Cinema Basement

A review by Brooks Rich It's the one with the whales. I like this one. It's not the best Star Trek film but it's hardly the worst. It's just a good time.  Like I said in one of the earlier reviews, the even numbered Star Trek films are considered the best where the odd numbered ones are less than good. The Voyage Home is very different from the two previous films, bringing a conclusion to the story started in The Wrath of Khan . The Enterprise crew is returning to Earth to face the consequences of their actions from the previous film. While they are away from Earth, an alien probe approaches Earth and begins to send out a signal no one can understand and that also causes havoc on Earth. Kirk and his crew analyze the signal and realize they need a humpback whale to respond to the probe. Unfortunately humpback whales have been extinct since the 21st century. So it's back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to find humpback whales and bring them to 2286. This is the...

A review by Brooks Rich Well that happened. I get to review maybe the most anticipated movie of the year and I don't want to spoil thing about it. So I'm going to be very careful. I'm not even going to give a summary of the film so I don't ruin Infinity War for anyone who didn't see it. I Imagine most people know by know how that ended but I'm not going to be that guy. So is Endgame any good? Yeah it's really good. I have a few minor complaints and personally I am not a fan of the Guardians characters, by not a fan I mean I hate those films with a passion, but it's still a great movie and a perfect sendoff for the ten year plan of Marvel. This brings an end to the MCU and it ends how it should. Character arcs come to an end but there's also room for future films. A minor complaint I have is the film is very funny. The MCU always has a good sense of humor. But sometimes it doesn't feel right. Like, isn't this supposed to be a pretty in...

An editorial by Azzam Abdur-Rahman I haven’t written something for this blog in a while. It’s not because I didn’t want too it’s because well, my personal and work life made it hard to have a hot take or present an idea clearly. But the news of John Singleton’s coma has driven me to work past that and write something because I feel it’s important we shout out a huge voice in Black Cinema who I feel has been forgotten by the zeitgeist. John Singleton was the first time I ever saw a director who looked like my father or me. As a young boy I knew Lucas, I knew Tarantino and I knew Spielberg but I didn’t know a single director who looked like me at all. Singleton was the first time I saw a black man directing films with weight and telling important stories about being black in America. Boyz In The Hood, Poetic Justice and Rosewood tank among some of my favorite films. They were honest and were able to cut to the core of you as a person. Even Singleton’s Hollywood work was fantastic. H...

A review by Brooks Rich This is a deep cut film. This is not a film for everyone and this is a film you might want to watch with subtitles due to the heavy English accents. We're talking serious old English accents. This is also one of the darkest and disturbing films of the last few years. It's a masterpiece of horror and one of the most unsettling films ever made. In the 1630s a Puritan family is banished from their colony. They build a farm near a secluded area of woods and are soon being haunted by something evil living in the woods. This is not a film where every five minutes something is jumping out at you. It takes its time, builds an atmosphere, sets up the characters. Very few films give me the chills like this one does. I don't know what writer director Robert Eggers did, whether it's the music, or setting, or cinematography, but the second the family leaves the colony, you are on edge. It is clear something evil is lurking just beyond the trees of the w...

With the release of Avengers: Endgame this weekend, a lot of people are going to see their most anticipated film of 2019. Marvel's ten year plan comes together this Friday and sure yeah, I'm excited to see it. Reviews will be up for that as soon as possible.  But what are some other films to look forward to for the rest of the year? So here, in order of how excited I am, are the five films I most looking forward to. 5. Star Wars- The Rise of Skywalker Release date: December 20, 2019 Speaking of the end of an era. The new Star Wars trilogy comes to an end this December with JJ Abrams returning to the helm after The Force Awakens. Honestly I don't have much hope for this film. Abrams is all visuals and no story for me and he always seems to be arrogant to me in interviews. Is he talented? Of course, absolutely. I such wish sometimes he would get out of his own way. I can't help but be excited. I grew up with Star Wars. I watched the original trilogy over and over aga...

A review by Brooks Rich Leonard Nimoy did not want to come back to the series after Spock died in The Wrath of Khan. Spoiler. So they let him direct the follow up film to Wrath of Khan , which is the film we're talking about today, and the film after that, The Voyage Home . Yeah the one with the whales. Nimoy is a very good director because this film is fantastic. Not as good as The Wrath of Khan but still a very good film. The Enterprise has returned after their run-in with Khan. Kirk is still grieving the death of Spock and finds the Enterprise is being decommissioned, considered a relic of the past now. However Spock's father Sarek arrives and informs Kirk that Spock has transferred his spirit to Dr. McCoy, who has been acting strangely. On the Genesis Planet the Device has brought Spock back to life and he is rapidly aging from an infant to a full grown man. His mind and body must be brought together so Kirk and his crew steal the Enterprise and head for the Genesis Pl...

