Greetings Basementites. We are saddened to inform you of the loss of a great thing. That thing is ....us.  We decided we would each take some time and give you some info on our decision to end The Basement as you know it. Shawn here. I guess it would be best to say that all good things must come to an end. I don't believe that, but that is what is happening with The Basement. Sadly, after six years, we've decided the responsibilities of our families must take precedence over the time we spend away from them maintaining this site. We have done all of this out of the passion of enjoying and talking movies. I still love that. I would just love to leave it as pleasure and leave the "haveto" (what movie is that word from?) out of it. I cannot speak exactly for my co-host in crime, but I can say it has been a helluva ride! I still enjoy watching movies. But I think it is time to remove the "work" of it before the passion goes away. I would love to th...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies , new, old, good, and bad.  I will say right off the bat that when I saw the trailer for Don Jon on TV I wasn’t 100% sure what the movie was about. I knew that Joseph Gordon-Levitt both directed and wrote it, that Scarlett Johansson ’s character catches Gordon-Levitt’s character watching porn , and that Gordon-Levitt sings an awesome rendition of Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch’s “Good Vibrations.” (Because who hasn’t sung like that when they’re alone in the vehicle?) So, moving onto the movie -- in a nutshell, it’s about porn. Yep. Bow-chicka-wow-wow. The main character , Jon (Gordon-Levitt), is obsessed with porn and loves it more that the...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad.  The Discovery Channel’s famous “Shark Week” had decided to wrap things up Saturday night with a double-header showing of Jaws (of course) and … wait, what? Sharknado! This film has swept the social media scene in a frenzy (pun regrettably intended) and so I couldn’t help but hit “Record” on the ol’ PVR to see what the fuss is all about. Right off the bat, it’s simply ridiculous. A rich, Asian tycoon is aboard a lonely shark-fishing boat, wheelin’ and dealin’ while eating delicious shark fin soup. Then, a storm hits, as does the irony. Asian guy gets devoured by a shark. And so it begins. The storm makes its way to the California ...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad.  Oh Denzel. Oh Mark. Oh my sanity! I’m not sure what there isn’t to like about this movie; there’s great acting by a couple of Hollywood’s finest, gun-slingin’ action, drugs, money - How can it get any better? 2 Guns was a great movie for what it is. It doesn’t confuse you, there’s no twisty plot twists, just good ol’ fashion fun. Denzel Washington plays an undercover DEA agent and Mark Wahlberg plays an undercover Navy SEAL. Neither of them have any idea but somehow join forces to rob a Mexican drug lord’s cash-stash at a bank. Shit hits the fan and well, they stick together to figure what the F is going on. ...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry , other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies , new, old, good, and bad.  The husband and I took an offer of free childcare by the way of grandparents to head to the theater and watch Man of Steel , the newest edition to the seemingly endless versions of Superman movies . I will admit that while I had heard about the movie and saw trailers for it, comic book movies aren’t usually my #1 choice, but as my husband pointed out, it’s the type of movie you have to watch in theaters because it’s all about the special effects. So, I agreed that Man of Steel was the movie we would take in, and was definitely not disappointed. Clark Kent/Kal-El/Superman is played by the ridiculously good-looking H...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry , other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad.  By no means did I intend for the title of this post to rhyme. But it does. Moving on …   When I originally found out that there was going to be a sequel to Liam Neeson ’s Taken , I was pretty excited. After all, the original was pretty epic. (Haven’t seen it? Shame on you!) There’s nothing better than an angry, ex- CIA operative going all out in a quest to find his daughter, who’s been taken by crazy Albanian human traffickers . So, after seeing the chaos and mayhem Neeson’s character caused in the original, the sequel should be just as good or even better, right? WRONG. I watche d Taken 2 just a couple days after i...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry , other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad.  Hey Basement Dwellers ! So, after seeing Jason and Shawn’s Top 5 picks for genre hotties, you don’t think I could let them get away without mentioning the male version, could you? Didn’t think so! (Not that I don’t appreciate a gorgeous woman, and I know you men have man crushes!) I know there has to be some lady readers out there, so without further adieu, here’s my Top 5 male genre hotties: 5. Bruce Willis . He’s pushing 60, but he will KICK YOUR ASS.   4. Timothy Olyphant . His hotness is justified (pun very well intended).   3. Thomas Jane as the Punisher . Nothing says hot like a pissed off man out for a vengea...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad.  After watching Blake Lively play a totally believable oxy addict in The Town , I was looking forward to watching her switch things over and playing a stoned-out hippie child named O in Savages. Joined by BC-born actor Taylor Kitsch (playing Chon) and Aaron Johnson (playing Ben) as her love interests , Savages provided a good dose of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. (Okay, not so much rock n' roll, but heads DID roll …)   Savages revolves around the luxurious life of three drug-dealing entrepreneurs from Laguna Beach, California. Their love life is … interesting … to say the least, and that's what piques the interest of Mex...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad.  After reading the Millennium series written by Stieg Larsson, I was rather excited to watch the movies. I will admit that I watched the American version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo , so I was slightly apprehensive to watch the Swedish version of the next film in the trilogy, The Girl Who Played with Fire .  I know that Jason and Shawn had reviewed the first two films a while back and they had mixed feelings. Jason noted that the two leads didn’t spend much (if any) screen time together, but I’ll note that if I remember correctly, they don’t share many “pages” in the novel either. I digress …  I caught myself ...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad.  I’m not a fan of Halloween. No – let me rephrase that; I like Halloween – the candy, the cutesy little kids coming to my door and asking for said candy. I do NOT like the horror movies that come along with the “holiday.” I don’t like being scared. I don’t like having to lock myself in my house and being paranoid by every noise I hear in or outside our house. I especially don’t like going anywhere near cemeteries, clowns or voice distorters. I digress … I’m pretty sure my distaste for the thrills and chills of horror started when I was 10 or 11. It was around Halloween, and the USA Network had a horror marathon on with various scary...

Allow me to quickly introduce myself: My name is Kara, and I live over at www.karaschatter.com . I have no experience in the movie industry, other than watching and appreciating them. I thought I would offer up my movie reviewing skills, or lack thereof, to The Basement to give readers a female perspective on movies, new, old, good, and bad. First off: I will admit that I’m a late bloomer when it comes to appreciating old action flicks. Being a girl, I tend to steer more towards tear-jerking romantic comedies rather than blood and guts action flicks, but thanks to my husband, I caught up on the “classics.” And, man, am I glad I did before watching this movie. (I just watched Die Hard for the first time last Christmas – shame on me, I know) When the first Expendables movie came out, I was quite pleased by the ensemble cast. The second edition though? I was over the moon stoked to see it. It didn’t hurt that my “other husband” Jason Statham returned for the sequel, but I digr...