Daydreamer's Film Talk

There’s no denying that everyone knows who Santa Claus, or jolly old St. Nicholas, is and what he represents to the Christmas holiday. But only recently has America become fascinated with the folklore of Krampus, said to be the shadow of St. Nicholas who punishes the naughty children. While there are many variations as to how he punishes, it can be said that director Michael Dougherty’s film simply titled Krampus will become a definitive version for fans of his work.              The plot of the film concerns the holiday gathering of two families for Christmas. It’s apparent with their differing lifestyles that they don’t get along, and although Max, the younger child of the hosting family, writes a letter to Santa wishing everyone would get along, his cousins mock his letter in front of everyone. To him, this is the final straw and he renounces Christmas and his family and rips up his letter. As soon as he does this, his neighborhood is engulfed in a terrible snowstorm, tra

Director Kevin Smith has always been known to be three things: a comic book fan, a native of New Jersey, and a filmmaker in the comedy/drama genre. That changed when three years ago he released his first horror film, Red State, devoid of any of the humor he was known for. This year, he’s released his second film to have horror elements, but this time his style of comedy is present, the end product being Tusk. Tusk stars Justin Long as Wallace Bryton, a podcaster who specializes in finding people he deems bizarre and sharing the experience with his co-host and best friend Teddy, played by Haley Joel Osment. His next project brings him to Canada, where after his original interviewer is unavailable, finds a listing for a room that promises interesting stories to listen to. The lister turns out to be Howard Howe, played by Michael Parks, an old man who shares his tale of a walrus that saved his life to Wallace, but then reveals to him that he plans for Wallace to be his new walrus fr

The Fast and the Furious films already have a reputation for being filled with nonstop action and logic defying car racing. I’ll admit, I wasn’t completely sold on the series when I saw the first film, but back then I was judging the film by itself and how it was made. The quality definitely improved as the franchise continued and I was anticipating the day when it would gain a high level of recognition. I think I can say without a doubt that its achieved that level with Furious 7. Furious 7 is the seventh installment, this time directed by James Wan. Returning to the films are stars Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in his final film appearance after his death in 2013. The plot consists of rogue assassin Deckard Shaw, played by Jason Statham, going after Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and Walker’s Brian O’Conner and their gang as revenge for the gang defeating his brother Owen Shaw, played by Luke Evans, from the last film. Along the way, a government agent, played by Kurt Russell, offer

            Artificial intelligence is a subject that lends itself to constant interpretations in film. Should we fear the idea they may become smarter than us, almost as if they’re the next step in evolution? This is one of the many questions that Alex Garland’s Ex-Machina answers, in a hypothetical and entertaining form.             Ex-Machina stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, a computer programmer working for the fictional search engine Bluebook. He wins a chance to visit his reclusive boss and founder of Bluebook Nathan, played by Oscar Isaac. When he arrives at his remote estate, Nathan tells him he was chosen to undergo a Turing Test, essentially looking for Artificial Intelligence in the female android named Ava, played by Alicia Vikander. During their conversations, Caleb becomes fascinated with Ava’s capacity of learning and surprising humanity when sharing his life with her. Things soon become tense with the isolation getting to Caleb, on top of Ava secretly telling h

As it's been awhile since I've gotten the courage to write, I'm going to be posting some of my old reviews that I wrote while I was on The Observer newspaper for Rutgers University-Newark. I figured it'll be interesting to anyone who's read what I have brought here up to this point. I have also decided that this weekend will be a good time for me to finish the Pan's Labyrinth review, but I can't be making promises that I can't keep anymore, it's not fair to me or to readers who are waiting constantly. But as of today, the uploading of old work shall commence. Enjoy!

I've decided to try my blog again. It's been a good amount of time since I've written anything on here, and I feel bad that I never finished my last requests. My first mission is to finish them and from there, I'll be starting on newer posts. I'm open to more requests for any type of film that I can write on