Steve Stebbing

Black Cop – The tagging of Cory Bowles to the Canadian phenomenon television series Trailer Park Boys may pigeonhole the writer and director to a bit of low brow humor but once people get a whiff of this hard-hitting film all of that is sure to change. Black Cop is a film of fed up and frothing anger but one that is articulate enough to get its message across, losing nothing in its artful translation. Lead actor Ronnie Rowe Jr. plays a cop fed up with the treatment of his fellow black citizens by other police on his force and after listening to a brutally islamophobic rant by another officer, he is pushed too far. In a move slightly reminiscent of Michael Douglas in Falling Down, he decides to flip the treatment of the brutal treatment systemic in North America and employ those tactics on white people. This film is unflinching and will leave you slack-jawed and on the edge of your seat throughout. The narrative is split between the main action on screen and Rowe in a dark room breaking the fourth wall in almost a soliloquy style, delivering powerful commentary and statements, the final one absolutely shaking me to my core. Cory Bowles has an intense and well-formed bullet of knowledge delivered through the weapon of Ronnie Rowe’s acting. Go support this one now!

The Onion Movie – Ten years ago this week the best news satire of our time marched a movie out on DVD that no one saw and it’s really sad because the film is hilariously brilliant in the way that only the Onion could provide. Britney Spears parodies, Steven Seagal as the Cock Puncher and Len Cariou as your trusted anchor Norm Archer is a perfect baseline for a solid vignette film and it shouldn’t be any surprising that the director really isn’t the credited “James Kleiner”. In actuality it is Tom Kuntz and Mike Maguire, the guys behind all of your favorite Electric Six videos but nothing since which begs the question “where’s the sequel?” Maybe our real existence feels like satire nowadays.

Big – It’s been thirty years since Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia danced across that giant piano in F.A.O. Schwarz and that information makes me feel old as hell. For me, when this movie was released, it was a cautionary tale of taking your youth for granted. As a kid, Josh feels fed up with his limitations and wishes it all away. Then as adult Josh, the crushing defeat of reality, work, relationships and the stigma that age gives comes crashing down on his naïve head. Hell, his own mother chases him out of the house believing him to be a sort of child predator. I’m describing this Penny Marshall comedy very darkly but it obviously had a very profound effect on me. Beyond that, the movie ages beautifully and still has that warm center to it, which is the humanity that Marshall brings to all of her movies. Give this one another spin with the family, you won’t regret it.

The Truman Show – It took master filmmaker Peter Weir to show the world the acting ability within Jim Carrey with this film that will break your heart but, at the same time, absolutely elate you. This film hits the twenty-year milestone this week and I think it’s become even more relevant today and I’m surprised that we haven’t received a real network version of this movie. How well would a television series that followed a human being raised under a microscope do? I’m sure it would have the entire globe captivated but maybe the fact that this movie exists is the reason we don’t. Like Big is a cautionary tale about the fleetingness of youth, Truman Show feels one about worldwide voyeurism, almost like a human zoo exhibit. Jim Carrey perfectly executes a story of essentially becoming “woken” to the work around him and rather than being driven mad by the complexity of this revelation he seeks answers and escape. It’s really quite inspiring if you think about it and it kind of brings the Talking Heads song “Once Ina A Lifetime” into my head.

The Kings Of Summer – A handful of years ago I discovered this brilliant little coming of age film that totally blew my mind. Headed by a the young rising stars Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso and Moises Arias, the film depicted boys being boys in the ways that my friends and I did, creating their own reality within the depths of a forest, far away from any authority. This story was told artfully and beautifully by director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, a filmmaker that quickly made it on to my favorites list and followed up big time with Kong: Skull Island but that’s a heap of praise for another article. What still amazes me is that this incredibly heartfelt script by Chris Galletta sat on the blacklist for four years before getting picked up. Seriously, find this one if you haven’t seen it.

Foot Fist Way – Danny McBride has made a career of playing a complete dirtbag that we unabashedly love, or at least it has found a soft spot with me. The beginning of this was this film, released ten years ago this week. Following a tae kwon do instructor with massive insecurities and bullying issues, McBride beats up kids and pumps up his own ego in a wild and obsessive rivalry with a fellow and far more successful instructor. The first film to be released under Adam McKay and Will Ferrell’s Gary Sanchez Productions, this movie is a hard sell for a lot of casual viewers but if you dug Observe and Report, Eastbound and Down or anything else director Jody Hill has made, you’ll be into this one.

