sandwichjohnfilms

The Hateful Eight is a torrid, exceedingly violent, and thrilling dance. Review by Matt Cummings Depending on your circles, Director Quentin Tarantino is either a brilliant and influential filmmaker or an over-the-top potty mouth who violates every social convention with his exceedingly violent fare. For me, I'm somewhere in the middle, ready to quote Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction but aware that he sometimes goes too far at the expense of his work. If you find yourself standing in the latter corner, you're going to despise The Hateful Eight for its excessive runtime and unnecessary violence. But if that's the case, you shouldn't have bought a ticket to this visceral throwback that's as crass and ugly as anything we've seen this year. Stuck in a 1880's haberdashery in Wyoming, eight unsavory characters are forced to survive a blizzard, until two untimely deaths open the dogs of war and a bloody battle rages. On one side is the Union so

It's Christmas Day, when Deadpool decorates with trailers Red & Green. One that's "nice" and one that's "naughty" (the way it's meant to be seen). Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life. Watch the green band trailer after the Jump... Please Leave A Comment-

The visually appealing but illogical Point Break also lacks an emotional core. Review by Matt Cummings As a moviegoer, you probably have a unique relationship with 1991's Point Break . You either love it for the over-top-action by Director Kathryn Bigelow or your hate it for Actor Keanu Reeve's now famous 'brah' shtick. Regardless of what side of the fence you ride, it's clear that a remake probably wasn't at the top of anyone's Most Anticipated List. And while sports some of the best real-life action of the year, it fails miserably to set up a believable tale of extreme crime and our growing environmental crisis. Extreme sports dude Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey) quits the game for the FBI after his partner dies. Filled with guilt over the matter, he soon becomes entrenched in a series of extreme sports crimes, one that costs the United States millions of dollars when a money shipment over Mexico is compromised. But the team, headed by the

The 2007 housing crisis is viscerally played out in this bittersweet, memorizing, and terrific ensemble piece. Review by Matt Cummings As a person intimately aware of the 2007 housing crisis, the story behind The Big Short has served as a narrative for too many of my friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Lured by the promise of cheap money that could be refinanced in a over-priced housing market, many lost their homes when the rates became too high and home values began to plunge. The ensemble drama/comedy The Big Short analyzes both the back and front end of the crisis, hoping to finally get people interested in a topic that still demands our full attention. Set in the years leading up to the 2007 housing crisis, The Big Short follows three stories of investors trying to make money for their clients. The housing market has boomed, allowing literally everyone the chance to own a home. As a result, those who have sought to open the doors to de-regulation have made trem

The Danish Girl is a powerful, poignant frontrunner in a home-hum Oscar race. Review by Matt Cummings In a time when transgender and gay rights have taken center stage, a film about an early 20th Century pioneer might seem like someone trying to jump onto the Caitlin Jenner Bandwagon. But The Danish Girl is much more than that, rising to become an instant Oscar frontrunner with its witty and tragic storytelling and awards-worthy lead performances. The Danish painter Einar Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) and his wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander) are a loving and successful couple whose open sexuality make them something of nuisance to early 20th Century conventions. But hidden deep in the recesses of Einar's mind is the alter ego Lili Elbe, who worries about the reaction society might have if they learn of her existence. When a chance event allows Einar to unleash his doppleganger, Gerda realizes that this is no passing fancy. Struggling to maintain her marriage and her san

The NFL head trauma drama is by-the-numbers Oscar bait. Review by Matt Cummings It's hard to find a film these days which surrounds a current event: studios spend so much time worrying about lawsuits that many times a 'topical subject' really isn't so. Fortunately, the film Concussion arrives just in time to reignite old anger about a continuing NFL cover-up. Unfortunately, it's paint-by-the-numbers Oscar bait that neither reaches high emotional drama nor tells the whole story. When former Pittsburgh Steelers star Mike Webster (a very good David Morse) is found dead of an apparent suicide, the pathologist Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) discovers that Webster's brain has been badly damaged through years of hard hits on the gridiron. As he begins to uncover a frightening amount of former players that have also died prematurely, Omalu brands the deaths a result of CTE. But instead of listening to him, the NFL begins a smear campaign to discredit Omalu a

Daddy's Home is serviceable holiday gluttony that will make you fatter from consuming it. Review by Matt Cummings If 2014 proved that comedies were back, 2015 has almost reeled that statement back in. The Night Before , Get Hard , and Entourage proved that male-lead laughfests were nothing of the sort, while female-driven ones (Spy, Sisters, and Trainwreck) were far superior. The final comedy of 2015 Daddy's Home sadly proves our point. Brad (Will Ferrell) is newly married to Sarah (Linda Cardellini) and is stepfather to two kids who don't like him very much. No matter what Brad does to lighten their day, the kids don't recognize him as their father. Brad's style doesn't help: on the edge of being labeled effeminate, he places inspirational notes in the kids' lunchboxes, and tears up when one of them reluctantly asks him to the daddy-daughter dance at school. Unfortunately, the arrival of the real dad Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) turns Brad'

Joy to the world, J-Law has come. Review by Brandon Wolfe If anyone deserves to have living sainthood status bestowed upon them, it has to be Joy Mangano, the put-upon heroine and real-life inventor played by Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russell’s Joy . Joy was told at a young age that she was special and destined for great things by her doting grandmother Mimi (Diane Ladd), but every other member of her family unconsciously conspires to keep Joy down. When we catch up to Joy in her adult life, she’s running herself ragged trying to meet the needs of her ramshackle brood, with absolutely no one stepping forward to assist, or even to offer a simple thank-you. Her mother Terry (Virginia Madsen) is a shut-in who sits in bed all day, refusing to tear herself away from her soap operas. Her father Rudy (Robert De Niro) is a cantankerous wreck, always on the lookout for a new relationship to replace whichever previous one he’s destroyed. Her half-sister Peggy (Elizabeth Rohm) makes no att