Dont Tell NetflixDont Tell Netflix

by Emily Nagle

“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” premieres on Disney+ today. In honor of the show’s premiere, I will be reviewing a film from the Galxy catalog of a similar title: “The Amazing Bulk”. For context, this film is a mockbuster parody of Marvel’s “The Incredible Hulk”.

The movie is about Henry “Hank” Howard (Jordan Lawson), a government research scientist who is developing a serum that will increase strength and longevity. Hank also is planning to marry Hannah (Shevaun Kastl), the daughter of General Darwin (Terence Lording), who commissioned Hank to create the serum. However, Darwin won’t let Hank marry his daughter until he develops an effective serum.

It all seems impossible until one night, when Hank and his fiancé get mugged on the subway. When they get home, Hank injects himself with the serum and transforms into the Bulk, a giant purple humanoid who looks a lot like a rip-off of Thanos. Hank then goes back out, finds the mugger, and kills him.

Most of “The Amazing Bulk” falls into the “so bad it’s good” category due to the low-budget visuals. When the opening credits are in Comic Sans, you pretty much know what you’re getting yourself into. Actually, scratch that – I was unprepared for how lazy the visuals were going to be. This movie came out in 2012, but the CGI is reminiscent of a 90s video game. Some of the scenes feature unnecessarily over-the-top transitions where they zoom into a microscope lens or something to change locations.

Before watching this movie, I saw the trailer and couldn’t stop laughing at the awful visuals. Every single background is green-screened in, and the animation is super low-budget. However, the CGI takes up maybe about a third of the movie, leaving us with bad acting and an incomprehensible story. And while the terrible CGI is hilarious, the live-action sequences are tough to sit through. They have boring dialog that sounds like it’s from a video game cutscene, terrible audio mixing (despite nearly 20% of the film’s budget going towards sound editing), and the confusing story will leave you thinking, “Wait, what’s going on?”

Here’s why the story is so weird: There’s a bad guy named Dr. Werner von Kantlove (Randal Malone) who lives in a castle with his wife Lolita (Juliette Angeli) and loves blowing up monuments. Why? Who knows. But his scenes are thrown into the movie for seemingly no reason, as nobody even mentions him until the end (at which point it just gives the impression that they had to come up with a way to connect the two stories at the last minute). I love low-budget film ripoffs as much as the next person, but by the time the movie ended, I was tired and ready for it to be over. The joke had mostly run its course.

If you’re a sucker for terrible CGI or absurd film ripoffs, you’ll get a kick out of “The Amazing Bulk”. You can experience the magic for yourself, and stream “The Amazing Bulk” for free on Galxy.

by Emily Nagle

Happy National Black Cat Day! 🐈‍⬛ 🐾 🖤 This day was established in 2011 by Wayne H. Morris. After experiencing the loss of both his sister and her 20-year-old black cat named Sinbad, Morris created this day to abolish myths associated with black cats. Over a decade later, observance of this day has only increased each year! In honor of this special day, I watched a horror film from Galxy’s catalog, titled “The Black Cat“.

Here’s a bit of background on the film: while it’s marketed in the United States as “The Black Cat”, it’s actually an Italian film originally titled “Demons 6: De Profundis”. Director Luigi Cozzi directed a few other films in the “Demon” series, but this one is not a sequel (even though it was intended as one, which is really confusing). The American title of “The Black Cat” comes from an Edgar Allan Poe story.

As for black cats, this movie is surprisingly lacking. In fact, it’s not even really about cats. There are a few black cats that show up randomly a few times throughout the film, but they don’t actually do anything. Poe’s story is about someone who starts abusing animals, but this movie has absolutely nothing to do with that, instead having a completely different plot.

“The Black Cat” follows film director Marc (Urbano Barberini) and his actress wife Anne (Florence Guerin) as they shoot a horror movie. All is going well until Anne is haunted by visions of her character, a witch named Levana who has risen from the dead after hundreds of years. The movie is super absurd, and has weird pacing. As a result of the awkward pacing and crazy stuff just randomly happening (in addition to the black cats popping up, there’s other weird creatures and a few bloody shots), it’s hard to tell what’s going on.

While it’s fairly devoid of dark-colored felines, if you’re looking for a crazy, over-the-top horror movie that you don’t want to think super hard about, “The Black Cat” is free to watch now on Galxy.

by Emily Nagle

Top 5 Highest Grossing Films for Weekend of August 12-14, 2022
5. Nope ($5.4 million)
4. Thor: Love and Thunder ($5.4 million)
3. DC League of Super-Pets ($7 million)
2. Top Gun: Maverick ($7.05 million)
1. Bullet Train ($13.4 million)

This weekend was a quiet one at the box office, with no wide releases; as a result, the top five consisted entirely of films that have already been released. The newest film, “Bullet Train,” made it to number one, grossing just under half its premiere box office from last weekend.

