“‘VFW’ Salutes the Troops with More Blood Than Brains”

So far, when it comes to Joe Begos and the movies that Joe Begos makes, I’m 2 for 4; I like Bliss, I like VFW (though I like it less than Bliss), and I remember liking Almost Human, but it’s been almost a decade so I might need to revisit. I also never saw Mind’s Eye. Sorry Joe! 

There’s an enthusiasm to his style of era-aping filmmaking that, for me, totally offsets the usual problems I have with this approach; he’s gung-ho, all-in, totally unabashed in his fixation on the 80s, such that I don’t really feel like I’m seeing someone do a nostalgia exercise but rather that I’m gazing into a window into their head, which happens to be loaded with 80s stuff. If that makes sense. Which it might not. I’m rambling and runnin’ on near-empty here, kids.

Anyways. I dig VFW. Feels much less purposeful than Bliss, which fucking rules, but it’s a good time and I can’t fault the practical gore.

You can read my full review over at Paste Magazine.