So way back 6 months or-so ago I answered a question on Stack Overflow regarding the best films about Geeks/Hackers/Programmers. My answer was a bit obscure and outlandish, so it was never upvoted, but I felt it worth a mention here, along with some other awesome coding movies.
So, without further ado, three awesome films about Programmers/Hackers/Geeks
Evilspeak.
Clint Howard is a nerd at a military academy. He’s picked on by bullies morning, noon, and night…that is, until he contacts Satan on his IBM Compatible 286!!!! Bloody revenge in the monochrome era. Highly …

We’ve seen a number of films this year, but I just haven’t had the time to write anything about them yet. So, in an effort to get some of these out the door, here are a few ultra-short reviews. And, speaking of ultra short, I’ve got myself a twitter account now. Follow me, and I’ll follow you back.
I’ll be back later in the week with a review of Shinobi no Mono 3. The rest of the month will hopefully see a return to Japanese film reviews as well. Enjoy.
Underworld: Rise …

So I’ve seen a few titles over the past month, but just haven’t had any time to review them. So, rather than let them fall to the wayside, here are a few quick capsules. As for regular film/dvd reviews, I’ve just received a flood of titles, including Bohachi and Shinobi no Mono 2: Vengeance. Look for them to post in the coming week or so. Now, on to the reviews.
Black Kiss
If only America’s Next Top Model were like this. In Macoto Tezuka’s Black Kiss, the Tokyo modeling scene is terrorized …

Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Starring: Hitomi, Ryuhei Matsuda, Shinya Tsukamoto, Yoshio Harada, Ren Osugi
Genre: Japan, Horror, Supernatural, Splatter

Note: This was originally going to be an “in-brief” review, but it soon ballooned out of control. It’s not as polished as I would like, but it is what it is. Enjoy.
Taking cues from Nightmare on Elm Street, The Cell, detective thrillers, and possibly the ending to Hellraiser II: Bloodlines, Shinya Tsukamoto’s Nightmare Detective depicts a modern day Tokyo plagued by a sleep-invading serial killer. Targeting those with a hankering for self-destruction, the killer …

HE SAID
Unlike Diary of the Dead, the commentary found in Stuart Gordon’s latest is surprisingly subtle. Based on a true story, the film sees a health-worker hit a homeless man with her car following a late night dancing, drinking, drug session. Concerned with the loss of a possible promotion, she opts not to let anyone know of the accident and simply drives home, parking her car in her garage. But there’s one small thing. The man is still stuck in her car windshield. So starts a series of attempted cover-ups, …

HE SAID:
Ty Burr of the Boston Globe said Diary of the Dead played “like Cloverfield for grad students.” I’m sorry to say, Ty, if this is your idea of grad school argument, you’d better ask for a refund on your college tuition. As far as social commentary is concerned, Diary of the Dead is freshman coffee house denizen grade — painfully blatant, even for Romero. The arguments are about as focused and well thought out as your average LaRouche tract, the dialogue equally “well written.” Not helping the matter is …

Okay, so I said I’d be back on my queue films again, but Kris and I had a rather busy weekend — albeit one packed to the brim with pure awesomeness. In fact, we were so busy, I only made it halfway through Tales from Earthsea. Still, we managed to squeeze in a couple great films, and a couple not so great. We should have reviews of Gone Baby Gone and Finishing the Game later this week. For now, these reviews for Eastern Promises, Rise: Blood Hunter, and Planet Terror …

A pseudo-sequel, existing somewhat on the periphery of Suicide Circle, Noriko’s Dinner Table takes place before, during, and after Sion Sono’s landmark film. It is the tale of a young bookish country girl who, fed up with her life of un-fulfilling relations, disinterested parents, and general country life, heads off to Tokyo in hopes of connecting with a group of internet friends, found through a internet bulletin board called Haikyo.com (according to another writeup, this means An Empty Place). Once there she is introduced to a new and strange …

So, this weekend was pretty much taken up with outings in San Francisco and rearranging furniture at home, so I didn’t really have too much time to watch anything particularly new or “exciting”. But, then again, the theatrical offerings this weekend left me a bit cold (no slight to Gaiman, I’m just a bit tired of the whole fantasy thing). Anyway, here are some capsules for the Japanese horror film, Ghost Train, Chris Rock’s I Think I Love My Wife, and the oft hated Will Smith vehicle, Wild Wild West. …

