Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 27th, 2010
The Plot: The Order, disappointingly, turned out to be not much more than a Heath Ledger vehicle, apparently targeted at Goth teenage girls with vaguely Euro pretensions. Without letting out any spoilers, trust me when I say that you’ll be disappointed if you expect anything like what the trailer portrays. The trailer says implies that the Vatican is “using a killer with supernatural powers to absolute control of an empire” and paints the movie as a fast-paced action/thriller church conspiracy film – which it isn’t. What is it? Part drama, part horror, very “moody,” totally boring.
The movie’s story line is atrocious and disconnected, with little to suggest that one scene even belongs in the same film as another. OK – here’s an example, spoiler warning given: those two little kids. What purpose do they serve, other than to look briefly CGI-scary and then disappear? None. They are hell-spawn, but we’ve got no idea why they’re around, where they came from, why they look like kids, what they want, or anything. Completely pointless and unrelated to everything. Bah.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 26th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Raging Phoenix is a film of particular tastes and appeal. As someone who has very little experience with martial arts films, I may be the wrong person to comment on the quality of the fighting sequences or how it compares to other martial arts films. I will leave those comments to the people who are devoted fans and love these films. I can comment on the quality of the DVD so that those who are looking for a great addition to their martial arts film collection will know what to expect.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 26th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Casino Jack and the United States of Money is a political documentary that takes a look into über lobbyist of the Republican Party, Jack Abramoff. The mind and voice behind this documentary is Alex Gibney, who also did documentaries Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room (2005), Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side (2008), and My Trip to Al-Qaeda (2010). Jack Abramoff is the center of attention in this documentary as Gibney gathers interviews and archival material to expose the D.C. lobbyist as corrupt and greedy. However, the money trail does not end with Abramoff; rather he is just the origin. Viewers unfamiliar with the process of financing in the government will feel overwhelmed how deep the corruption goes and how many political figures profited from Abramoff.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 24th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
If I had to pick two words to describe Ondine, I would pick hauntingly beautiful. Neil Jordon, the popular Irish director and writer, comes up with an unusual modern fairy tale. Ondine is a film about people from different worlds hoping that dreams really can come true. It is a film about redemption and hope, harsh reality versus fantasy. Ondine is a journey of self discovery to be experienced from the darkness back into the light. It reminds us that enchantment and darkness are a part of every story.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 23rd, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Broken Lizard is the comedy group composed of Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. I recognized the group as the minds behind the films Super Troopers (2002) and Beerfest (2006). They decided to return to their comedic roots and go on tour in this DVD comedic show at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, California. The five men would take turns to perform a solo sketch. It allowed the audience to distinguish them as individuals. In between each solo, anywhere from two to all five of the comedians would perform a group sketch. The sketches would be related to a shared experience or be a re-creation of a social event such as Susan Boyle’s introduction on Britain’s Got Talent.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 17th, 2010
Written by Diane Tillis
Only once in a blue moon will a filmmaker come along to change the way films are created…for an entire country! Kazakhstan – born director Timur Bekmambetov is best known in America as the director for Wanted (2008) and for producing 9 (2009) alongside Tim Burton, but in Russia he is known as the man who changed the film industry after the collapse of the Soviet Union. His plan was to shake up the whole Russian film world with a feature film that was unlike anything done in the country before. Night Watch was his answer: a visionary fantasy horror film with an astonishing collaboration of mind-altering visual effects, suspenseful terror, and adrenaline-fueled action.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 16th, 2010
When I met my husband, and found out he wrote reviews, I never pictured myself writing as well. I had never really played with the concept, other than some short stories. But here I sit, once again, in front of my computer screen with another disc in front of me. And what do we have this time? A romantic comedy. Yes folks, I love the torture. I was asked to do Letters to Juliet as a favor for my busy husband who is adjusting to his busy new job. This has to land me home made waffles in bed sometime in the near future. But was this one really that bad? Could there be a decent romantic comedy out there? Meh, we shall see. And away we go!
We open the movie with a scene of busy New York (A very nice skyline picture I might add). We meet Sophie Hall (Amanda Seyfried), a fact checker for the New Yorker, on her way around town. She stops in at her office to turn in a piece of work on the famous “V-J Day in Times Square” picture (The sailor kissing the nurse), and that's where we find out she is on her way to Verona for a pre-honeymoon. She leaves the office and heads over to a restaurant that looks to be in progress. Meet Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), Sophie's very Italian fiance, who is in the kitchen surrounded by pasta hanging everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean it. A little bit of chatter, and away to Verona!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 13th, 2010
“Greed is Good.”
No other cinematic phrase described the 1980’s better. And no other movie captures the financial corruption of the 80’s better than Oliver Stone’s Wall Street.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on September 7th, 2010
”A philosopher once asked, ‘Are we human because we gaze at the stars, or do we gaze at them because we are human?’ Pointless, really…’Do the stars gaze back?’ Now that’s a question.”
They do more than gaze in Stardust, a quirky, enjoyable film that’s not the epic tale it’s made out to be. The film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel of the same name, Stardust is a tale about a young man from a small English village who gets caught up in a magical adventure in another realm. With evil witches, fratricidal princes, and a cross-dressing sky-pirate, there’s a lot of fantasy in Stardust, but director Matthew Vaughn’s penchant for Lord of the Rings-style sweeping cinematography creates a canvas much too grand for this simple fairy tale.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 29th, 2010
Most of the male reviewers in this industry loathe romantic comedies. It is the only thing in the industry that we conceive to be as easy to make as a poorly written horror movie. Insert female who is looking for love in all of the wrong places and give her an unique situation to find that special love. Insert hunky guy who is a bit quirky to sweep her off her feet. Love, love, love and they go off to get married and make babies. So I did what any man would do in this situation, I begged my better half to write the review.
And hello there! It is I... the usual reviewers “back-up plan” to getting out of having to do a mushy movie! I am not the average female that goes oogly over these romantic comedies. I find them to be unrealistic, predictable, and boring. The plot is always the same. Woman who cant find love, finds it in some odd situation... someone is not truthful about something, they fight, and split up... after a short time apart, they decide to make nice and have woosa time. End of movie. Is this movie any different? Can they really break the cycle of really bad romantic comedies?
![Order (2003) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/order-2003-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Stardust [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/stardust-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![The Back-Up Plan [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/the-back-up-plan-blu-ray-large.jpg)
