CineNiche

March 22, 2021 - March 28, 2021 Hello readers. Chicago is one of those places where if it hits 45° outside, people are in shorts and bikes invade the neighborhoods. I decided to venture out. I wanted to hit up one of the trendy areas, walk from one CTA stop to the next. In this stretch there's used book stores, nine independent coffee shops, an open-till-3am cookie dispensary, at least eight vintage clothing stores, another four to six vintage wares stores, used record shops, and any food you want. This could be any gentrified neighborhood in Chicago. My goal was to make it to the record shop where they have used Criterion Blu-Rays and head to the grocery store. My wife and our mutual friend accompanied us. I centered myself before stepping out the door. Repeated a little mantra about my generalized anxiety disorder, something like, "F*ck my life." Put my mask on (literally and figuratively) and out we went.  It was way worse than I expected. Not only was all of Chicago o...

March 15, 2021 - March 21, 2021 Hello fellow internet readers. Big news this week. My life-threatening asthma finally paid off. I was able to get my first vaccine shot. It was an easy process, once the appointment was made. I showed up and so many soldiers were nothing but helpful. I had my appointment barcode pulled up on my phone, and I was treated as VIP. You can proceed to lane two sir. You can skip around those people sir. Right over here sir. My anxiety pumped an unhealthy amount of adrenaline through my system prior to getting to the vaccination site. I abhor not knowing rules. Even if I don't always stick to rules, I hate not knowing them. My brain was fried thinking about all that could go wrong. Not with the shot mind you, but with not finding the correct line to wait in. That's how my mental illness works. The moment I sat down with the soldier grabbing the alcohol swab, my anxiety melted away. I got my sticker and my card, waited in the observation room, and left. T...

  March 8, 2021 - March 14, 2021   Hello new week, I  bought a Panisonic Lumix G85 camera and took it out for a test drive. I've been debating this camera for months and finally took the plunge. As it is COVID times, my test drive was multiple set ups around the house and filming myself in a routine. I remember in film school it was called a narrative moment. It is simply following an action. In film school we shot a 16MM film about two people playing chess, one cheating, and the other throwing the glass pieces on the floor. Each shot moved the 'narrative' forward, but it was mostly about matching your cuts. I wanted to test out the color grading, kit lens, and natural settings on the camera so I shot in 4K 24fps. My routine of choice was to take a shower, so yes, that means the first footage I shot on my new camera was me being naked and taking a shower. It's not the first time I've filmed my own shower. I'm sure it won't be the last either. It made me star...

 March 1, 2021 - March 7, 2021 Hello and welcome to March in Chicago. So far we've had twenty degree and sixty degree weather and we are in the first week. No one wants small talk about the weather. I learned in a YouTube video [worst beginning of a sentence ever] that people in Sweden abhor small talk and see it as a waste of time. They say people will contrive elaborate schemes to ensure they do not have to talk to others when heading out of the house. The video tried to show how humans need small talk. We have to test the waters before we jump in. I don't agree. If the pandemic has taught us anything, when someone asks how you are, we are allowed to pour all of our garbage out. Instead of the monosyllabic, "Fine," that we've been accustom to, we can go into our bout with seasonal depression. We can open up about how its been a week since we left the house or how we've found peace hidden deep inside the covers on our bed. Seriously, try it out. If some rando...

 February 22, 2021 - February 28, 2021 As this is a new editorial section, one would normally begin it with welcoming the reader to a new endeavor; however, if I stated that, then I would feel the pressure of continuing this. Right now is not the time to feel additional pressure from anywhere. For clarity to my future self while reading this: We are still in the middle of a pandemic and nothing feels like it will ever return to normal! Hopefully, when I read this in the future, I'll think back to how that time in my life was filled with such deep depression, but ultimately it helped to lead me toward more creative times. But that's not what I came here to tell you about... This Week In Film where I create a weekly rundown of the random sh*t I watch. There’s a HIGH / LOW at the end of this entry, so if words aren't really your thing, you can scroll quickly, look at pictures, and skip to my favorite viewings of the week. Lets begin... OVERVIEW:    

CLOWN (2014) review originally published on Horror-Movies.ca Directed by: Jon Watts Written by: Jon Watts, Christopher D. Ford Produced by: Eli Roth Rated R 100 min I’m a huge fan, but regardless of how you feel about Eli Roth, Clown proves the director has a sense of humor. The production for the film began in the strangest of places, through a faux trailer. Since Grindhouse (2007) it is not that unlikely that a film’s production would begin with a fake trailer. Robert Rodriguez went on to make Machete (2010) and its sequel and Jesse Eisener adapted his award winning trailer Hobo With A Shotgun (2011) into a feature as well. What makes Clown different is that its director Jon Watts actually attached Eli Roth’s name to it without him knowing. When this happened it forced Roth to take notice. He couldn’t believe how “ballsy” Jon was and gave Clown the attention it deserved. Even with Eli Roth set to produce, Jon Watts was an unlikely candidate for a horror film...

Burst City (1982) bursts through the screen with high-octane energy in a frenzy of fight scenes and anarchy. While I have no idea what I just watched, I do know that Burst City and I are now in a relationship. This insane film creates what would one day become the MTV aesthetic and does so the same year MTV launches with Video Killed The Radio Star . The MTV style would be known for quick cutting, mixed media, and flashy camera-work; however, it would soon be seen as style merely for the sake of style. Michael Bay would build his filmography upon this idea of no substance or little substance with a shiny ribbon. But here, pre-dating all of that is a strange Japanese punk film. I can now up my hipster game / pretentiousness by creating a Spotify list devoted to early 1980’s Japanese Punk. Here is said mix . The punk rock in this film is incredible. By 1982 we had Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Misfits, Descendants, Black Flag, The Replacements, The Cramps, Circle Jerks, The Damned, The...

Retro Flashback presents: Hell Comes To Frogtown  Welcome to Retro Flashback. Today we take a trip into a post-apocalyptic future as seen by low-budget filmmakers in the late eighties. Our study will begin with the creator of Frogtown , Donald G. Jackson, and his unique vision of filmmaking. We will also study the career of Frogtown's leading man, the late great Roddy Piper. Hell Comes To Frogtown may not be a particularly good film, but does it still warrant a place in your genre education? Lets dive into the ballad of Commander Toty. In the beginning... Donald G. Jackson was born in Mississippi but grew up in Michigan. He worked at an automotive factory where he met his friend and future co-director Jerry Younkins. The two of them had a plan to make a feature film but could not put together any funds. Fate then stepped in. Jerry got into an accident at work that left him without a few fingers. The insurance check came through and they were in business. With Jerry...

  Welcome back to Retro Flashback. Today we have a special critique, Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2. There are countless sites devoted to the Evil Dead series and rather than rehashing old material, I thought we could try to find ways to view this classic in a new way. We all know Ash to be a hero, but what is he fighting for? Is it possible that he is merely battling for his own sanity? We will also rate Dead By Dawn to see where it falls in your horror education. “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.” Charles Dickens – David Copperfield     "Groovy!” Ashley “Ash” Williams In the beginning... Sam Raimi was born in 1959 in Fra...