A review by Brooks Rich This is one of the more recent films that will be covered on forgotten film Friday. I can't believe this film just kind of came and went. We just don't get thrillers as tense and well thought out as The Gift from 2015 was. Once again it's a film where I don't want to really spoil any beat of the story. The suspense comes from not really knowing where the story is going and even questioning who we as an audience are supposed to root for. Jason Bateman and Rebecca Hall are Simon and Robyn, a married couple who relocate to Los Angeles from Chicago so Simon can start a new job. While out shopping they run into an old high school friend of Simon's, Gordo, played by writer and director Joel Edgerton. Gordo becomes overly friendly with the couple and keeps sending gifts, such as new koi for the koi ponds at their house. But something doesn't feel right and things become tense between Simon and Gordo. That's all you need to know. Like ...

A review by Brooks Rich So here's a hot take. The Wrath of Khan is one of the best science fiction adventure films ever made. It also should be considered in the list of greatest sequels ever made. It's a major step up from the critical failure of the Motion Picture and is often considered to be the greatest Star Trek film ever made .   The film is paced like a film as opposed to an episode of Star Trek that feels stretched out to feature length time. It's a battle of wits against two sworn enemies. The USS Reliant is scouting for lifeless planets that are a suitable testing site for the Genesis Device. While investigating what they think is Ceti Alpha VI, Captain Clark Terrell and former Enterprise crew member Pavel Chekov are confronted by Khan Noonien Singh, who fifteen years prior was marooned by James T. Kirk on Ceti Alpha V, which is now the barren wasteland they are on since the explosion of Ceti Alpha VI. Khan steals the Genesis and it's up to Kirk and the ...

A review by Brooks Rich This is another one of those films I have to be super careful and not spoil a thing. So don't expect a lot here. This film is so good and relies so heavily on how the story plays out. It's twist at the end is so satisfying while also being soul crushing. That's all I can say. Really if you haven't seen this and have a tolerance for a film that's not pleasant, this is a very dark film, give this a watch. It's one of the best underrated thrillers of the '00s and also the directorial debut for the late great Bill Paxton. A huge loss for the film world in 2017. This is easily my favorite Bill Paxton film and that's saying a lot. The man was in Aliens for God's sake and I love him as Hudson. But this is the best performance Paxton ever gave. Paxton plays Dad, all he's referred to, who in the summer of 1979 tells his two sons that they have been chosen by God to kill demons. In the present day Matthew McConaughey walks into ...

A review by Brooks Rich Let's talk about the film Die Hard from 1988. It's one of, if not the greatest action films, of all time. You should all know the story. Terrorists seize an office building in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve and a New York cop visiting his estranged wife must fight them off. It's a perfect film, a masterpiece of action cinema. If for some reason you have not seen Die Hard , stop what you are doing and go watch it immediately. Die Hard was so successful it created an entire subgenere in the action genre, the Die Hard knockoff. Criminals of some kind invade somewhere and are thwarted by someone who wasn't supposed to be there. That's the key. The hero has to be someone the villains weren't counting on and they have to already be there when they take over. Michael Bay's The Rock does not count because the heroes have to infiltrate the island. Five yard penalty, not a Die Hard clone. For example in Under Siege , my personal favorite ...

A review by Brooks Rich Welcome to Star Trek Sunday. Every Sunday until we run out of movies, we will be reviewing a Star Trek film, starting today with 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  The original series had been cancelled for ten years by the time the first cinematic adventure was released. The series had never been very successful in it's original run but during syndication it became a hit, prompting the green light of this film. I am a huge trekkie and love almost everything about the Star Trek universe. While I'm probably more versed with Star Trek: The Next Generation, I do love the original series and cast and know it's cinema history is the richest in the Star Trek verse. Arguably the best of all the films comes from the original cast. But first we have to get through the Motion Picture. Yeah, get through. This is not one of the best. A strange entity is on a direct course towards Earth after mysteriously destroying three Klingon vessels. James T. Kir...

Joy Ride and the art of the road thriller A review by Brooks Rich In honor of Azzam and Chris going on a road trip this weekend, we have a road thriller from 2001. I love this subgenre. Honestly the thought of being on the open road in the middle of nowhere kind of freaks me out. The road thriller plays on the fear of the unknown. Who knows who you're driving by on the highway? Especially at night if you're just two headlights passing by each other. Who is that person in the other car? Also if we take a wrong turn on a road trip, who knows where we will end up. Look to both versions of The Hills Have Eyes for this. These films take the open roads of America and turn them into highways to Hell. There are some greta road thrillers out there. Steven Spielberg's first major film was the TV movie Duel , about a businessman being chased by a truck apparently driven by a phantom. The driver is never seen and the truck becomes this almost demonic entity.  The Hitcher is simpl...