Stuck – A twisted little film from Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon released ten years ago, the hardest thing to believe about this one is that it was based on true events. The story goes that a woman was driving home heavily under the influence of drugs and alcohol struck a homeless man, who went through her windshield and was lodged there. Rather than stopping and phoning an ambulance, she proceeded to go home and leave the man to die in her garage. Well, this is the darkly comedic retelling of that story through the visual style of one of the great horror filmmakers. Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea star as the perpetrator and victim respectively in a great blend of panic reaction thriller and almost survival horror. This one probably flew under a lot of radar but I definitely recommend it.

Wrong Turn – Keeping on the dark and sinister theme, this week marks fifteen years since this gory little gem was released. With creature effects by the legendary Stan Winston company, this road trip with inbred mutant cannibals is an unforgettable and insanely fun romp. Unfortunately, it spawned a few terrible sequels, one of those being a passable one directed by Joe Lynch with Henry Rollins, but it’s amazing that given the horror prowess that director Rob Schmidt showed off in this film that he never made anything else of note. The dedication to the making of this film is astounding as well, as Eliza Dushku did the majority of her own stunts, Desmond Harrington broke his right ankle in one scene and Emmanuelle Chriqui dislocated her shoulder performing a fall through the trees. You can hear her shoulder pop on the production track in the theatrical sound mix which I think adds to the atmosphere.

Annihilation – My current favorite film of 2018 is now on Blu-ray! There are so many reasons that this sci-fi film is the must-see film of this year and it all starts at the top with director Alex Garland. Following up his directorial debut Ex Machina with this adaptation of the first novel in Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach Trilogy, Garland solidifies himself as one of the best visionaries in science fiction today. The story has a meteor striking the earth causing an atmosphere “shimmer” that expands and starts engulfing large areas which are then classified as “Area X” by the military. Natalie Portman stars in the lead role as the wife of the leader of the first unsuccessful expedition and, really, beyond this synopsis that is as accessible as this film gets. In sort of a beautifully haunted version of “The Thing”, Garland leads us on a journey of discovery in a world we can’t even begin to understand. The most unfortunate thing is the studio and controlling producer didn’t understand it either, making the theatrical release of Annihilation one of the biggest blunders in recent memory. The fact that this film didn’t get a worldwide release is criminal.

The Evil Dead – This week marks thirty-five years since the original Sam Raimi film came out and as someone with a nickname like Stevil Dead, you know what kind of reverence I have for this movie. An absolute gross-out classic and the spark of a cult franchise, this film is fun through and through mostly because you can tell it was made by a group of friends that loved what they were doing. It’s also the launching point for both an iconic character, Ashley ‘Ash’ J. Williams, as well as one of the greatest B movie stars of all time, Bruce Campbell. Sam Raimi would, of course, go on to make many fantastic films in his career as well but producer Rob Tappert, who would produce shows like Xena: Warrior Princess, with his wife Lucy Lawless, and the more recent Spartacus series.

Menace II Society – “I got these cheeseburgers, man.” That’s the first thing I think about when it comes to this gangster classic which turns twenty-five this week. Not only was this the debut film for writing and directing duo of The Hughes Brothers but it was also the first starring role for one of their mainstays, Larenz Tate. Interestingly enough, of all the urban gangster films to come out during this time, Menace had to be the peak as it had many actors cast for authenticity, the set was shot up by the Hacienda Bloods at one point and the original lead, Tupac Shakur, physically attacked Allen Hughes on set before getting fired. This film will be long remembered as one of the best indie films of all time and the beginning of all great and not so great South Central thug movies to come.

Killer Klowns From Outer Space – The insanity of this Chiodo Brothers classic was unleashed on the world thirty years ago this week. The premise of this film is all in the title really but what is unforgettable is the terrifying look of all the creatures, especially my favorite, the King Klown, which was affectionately named Klownzilla on set. I’m amazed to learn that Stephen and Charles Chiodo spent the entire two million dollar budget on production costs and had to foot the creature effects themselves. Even crazier than that the cost was actually pretty small for them and, though not a hit when it was in theaters, the film has since become a cult classic and made revenue in action figures, DVDs, and t-shirts. It makes them sort of break even in the end, right?

Cliffhanger – With my love and adoration for action films of the 80s and 90s, there was no way I was missing out on talking about this Sly Stallone classic, especially with John Lithgow as the main villain. Released twenty-five years ago this week, this film is one of the best of director Renny Harlin’s career and features the costliest aerial stunt of the time, forcing Stallone to scale back his salary as the price tag was over a million dollars. This film may not age like a fine wine but it is still the exhibitor of the action tropes I grew up on and loved. The only thing that would have been better is if the originally cast Christopher Walken had made an appearance but WITH Lithgow as well. I ask for too much, I know.