…and a little more catch up. Reviews for Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, and, in preparing for the upcoming San Francisco screening of Postal, Uwe Boll’s BloodRayne. Enjoy.
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society . How’s that for the longest title of the year? GitS:SAC:SSS is the third Ghost in the Shell film, and the first involving the world of the Stand Alone Complex series. For those of you not in the know Stand …

Yup, it’s review catch-up time again. Here are three more films that are worth mentioning, but not deserving of a full review.
Black Snake Moan . Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci star in this tale of a young nymphomaniac and the god-fearing blues singer determined to set her on a path of righteousness. Directed by Craig Brewer, of Hustle and Flow, the film is easily one of the most original American efforts a major studio has put out in years. The film’s posters and trailer, featuring a chained Christina Ricci, …

Hot off the heels of the success of The Untold Story, Herman Yau and Anthony Wong teamed up for their first Wong Jing production, Ebola Syndrome. Outdoing The Untold Story in near every aspect, including violence, gore, language, nudity, and all around political incorrectness, Ebola Syndrome has become something of a legend in cult film circles. It is one of the few HK films to exhibit true Category III excess in every single sequence, the degree to which really must be seen to be believed.
The basic setup of the …

It’s no secret. The American horror scene is all but dead. The ultra corporatization of the horror film has stuffed our cineplexes with remakes, sequels, and tired “re-imaginings” on a near weekly basis. Take The Hills Have Eyes 2, Black-Christmas, Hostel, and Rob Zombie’s upcoming empty-headed Halloween remake for instance. The British horror scene, on the other hand, is positively thriving. Horror’s renegade spirit is alive and well in films such as Shaun of the Dead, The Descent, and Evil Aliens – all infinitely more memorable than …

Directed by Kei Fujiwara (Organ), Id is a an avant-garde exploration of the darker corners of the human psyche, of rage, madness, lust, envy, and general sin, told against the backdrop of a slaughterhouse for swine. As the title (and pedigree) would suggest, it is a film of instinctual rather than logical connectives; its narrative relying heavily on visual metaphor to convey mood and feeling.
The main plotline, if you can call it that, concerns a mysterious man known as “the Master of Murder” who, having fallen down “id” well, awakes …

The Man and the Monster, the second film in my initiation into the wild and wonderful world of Mexican horror is also my first encounter with Mexican Gothic. Honestly, I had no idea such films were made south of the border. Sure, I’d heard tales of the wonders of Coffin Joe and The Bloody Vampire, but somehow I never bothered to hazard a look. I wouldn’t say it was an aversion, but I do think the dubious quality of the various “Cinema Latino” cheapies lining the shelves at Fry’s did …

Part of the cool thing about running Dreamlogic.net is that I get to see a bunch of films that I probably would never have thought of seeing, or known existed, if they hadn’t been sent my way. The latest such film is The Living Coffin, a 1950’s Mexican Horror-Western, complete with brave cowboys, ghosts, skeleton swamps, gunfights, and fisticuffs. Now, this being the first real Mexican horror film I’ve ever seen, I’m in no way going to pass myself off as an expert. However, I do know fun when I …

This weekend marks Fangoria’s first Weekend of Horrors in San Jose (the first in my recollection, at least). Why they would host it in San Jose, I can’t say. It’s certainly the least interesting of the “big cities” in California. As far as the film scene is concerned, San Jose plays host to Cinequest Festival, the place where major festival rejects go to die, and its Camera Cinemas present the most pathetic Midnight Movie lineup in the nation. But hey, there’s something to be said for the festival being right …

If you’ve never seen Street Trash before, there’s no better time than now, as Synapse’s DVD release sets a new standard for cult restorations.
Street Trash’s story concerns a mysterious cache of bootleg liquor, labeled “Viper”, found within the basement wall of a lower Manhattan liquor store. Being that the store is a regular stop for the local drunk homeless, the shrewd proprietor decides the bottles of Viper would provide his customers a nice cheap fix. There’s just one catch. Those who imbibe Viper instantly melt into steaming piles of day-glo …