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2 months ago | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
1970's The Losers (not to be confused with the 2010 film of the same name), directed by Jack Starret, is a bombastic and chaotically entertaining bikersploitation film that takes place amidst the carnage of the Vietnam War. Heavy on the pyrotechnics and over-the-top shootouts, The Losers is a perfect lazy Sunday afternoon biker film that doesn't take itself too seriously while also being relatively well-made.
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2 months ago | 
collider.com | Rory Fleck-Byrne |Joseph Ornelas
Science fiction is a genre rooted in the complexity of not only technology but of the seen and unforeseen consequences associated with it, and few films in recent years have captured that idea so succinctly as Andrew Legge's LOLA (not to be confused with Nicola Peltz's directorial debut from last year or the French New Wave classic directed by Jacuqes Demy from 1961).
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2 months ago | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
One of the most infamous and haunting subcultures in music remains the Norwegian black metal scene, which aimed to put into practice the dark themes and subject matter of the music. Nowhere was this more evident than in the disturbing history of the band Mayhem, active originally from 1984 to 1993, right in the midst of the “satanic panic”, and documented in the 2018 film Lords of Chaos, which had its own share of controversy upon its release.
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Jan 26, 2025 | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
There are few movie stars as synonymous with 2000s action cinema as Vin Diesel. While his tenure as Dominic Toretto will soon come to a doubtlessly glorious close in the eleventh and (supposedly) final installment of the Fast and Furious franchise, the world would be remiss to forget his pre-Fast turn in the Riddick films. Pitch Black, the first of three to feature the character, gave Diesel and writer/director David Twohy a gritty and dusty sandbox to play in.
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Jan 25, 2025 | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
It's not often that when someone asks you what you're watching, you can say with a straight face "A Hong Kong action horror kung fu comedy." but that is exactly what Mr. Vampire, the 1985 genre mash-up directed by Ricky Lau, is. The film is a highly influential entry in the jiangshi film genre and combines slapstick comedy, kung fu, and horror to delightfully perplexing effect.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
Paul Verhoeven has made an illustrious career out of shocking his audience and pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable in cinema when it comes to sex and violence, yet, his final Dutch film before making the transition to American movies is more subdued than one might expect. The 4th Man is by no means a "subtle" film, but it is far more introspective and less concerned with systemic issues than his American output.
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Nov 18, 2024 | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
It's no secret that Brian De Palma's primary cinematic influence is the films of Alfred Hitchcock, particularly Vertigo, and no film during his prolific career is more evident of that than his 1976 psychological thriller Obsession. The film is Hitchcockian through and through, both stylistically and thematically. It continues the tradition that Hitchcock pioneered of exploring lurid sexuality, voyeurism, the feeling of going insane, and well, obsession.
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Nov 14, 2024 | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
Harmony Korine's filmography has been characterized by themes of found family, social alienation, and dysfunctional relationships. All three can be found in his 2007 film Mister Lonely, which follows a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) who finds an antidote to his loneliness in a Scottish commune made up of fellow celebrity impersonators. The film is much less abrasive than some of Korine's most (in)famous films.
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Nov 2, 2024 | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
Before Rian Johnson injected the whodunnit genre with a modern and revitalized twist with Knives Out, The Last of Sheila proved that mystery thrillers didn't have to feel stale like the yellowed, musty pages of the books they so often adapted. The Last of Sheila, even over fifty years later, feels extremely contemporary, with sharp dialogue and an even sharper script. The movie, like Johnson's Knives Out films, owes a great deal to Agatha Christie.
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Nov 2, 2024 | 
collider.com | Joseph Ornelas
Low-budget filmmaking and high-concept science fiction don't always go well together, but 2013's Coherence is a reminder that it's possible to make an engaging and thought-provoking sci-fi film without an extravagant budget and a large studio backing. The film's director, James Ward Byrkit, took the Robert Rodriguez approach to filmmaking: writing with what he had in front of him. Like Rodriguez, who had a guitar, a camera, and seven grand, Byrkit had a solid cast of actors, a house, and an idea.
