Astron-6 is — well, was as the recent release of the collected Divorced Dad is supposedly their last project together — a Canadian film production and directing company founded in 2007 by Adam Brooks and Jeremy Gillespie which later expanded to add Matt Kennedy, Conor Sweeney and Steven Kostanski. They’re known for producing low-budget horror/comedy films that evoke the 1980’s. The fact that their name sounds a lot like Vestron is no accident.

After their initial films — Manborg and Father’s Day — the team moved on to create this tribute/parody of the giallo genre. Gillespie and Kostanski also directed the incredible 2016 horror film The Void, which moves away from the humor of Astron-6.

Film editor Rey Ciso (Adam Brooks) was once a brilliant editor — the best in the world — but that time is far away. Now, he struggles to complete Francesco Mancini’s latest film Tarantola with his assistant Bella. He needs her, as an accident while lost in the madness of editing cost him all of the fingers on his right hand, which are now made of wood.

The loss of those fingers all goes back to Ray getting his start working for Bella’s father, art house director Umberto Fantori, whose debut film The Mirror and the Guillotine won him the success he craved and introduced him to his wife Josephine Jardin (Paz de la Huerta, Nurse 3D, Enter the Void). Eventually, Josephine went mad on Mancini’s next film, which was made to be the longest movie ever. Now, Ray is getting footage of murders sent to him. And to complicate matters, while his wife treats him with disdain, Bella tells him that she loves him.

An unknown killer stalks the studio, killing lead actor Claudio Valvetti and his girlfriend Veronica in a scene that echoes the curtain ripping and blood spraying of Argento’s Tenebre. Margarit Porfiry — another actress on the film — stumbles upon Veronica’s body — hung exactly like the first murder in Argento’s Suspiria — and is struck blind on the spot, making her look exactly like Emily from The Beyond, which the film extends by giving her a dog named Rolfie instead of Dickie.

While her husband Inspector Peter Porfiry (Matthew Kennedy) interviews suspects, co-star Cal Konitz (Conor Sweeney) has his hopes of taking over the movie ruined when a stand-in is found for the lead. Porify’s boss Chief O’Connor wants the case dropped because Margarit is his daughter, but the cop is convinced that the editor is behind the killings, as each murder takes away the fingers of the victim.

Rey has a vision of a dark man with bright blue eyes — Ivan Rassimov, we miss you so — coming after him. Meanwhile, the inspector goes to the insane asylum where Rey lived for some time, meeting Dr. Casini (Udo Kier!), who tells him all about Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The detective returns home just in time to make love to his wife in a near shot-for-shot remake of the glass smashing love in Sergio Martino’s The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh. The killer then makes his or her way into their home and when the cop tries to break into the room with an axe to save her — kind of, sort of like the cemetery scene in City of the Living Dead by way of The Shining — the killer throws her in the way. In order to not be seen as a murderer, Porfiry cuts off his wife’s fingers and feeds them to her dog.

His boss — and remember, the father of his dead wife — screams at Porfiry back at the station while the killer calls to taunt the cop in a scene much like The New York Ripper. That won’t be the last callback to that Fulci film, either.

Rey has gone over the edge, believing himself to be the killer as his wife treats him horribly. He dreams that he is trapped in a world of smoke and gigantic film cans that seems much like the world inside the painting in The Beyond. He gets a psychic flash that Bella is to be murdered but arrives too late to save her.

Giancarlo tries to finish the movie himself, but an army of spiders — again, The Beyond — attacks and he is killed as well. Rey is brought back onto the film and Father Clarke (Laurence Harvey, Frankenstein Created Bikers) explains to him that editors are the vital connection to the other world that Rey glimpsed in his vision. We’ve now gotten to the part of the giallo where reality stops and the Lovecraftian vision takes over.

Everything goes even crazier, if that’s possible, with Cal menacing Rey with a chainsaw before attacking his wife in front of him, ending with his wife laughing it off as she’d been having an affair with the actor. There’s also an ancient bell tower, more tarantulas, a film canister filled with fingers, occult rituals, Josephine declaring herself to be death itself ala the end of Inferno, a fake-out ending that pulls off The Wizard of Oz while again recalling Fulci — both The Psychic, The Beyond — and a post-credits happy ending where Rey and Bella end up together.

This is one strange film. If you’re not hyper aware of giallo, you may be lost by all the references. And if you are, you may be unable to totally take in the narrative as so much of the film feels like spot the reference. That said, I found myself liking The Editor and excited to see where it would go next. The final sequence as the detective and the editor battle the real killer is actually pretty thrilling. And wow, the music is awesome, with Claudio Simonetti composing the main theme.

There are also references in this film to The Fifth Cord, Black Belly of the Tarantula, Fellini’s Amaracord, Videodrome and even Murder Rock. Obviously, I’ve seen just as many giallo as the Astron-6 guys.

Even better, the credits keep the story going with Rey Cistro listed as the film’s editor. I also adore the posters for the films within the film, which were created by Graham Humphreys.

You can watch this movie for free on Tubi. Shout! Factory has also released this movie on blu ray.

This is another review that was inspired by Good Bad Flicks.

