Author Archive: Calhoun Kersten
Calhoun Kersten is a recent transplant to the whimsical world of LA. Equal parts disarmingly charming and stunningly good looking, he enjoys horror films, nachos, and sharks. If you're interested in more of his depravity, please check out one of his many blogs.
The Victim
The Victim is the kind of movie that would be easy to dismiss. Clearly low-budget with little to no star power, it doesn’t exactly scream “must-see” from the looks of it. But much like the movie itself tells you, looks can be deceiving. What lies beneath the largely forgettable surface of The Victim’s press is [...]
The Babymakers
The Babymakers belongs to that rare breed of comedy where you’re not quite sure if it’s hysterical or sociopathic. Upon first glance, The Babymakers seems to be following in the footsteps of the ill-fated Jennifer Aniston/Jason Bateman vehicle, The Switch. Who knew that the horrors of childbearing were such a comedic gold mine? It seems [...]
Tom and Jerry Tricks & Treats
Warner Brothers has scoured its archives to bring audiences “22 chilling cartoons” just in time for the Halloween season. As a fan of old school animation, and an even bigger fan of Halloween, oh how I would love it if this were true. Unfortunately, it is nothing more but a clever ruse to get parents [...]
The Inbetweeners Movie
The transition from the small screen to the silver screen is usually a rough one. Complaints of the film feeling like an elongated episode or not having enough material to warrant a film adaptation abound. Luckily, for writers Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, as well as director Ben Palmer, nobody can accuse The Inbetweeners Movie [...]
Mad Monster Party
What do you get when you invite Frankenstein’s Monster, the Invisible Man, Wolfman, and more to an island getaway? No, seriously. This isn’t the set-up for some corny joke. It’s actually the premise of Mad Monster Party. That might be the first issue with Mad Monster Party, which is making its premiere on blu-ray on [...]
Fidel
It is a simple enough task to demonize Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. It takes a considerably more artful hand to paint him as a much more complex and nuanced human being. Such is the goal of Saul Landau’s documentary, Fidel. Through the use of archive footage, Landau attempts to uncover a side of the legend [...]
Dance Moms: Season One
It seems the dystopian future of The Hunger Games is almost a guarantee. Honestly, after watching only two episodes of Dance Moms, in which mothers, children, and coaches are pitted against one another for the enjoyment of the audience, violence for entertainment’s sake doesn’t seem too far off. But I’m getting ahead myself. The topic [...]
Solomon Kane
A man trying to find peace and redemption in a violent and tumultuous time, such is the story of Solomon Kane. With the Devil on his trail, Kane tries to redeem himself as a warrior, a son, and a Puritan. With three redemptive narratives packed into a movie just short of two hours, Solomon Kane [...]
Kill List
Kill List is… what is Kill List? That’s actually not a bad question. Part hitman movie, part family drama and part horror, Kill List is the bastard lovechild of director Ben Wheatley. As the film follows Jay (Neil Maskell) and Gal (Michael Smiley) it becomes less and less clear where the film is headed, but [...]
Breathless
Walking into Breathless, I had no idea what I was getting into. Never having fully understood the allure of Gina Gershon and being entirely unfamiliar with its other star, Kelli Giddish, I was admittedly hesitant to spend an hour and a half with them. However, Jesse Baget and Stefania Moscato’s script is filled with such [...]
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