Second Annual Cinefessions Summer Screams Challenge

 The Second Annual Cinefessions Summer Screams Challenge

The weather is warming up, and classes are finally letting out, which can mean only one thing: it’s time for the return of the Cinefessions Summer Screams Challenge! Those that joined in last year will be familiar with this challenge, but we’re hoping to bring in a lot of new faces this year, with more prizes, more points to be earned, and more fun to be had all around.

The Cinefessions Summer Screams Challenge is all about having a good time with some friends while watching as much horror and science fiction during the month of June that one can stomach. The best part about the whole thing is that even if you plan on only watching a few sci-fi or horror films during the month, you are still invited to join in and, best of all, win some awesome prizes! Unlike last year, Cinefessions has been able to gather up some giveaway material, and the big prize this year (if the challenge garners at least 25 participants) will be a giveaway of the winner’s choice to the best cult horror and sci-fi distributors out there, Scream Factory! You can find out the details on the giveaways below.

If you are interested in the final results from last year’s challenge, take a look here. The main objective of this challenge is to have fun, and though there are some great prizes this year, it’s still really about just having a good time with our favorite genres. Continue reading

Disc Deals – Amazon Deals of the Week for May 12th – May 18th, 2013

Each week, Amazon offers up three different featured deals. The prices on these deals are valid from Sunday through Saturday, and are usually worth talking about. There are always three different categories: television, kids and family, and Blu-ray. Here are this week’s featured deals.


Amazon Deals of the Week for May 12th – May 18th, 2013

NCISTelevision:

Save up to 58% off select seasons of the popular CBS crime drama NCIS, and spin-off series, NCIS: Los Angeles. The following seasons are on sale this week:

NCIS: The Complete First Season$29.98 $14.99 (50% off)
NCIS: The Complete Second Season$29.98 $14.99 (50% off)
NCIS: The Complete Third Season$29.98 $14.99 (50% off)
NCIS: The Complete Fourth Season$29.98 $14.99 (50% off)
NCIS: The Complete Fifth Season$29.98 $14.99 (50% off)
NCIS: The Complete Sixth Season$29.98 $16.99 (43% off)
NCIS: The Complete Seventh Season$29.98 $16.99 (43% off)
NCIS: The Complete Eighth Season$29.98 $17.99 (40% off)
NCIS: The Complete Ninth Season$64.99 $27.99 (57% off)

NCIS: Los Angeles – The First Season$29.98 $14.99 (50% off)
NCIS: Los Angeles – The Second Season$39.98 $19.99 (50% off)
NCIS: Los Angeles – The Third Season$62.99 $29.99 (52% off) Continue reading

Film Swappers #5: The Girl Next Door (2007)/April Fool’s Day (1986)

Welcome to Film Swappers, where Chris and Branden force the other person to watch any movie of their choosing. The only rules are that the films chosen have to be ones that the other person hasn’t already seen, and they must be watched and reviewed.


Film Swappers #5
The Girl Next Door (2007) and April Fool’s Day (1986)

The Girl Next DoorTitle: The Girl Next Door (2007)
Director: Gregory Wilson
Runtime: 91 minutes
Viewer: Chris

Pre-Viewing Thoughts
The Girl Next Door is another film that I’d never heard of, and one I would have just passed over like most “horror” titles on Netflix. This was nothing like what I was expecting and I wouldn’t even call it a horror film, or torture porn, even though it offers many similar ideas.

Summary of Film
The Girl Next Door (based on the Jack Ketchum novel of the same name) follows the story of two recently orphaned sisters who go to live with their aunt. One of the sisters, Meg, does not get along well with her aunt, and this eventually leads to her enduring unspeakable torture and abuse. The film is based on a true story, one I read about after viewing the movie, and despite taking place in the 1950s, it strikes to the heart of the bullying situation many kids go through these days, although a lot more extreme and bit more personal. Continue reading

The Cinefessions 2013 Summer Movie Preview

The summer movie season is now upon us, having officially kicked off with the release of Iron Man 3 this past weekend. This summer, like we see every year, Hollywood studios will be aggressively vying our hard-earned dollars in order to justify the hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars they have thrown into these movies. Some will be busts, sending those studios into a quick panic, but others are sure-fire hits (anything with a superhero involved is pretty much a guaranteed success nowadays).

With such a loaded summer season, it might be difficult to know where to spend your extra money, so we here at Cinefessions are here to help. Each writer has gone through the assortment of films being released this summer season, and thoughtfully – or not – picked out the five films they are most excited to see. These may not be the best or biggest movies coming out this season, just the ones that we are anticipating the most. Continue reading

Film Swappers #4: Collector’s Edition – Deliverance (1972)

Welcome to Film Swappers, where Chris and Branden force the other person to watch any movie of their choosing. The only rules are that the films chosen have to be one that the other person hasn’t already seen, and they must be watched and reviewed.


Film Swappers #4: Collector’s Edition
Deliverance (1972)

DeliveranceChris and I not only share a love for movies, but we also share a passion for collecting movies. With buying comes blind buying, and that is the inspiration for today’s Film Swappers. One movie that both of us purchased recently on Blu-ray recently was Deliverance. The thing is, neither of us had seen this so-called classic. Because of that, we thought it would be a great opportunity for each of us to visit the film for the first time together – though thousands of miles apart – and share our thoughts on a Collector’s Edition of Film Swappers! (Note that neither of us read each other’s thoughts on the movie before writing our own opinions.) Continue reading

Oscar Countdown 2013 – All Over But The Shouting

This is the tenth and final Oscar Countdown post from Zuzana Urbanek, where she reviews the Best Picture nominees, and gives her own predictions on who will win.


My first comment has nothing to do with this year’s best picture nominees specifically. It’s more a general comment aimed at the powers-that-be at AMPAAS.

Why include so many best picture nominee, when they clearly are not all of a similar caliber or quality?

Oscars

It seems the Academy has expanded the best picture slots in order to give a nod to certain films that are somehow special in their own categories, whether or not they truly belong in the race to be the best movies of the entire year. In that case, let’s have a nominee in each category: a western, a musical, a comedy, a drama, and so on. The expanded yet arbitrary top-films field seems illogically selected at best. Continue reading

Oscar Countdown 2013 – Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

This is the ninth of ten Oscar Countdown posts from Zuzana Urbanek, where she reviews the Best Picture nominees, and gives her own predictions on who will win.


Zero Dark Thirty: Even I Would Get Up Early for This Film

Runtime: 157 minutes
Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Director Kathryn Bigelow follows in the footsteps of her brilliant 2010 best picture winner, The Hurt Locker, with another hard-hitting contender: Zero Dark Thirty. This film has been at the center of some high-level controversy, so I am more than thrilled to see it make the top movie nominee list. Why? Because it is a skillfully written, acted, and produced film that deserves the highest accolades, regardless of whether any politicians think the story should or should not be told.

Zero Dark Thirty is a dramatized account of the protracted hunt for Osama bin Laden following 9/11. It takes liberties with what might or might not have happened during the year that the US military and intelligence were tasked with finding the terrorist mastermind, for who knows what really happened? It’s classified information. Then again, one of the controversies about this film was that the crew had some kind of unauthorized access to classified data. Hmm, interesting. Continue reading