When Stallone was looking for new blood to make the next Expendables movie, he looked to director Patrick Hughes, who had only made one movie and several high profile commercials at the time (he would go on to make The Hitman’s Bodyguard). That theme — of the next generation — is what this movie is all about.

The Expendables are back, still led by Barney Ross (Stallone) and made up of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) and Toll Road (Terry Crews). They take a mission to rescue a former member Doctor Death (Wesley Snipes) from a military prison transfer.

On the way back home, they intercept bombs meant for a Somalian warlord, but are surprised by arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks (Mel Gibson), who once led the team alongside Barney before going rogue. He escapes, but not before critically wounding Caesar, who clings to life.

When they get back home, they meet Mr. Church’s replacement — Bruce Willis decided that he wanted more than $3 million for his cameo — Max Drummer (Harrison Ford!). He gives Barney one more chance to capture Stonebanks for war crimes.

Barney makes the hard choice of disbanding his team and works with Boneparte (Kelsey Grammer?!?) to bring on all new members, including John Smilee (Kellan Lutz, who played Tarzan in Disney’s recent live version), Luna (WWE and UFC star Ronda Rousey), Mars (Victor Ortiz, Southpaw) and Thorn (Glen Powell). Oh yeah — one other guy, Galogo (Antonio Banderas) keeps trying to join, saying that he is “very good at warfare, with a good memory and I want to be your friend/”

The new team members and Ross’s rival Trench Mauser (Arnold Schwarzenegger) follow Stonebanks to Romania where he is making an arms deal with the Albanian mob, led by Robert Davi of all people. He’s one of my favorite character actors so it’s a joy to see him in this.

The new Expendables wipe out everyone but Stonebanks, who they try to take to th Hague for his trial, but he escapes and more of his forces show up to capture everyone but Barney, who gets away.

Stonebanks sends a video to Barney, challenging him to come to Azmenistan. Galgo finds our hero and asks to join up and is met by the rest of the team, who decide that they will rescue the new team members.

Will the new members get together with the old ones? Will everyone combine forces to wipe out Stonebanks and an entire country? Will Drummer and Trench come back for the save and bring Jet Li with them? I think you know the answers by this point.

The only bad thing I have to say about this movie is its PG-13 rating. Stallone would come to agree, saying, that it was “a horrible miscalculation on everyone’s part in trying to reach a wider audience but in doing such, diminish the violence that the audience expects. I’m quite certain it won’t happen again.”

There will be at least one more of these movies, with Pierce Brosnan reporting that he’ll be in it and Jason Statham saying, “I’ll do as many as Sly wants.” Terry Crews will not be in another, as in his testimony against WME agent Adam Venit for sexually assaulting him, he was threatened by producer Avi Lerner to drop his case. He decided to take a stand and that stand will include not being in another film for Lerner.

This movie was called “the first Iranian vampire western”,  even though it was shot in Taft, California. It’s all about a lonesome vampire in the Iranian ghost town known as Bad City. It’s also a Tarantino combination of influences, in black and white, that will either make you say, “Wow, that’s art” or “Huh, that’s self-indulgent tripe.”

Arash works hard to take care of his heroin-addled father. He’s proud of his car until it’s taken by his father’s dealer Saeed (Dominic Rains channeling Ninja from Die Antwoord). Our hero — such as it is, no one is really all that heroic here — tries to protect the modesty of Shaydah, the wealthy young woman he works for, but still steals her earrings.

As for Saeed, his interlude with one of his girls is cut short by The Girl (Sheila Vand), a vampire who soon kills him. Arash comes to the dealer’s home to get his car back, finds him dead and takes his money and drugs. Now, he can stop working so hard and get everything he wants. That doesn’t happen — he can’t even win over Shaydah, who rejects him.

He goes into the night high on Ecstasy and encounters The Girl. She takes him to her place, where they listen to music. The next night, he pierces her ears and gives her the stolen earrings.

Meanwhile, our hero’s dad is a mess, thinking that a cat is his dead wife. With all of the dealer’s money and drugs, he forces a prostitute to get high with him, which marks him as evil in The Girl’s eyes. She kills him and the prostitute helps her dispose of the body.

Arash soon learns that The Girl was behind his father’s death, but they still leave town together, even after he pulls over to the side of the road, leaving him unsure of what to do next.

This was the first feature for Ana Lily Amirpour, who was born in England, grew up in Florida and went to school in California. She was hailed as the new Tarantino as this film released, but the follow-up, The Bad Batch (which she described as “Road Warrior meets Pretty in Pink with a dope soundtrack” and “El Topo meets Dirty Dancing“) didn’t do so well. She’s working on another movie called Blood Moon, which is “”a mind-bending adventure set in the humid, neon-lit streets of New Orleans. Inspired by adventure films of the 1980s and ’90s, Blood Moon follows a young girl with special abilities. After escaping from an asylum, she enters back into the chaotic reality around her, making unexpected allies along the way.”

This is a movie with a spaghetti western soundtrack while referencing David Lynch and having a skateboarding vampire. Honestly, it’s really well made. Almost painterly. But it left me cold, with long stretches of absolutely no action. In fact, it’s a rather cold film.

