Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 17th, 2013
“Just as the dancer, the athlete does not exist who doesn’t move with a certain rhythm.”
My name is John. I am a man, and I love to dance. Dancing requires grace, power, athleticism, coordination and a handful of other attributes that we revere in the world’s biggest sports stars. Those same exact qualities thrill us when they’re on display on a football field or a basketball court. So why can’t one dude tell another dude that he enjoys dancing without drawing a sideways glance? Gene Kelly, one of the most famous and successful dancers of all time, explored that very question during this vintage TV special, now out on DVD.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 16th, 2013
“People always work from the assumption that children are telling the truth.”
Kids really do say the darndest things! Popular kindergarten teacher Lucas finds this out the hard way after his life is shattered in The Hunt, an outstanding and indelible Danish drama that will almost surely pick up a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination when the nods are announced in about a month. The film tackles a touchy (no pun intended) subject with great care. It also raises a number of provocative points about perception versus reality.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 11th, 2013
Before Billy Bob Thornton became best known for icky PDA and wearing his wife’s blood around his neck, he burst onto the moviemaking scene as an Academy Award-winning triple-threat with Sling Blade, which he directed, wrote and starred in. (I feel like it’s finally safe to bring up Billy Bob’s acting career again.) Despite working steadily as an actor — and even directing a few other films — the Thornton who won an Oscar for writing Sling Blade has been largely absent from moviegoers’ lives. That’s why it was such a delight to see him return to southern-fried form as a filmmaker with the terrific ensemble drama Jayne Mansfield’s Car.
The film is set in Morrison, Alabama in 1969, during the height of protests against the Vietnam War. We meet the well-to-do Caldwell clan, led by the cantankerous Jim Caldwell (Robert Duvall). His four adult children (played by Billy Bob Thornton, Kevin Bacon, Robert Patrick and Katherine LaNasa) all live in town, along with their own assorted spouses and children. The Caldwells gets a jolt when they find out their mom (and Jim’s former wife) Naomi has died. (Tippi Hedren filmed scenes as Naomi, but was cut out of the movie. Unfortunately, those scenes don’t appear on this disc.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 9th, 2013
“There she is boys…Mandy Lane. Untouched. Pure. Since the dawn of junior year, men have tried to possess her and, to date, all have failed.
With its deep-red title card and the blood-curdling scream that opens the film, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane is very clearly a horror flick from its first frame. However, the movie displayed its greatest potential — a lot of which it squandered — when it seemed less preoccupied with who was going to kill Mandy Lane, and more interested in who was going to deflower her. The result is a promising, pitch black high school satire that eventually gets invaded by a run-of-the-mill horror film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 5th, 2013
People have used a lot of different words to describe Michael Bay and his films: “loud”, “blockbusters”, “mindless”, “soulless”, “Hitler” and, of course, “awesome.” One of the words you don’t normally associate with Bay’s undeniably successful output is “clever.” I daresay Pain & Gain is the most interesting movie the action auteur has ever made; the film is both seriously silly and surprisingly smart in how it presents its stupid characters.
“Unfortunately, this is a true story.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 4th, 2013
We’re about 50 years removed from the Beatles taking the entire world by storm, so you’d be forgiven for thinking that everything anyone could possibly say about the Fab Four has already been said. Fortunately, the success of Good Ol’ Freda — a Beatles documentary that doubles as a loving tribute to its subject and the famous band she adored — doesn’t hinge on any heretofore unknown/shocking revelations. In other words, the film’s charm doesn’t so much come from what Freda Kelly says; instead, it comes from the delighted, no-fuss way she recounts her time with, arguably, the most famous band of all time.
“Who would want to hear the secretary’s story?”
Posted in: The Reel World by J C on November 22nd, 2013
The most peculiar thing about The Hunger Games — both in the books and the blockbuster movie adaptations — is that the Games themselves are easily the least interesting part. The first film's staggering box office success predictably led to a much bigger budget for the rabidly-anticipated sequel. (Catching Fire cost a reported $140 million, which is nearly double the original's $78 million budget.) The extra money is on display in almost every engrossing frame, including the action-packed arena scenes filmed in Hawaii. But the real reason Catching Fire is an improvement over its predecessor is because the story's satirical, political, rebellious spirit has been placed front and center.
We catch up with scrappy heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) a few hours before she is set to depart for her mandatory Victory Tour with Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Katniss and Peeta bucked the system by becoming the first co-winners of the previous Hunger Games, the annual televised battle to the death meant to assert the oppressive Capitol's control over the entire nation of Panem. They survived largely by fabricating a love story that nobody bothered to tell Peeta was fabricated. Their showmance captured the nation's heart, but it irked Gale (Liam Hemsworth) — Katniss's formerly platonic hunting buddy — and the sinister President Snow (Donald Sutherland).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 19th, 2013
“Five years ago, I stood on this stage and I said goodbye. Five years later, I'm standing on this stage and I say, 'Hello.'”
I'd honestly never even heard of Saga before popping in this Blu-ray, but it was impossible to miss the family reunion atmosphere of this show. The Canadian prog rockers released their self-titled debut album in 1978, but — like many successful, long-running bands — have undergone a number of lineup changes. (Including a non-lethal, Spinal Tap-esque run of drummers in the early part of this century.) Saga, in its various forms, has found some of its greatest success in Germany, so there was no better place to get the band back together for a concert movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 18th, 2013
“On November 22, 1963, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, made a political trip to Dallas, Texas with his wife, Jacqueline, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.”
Of course, you don't have to be an American History buff to know what happened next. The circumstances surrounding President Kennedy's assassination instantly seared themselves into the country's collective consciousness. This month marks the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's death, which has brought along the expected number of tributes, TV specials and movies breaking down the crime and its corresponding conspiracy theories. Parkland, however, serves as a microcosm of how Kennedy's assassination affected an entire nation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 15th, 2013
On paper, the premise of Prince Avalanche sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry. The film follows a pair of squabbling workers whose job it is to paint yellow lines in the middle of a country road in the aftermath of a devastating wildfire. They're basically the only two characters in the movie, and the story never moves away from their desolate surroundings. Although his film is occasionally self-indulgent (by design, I suspect), director David Gordon Green finds the strange beauty in that desolate landscape. He's also armed with stars who bring this meandering character study to life.
Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch star as Alvin and Lance. Alvin (Rudd) revels in the isolation of his work and appreciates the benefits of outdoor physical labor. Meanwhile, Lance (Hirsch) is the lazy, immature, inexplicably charming brother of Alvin's girlfriend. Alvin hired Lance to work with him on the road project as a favor to Lance's sister (who we never see) and as a way to whip some masculinity into the younger man. The pair experience some emotional ups and downs, and it turns out they both have plenty they can learn from one another.
