at his very doorstep and is questioned on his allegiance with Agent Stone. Calvin struggles with his loss of confidence and need for excitement as he goes on a wild and life threatening ride with his old acquaintance. Let

Although there were a few hiccups and missteps, the magic – when you see it, almost just makes up for the mistakes. By Erika Ashley The Horsemen are back and after about a year laying low, they are finally ready to confront and expose their next big business target. During their take down attempt an anonymous source hacks into their performance. Causing their act to be blown apart and revealing their entire group to the public. The group of Horsemen feel in a panic but end up across the world and held against their will. IN order to save themselves and ultimately the world’s security they are forced to obey their captor’s orders. To complete their goal, they must rely on one another by working together as a cohesive unit while new power struggles emerge. The group uses their quick wit and magic prowess to pull their biggest trick yet. Surprisingly a majority of the original cast returns for this sequel in addition to a new female lead Lula, played by Lizzy Caplan. Some n

Is this movie sappy and suitable for a date night out? Yes. By: Erika Ashley A wealthy, handsome, and successful playboy, Will Traynor, has his life changed forever when a freak auto accident paralyzes him from the neck down. After several attempts of finding a suitable caregiver and companion for Will, his parents hire an adorably eclectic and constantly optimistic young woman, Louisa Clark, to care for him. Lou accidentally learns about Will’s long term plant to potentially end his life causing her to make it her mission to change his mind by any means necessary. Understanding that this film is based on a romance novel, one has to be slightly open minded that the book is probably going to be better or at least much different than the movie. The film’s story gets a little confusing as the two main characters, Will (played by Sam Claflin ) and Lou (played by Emilia Clarke ), very subtly fall for each other. Granted the characters are complete opposites with Will being a co

Was a great performance and KISS lives up to their reputation. Review by: Erika Ashley On Wednesday May 25th, 2016 movie theaters across the nation hosted the KISS: Las Vegas Live Concert in a one night only viewing. This was my first time ever seeing KISS perform in theaters and just in general. Growing up my dad would listen to various 80s and 90s rock music and of course I would be exposed to the more popular songs from KISS that played on the radio. However, sitting in a theater, in the middle of the week, just after work-hours with about 20 others was certainly a different experience taking in KISS. Being an outsider amongst die-hard KISS fans was an interesting experience to say the least. The film opens with KISS giving an introduction to the concert and discussing some insider knowledge about how the event was planned and executed. Listening to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley openly and eagerly discuss their vision of designing their once in a lifetime residency performa

The overall gist of this film was surprisingly fascinating Review by: Erika Ashley A recently single David, is brought to “The Hotel” in order to find a mate because in the not too distant future, all single adults are required to find a partner and get married by order of the Government. He is given 45 days to couple-up or he will be forced to become an animal of his choosing and released in the wild. During his stay at The Hotel he struggles to find a willing partner and makes a few desperate attempts to find companionship before his final days are up. After a horribly failed attempt at finding love, David runs away to join a group of Loners living between the “The City” and The Hotel. Here finds a group he feels comfortable in but quickly the moods changes once what he was looking for all along stumbles into his life. David is then forced to do everything he can to keep his most prized possession. Let’s start with the story line for this outrageously fascinating film. I

A long winded and repetitive telling of the life and times of satirical artist, Robert Cenedella. Review by: Erika Ashley Art Bastard is a documentary about contemporary American artist Robert Cenedella. The film outlines his early childhood, family troubles, how he became an artist and what brought him to his specific stylization of contemporary and satirical art. A large portion of the film focuses on his early career in the late 60’s dissecting and thoroughly examining the evolution of his artistic style. For starters the film is staunchly low budget to the point where it could have very well been shot on cell phone camera. Understandably this independent documentary about a lesser known American artist probably would not come with a big budget, however director Victor Kanefsky made several missteps that accentuated their shallow pocketbooks. For example, in the starting credits of the film you can see a boom-mic in the upper left hand corner within the first few minut

A fully stacked ensemble casts takes you through multiple versions of one very eventful Mother’s Day. Review by: Erika Ashley Across Atlanta several families prepare for the upcoming Mother’s Day holiday in a variety of ways. One mother, Sandy, is surprised to find out her ex-husband has remarried, very recently in fact, and she struggles with the idea of sharing her two sons with a young new step-mom on her specialist day. A father and widower, Bradley, gears up to face the first Mother’s Day without the mother of his two daughter’s and he too struggles with the complication the holiday brings. Sandy’s friend, Jesse, feels an inner conflict as the day approaches and another year passes with her mother and father out of the picture. Her lesbian sister, Gabi, seems to be just fine with leaving the relationship as it is because she will be celebrating with her wife and adopted son. A television host and HSN spokesperson, Miranda, goes about her daily life pushing product