Maybe it’s because it has it’s heart in the world of the art film. There’s a thin line between exploitation trash and celebrated cinema — it just depends where the movie is playing. It just feels like someone standing in front of your art class and trying to amaze you because they just read some philosophy books for the first time and want to wow you with how their painting really means something, man.

You can watch this for yourself and decide. It’s on Shudder with and without commentary by Joe Bob Briggs.

The first film picked for production from the CineCoup Film Accelerator, WolfCop won a contest that gave $1 million dollars and a guaranteed theater showing nationwide at Canada’s Cineplex Odeon theatre chain. They spent most of that money on the elaborate special effects werewolf transformation sequences in the film. It totally shows — this isn’t just a throwaway direct to WalMart and VOD affair.

A play on the French term for werewolf, alcoholic police officer Lou Garou spends most of his time in the small Canadian town of Woodhaven either drinking or sleeping. After being called to a complaint of occult activity, he stumbles on to quite a scene: the town’s elders are sacrificing the new upstart mayoral candidate. He wakes up the next morning in his bed with a pentagram carved into his belly.

Suddenly, his senses grow sharp and he surprises his fellow officers with how he’s investigating the case. He also starts to transform into a werewolf, starting in one startling scene with his penis turning black like a dog’s and spraying blood. Yep — this transformation scene is not for the weak of heart.

With the help of his friend Higgins and fellow cop Tina, Lou must find the shapeshifting Satanic town elders, clean up Woodhaven and drink as much as he can.

Filmed in Regina Saskatchewan and Moose Jaw Saskatchewan Canada, this is probably the best Canadian police officer werewolf movie you’ll ever see. The only other one I know is the sequel, 2017’s Another WolfCop.

It’s a lot of fun, if not very deep, but I love the scene where Lou is studying in a quiet library and yells, “You have any books on devil worship?” WolfCop also fulfills the next step of every 1980’s action hero: if life gives you lemons, build a special car with a battering ram and your logo on it.

Learn more by visiting the film’s official site. You can watch it on Shudder with and without commentary from Joe Bob Briggs.

Declan Holmes is about to graduate college and head into the real world. But to get there, he has to experience losses beyond what he’s ever felt before. This movie is all about his journey through the most difficult time of his life and the relationships that will either make or break him.

Delan has it rough. His dad is dying but they haven’t reached any resolution beforehand. He’s broken up with the love of his life. And most importantly to him, he has a script that he just can’t finish.

This is a pretty talky affair and I found it difficult to connect to the hero, but that may because I’ve lived more life than he has and know that the issues that make you feel like its the end of the world in your 20’s are nothing compared to the pain and stress that you’ll feel in your 40’s. I’m certain I’ll feel the same way twenty years from now as I look back.

This was shot right in my home area of Western Pennsylvania, so it’s cool to see movies coming out of the region. I’m looking forward to seeing where Matt Croyle’s work proceeds from here.

You can buy and watch this movie at the official site.

DISCLAIMER: We were sent this movie by its PR firm, but that doesn’t impact our review.

Hollywood demands sequels. But this is one that literally bites from the hand that feeds, making fun of the fact that it treads the same ground with minor changes and inversions. It’s also just as funny as the last one, taking the ridiculous notion of bringing 21 Jump Street into modern times and succeeding in spite of such a dumb concept.

Two years later, (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are back on the streets and after drug dealers led by Ghost (Peter Stormare). After failing spectacularly, they’re dropped back into Captain Dickson’s (Ice Cube) program, which has moved across the street to 22 Jump Street.

Now, Jenko is the popular one becoming friends with the jocks like Zook (Wyatt Russell, son of Kurt and Goldie Hawn) and Rooster (YouTube actor Jimmy Tatro). Schmidt hooks up with Maya, who ends up being Ice Cube’s daughter and hijinks, of course, ensue.

The supporting cast makes this one, from Nick Offerman, Rob Riggle and Dave Franco returning from the last film to appearances by Queen Latifah, Jillian Bell, Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Seth Rogan, H. Jon Benjamin and Patton Oswalt. There are also appearances by nearly every actor from the 21 Jump Street series that didn’t make it into the last film.

Finally, the end credits spoil tons of sequels that are coming to this movie. Sadly, one of the real sequel ideas — MIB23, which would combine 21 Jump Street and the Men in Black series into one movie — has never come to pass.

Joel had it all. A great job, a gorgeous wife, and the chance of finding a manuscript thought lost to time. But one day, everything changes in this 24-minute film from director Don Swanson, who also brought us A Wish for Giants.

One day, everything changes. His pursuit of the manuscript and ignoring of his wife finally pushes his wife into the arms of another man. I loved the honesty of this scene, with Joel just stunned that this is happening and discussing the proper making of bacon rather than attacking the man at first. I don’t to ruin what happens next, but he gets everything he wants back while losing everything at the same time.

Swanson’s directorial eye has improved since the last film of his that I watched, so that’s pretty exciting. He’s doing what he can with his budgets and that’s really all you can ask for.

You can check this out on Amazon Prime.