The only film this weekend that experienced an uptick in ticket sales was “Top Gun: Maverick”, which made 2% more than last weekend. After dropping out of the top 5 last weekend due to “Minions: The Rise of Gru” grossing slightly more, this film soared back to the top, taking on the number-two spot. To date, it has made $673.8 million across the United States, as well as a combined worldwide total of $1.4 billion. It remains the highest-grossing film of 2022, dominating “Jurassic World: Dominion” by more than $400 million!

by Emily Nagle

Emmy-winning actress Anne Heche has died at the age of 53 a week after the fiery car crash that left her intubated and in a coma. Heche’s family made the difficult decision to take her off life support after doctors declared her brain dead. The news was confirmed earlier today in an Instagram post from her friend Nancy Davis.

“Heaven has a new Angel. My loving, kind, fun, endearing and beautiful friend @anneheche went to heaven,” Davis captioned the post that featured multiple photos of the actress. “Anne was always the kindest, most thoughtful person who always brought out the best in me…My heart is broken 💔💔💔”

Born in Aurora, Ohio on May 25, 1969, Heche’s acting career began just after her high school graduation in 1987, when she got casted as twins Marley Love and Vicky Hudson in soap opera “Another World”. This role won her a Daytime Emmy and two Soap Opera Digest Awards.

Heche’s success would only increase in the late 1990s as she went on to star in even more successful films, including crime drama “Donnie Brasco,” disaster film “Volcano”, and slasher film “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. Her big break, however, came in 1998, when she earned a Saturn Award nomination for her role as Marion Crane in Gus Van Sant’s remake of “Psycho.” From here, she was casted in many successful independent films, including “Birth”, “Spread,” and “Cedar Rapids”.

More recent roles include being series lead in “The Brave” as Deputy Director Patricia Campbell, in addition to a supporting role in “Chicago P.D.” as Dep. Superintendent Katherine Brennan. She was also a contestant on season 29 of “Dancing with the Stars” in 2020.

Heche is survived by her two sons Homer and Atlas.

by Emily Nagle

After sustaining a severe brain injury in a fiery car crash last Friday, Emmy-winning actress Anne Heche is in critical condition. Thursday night, Heche’s representative told Deadline that she is “not expected to survive”.

Last Friday, the “Another World” star was transported to West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles after crashing her blue Mini Cooper into a Mar Vista home, which then burst into flames. Blood work revealed narcotics in Heche’s body, but according to a statement from LAPD yesterday afternoon, investigations are still ongoing, and .

Heche has been intubated and in a coma following the accident in which she sustained a severe burns and severe anoxic brain injury. In other words, Heche is experiencing a lack of oxygen to her brain; this is a common occurrence with drug overdoses and traumatic brain injuries, according to NBC News senior medical correspondent Dr. John Torres.

However, anoxic brain injuries often have a poor prognosis, resulting in permanent brain damage, severe disability, or even death. Heche has been pronounced brain dead, and her loved ones are keeping her on life support while doctors determine if any of Heche’s organs are eligible for donation.

“We want to thank everyone for their kind wishes and prayers for Anne’s recovery and thank the dedicated staff and wonderful nurses that cared for Anne at the Grossman Burn Center at West Hills Hospital in Los Angeles,” Heche’s representative announced.

Prior to the crash, Heche had just wrapped shooting “Girl in Room 13” for Lifetime, which explores the dark underworld of the $150 billion human trafficking industry. She starred as the mother of a girl who was abducted. Amy Winter, EVP and head of programming for Lifetime Networks, confirmed that the film is still scheduled to premiere next month.

In addition to “Another World” and her upcoming Lifetime movie, Heche’s most notable roles include films like “Donnie Brasco,” “Volcano,” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” She has two sons, Atlas Heche Tupper, 11, and Homer Laffoon, 20.

by Emily Nagle

According to a press release on their website yesterday, Disney will be raising the rates for their various streaming services this fall, including Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.

“With our new ad-supported Disney+ offering and an expanded lineup of plans across our entire streaming portfolio, we will be providing greater consumer choice at a variety of price points to cater to the diverse needs of our viewers and appeal to an even broader audience,” Kareem Daniel, Chairman of Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution announced. “Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ feature unparalleled content and viewing experiences and offer the best value in streaming today, with over 100,000 movie titles, TV episodes, original shows, sports and live events collectively.”

Disney unveiled a chart revealing the new prices for the plans. The monthly, ad-free price for Disney+ will increase to $10.99/month, up from its current price of $7.99/month. A new ad-supported plan will become available for $7.99/month. Hulu’s ad-supported plan will go from $6.99/month to $7.99/month, while its ad-free plan will raise from $12.99/month to $14.99/month.

A cheaper, ad-supported option for Disney+ has been in talks since this past spring, but after Q3 financial reports revealed a loss of over $1 billion across all Disney’s streaming platforms – as well as a slowing in subscriber growth – the company is looking to grow their viewership by letting customers choose the best payment plan for their needs.

As for the ad frequency and length, Disney CEO Bob Chapek described yesterday that it would have a “lower ad load and frequency to ensure a great experience for viewers,” at only four minutes of ads per hour. This cheaper tier will only be able to be purchased on a monthly basis; unlike the premium plan, there is no yearly version of the ad-supported tier.