Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2014
"His name is Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald."
Before November 22, 1963, that name was an obscure one, known only to a few people in the intelligence community who had him under surveillance for his communist leanings. But by a little after noon on that date in Dallas, Lee Harvey Oswald was suddenly one of the most infamous names in American history. He would share the stage with the likes of John Wilkes Booth. This last November saw the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, and it passed with surprisingly less hype than I expected there would be. We weren't inundated with documentaries and History Channel specials on the many conspiracy theories surrounding the event. There were some, certainly, but the date passed in the more solemn manner appropriate to the event.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 3rd, 2014
“The Sistine Chapel. The masterpiece of a sculptor who did not want to paint.”
Remember when Michael Jordan quit basketball, tried his hand at baseball, and then returned to the NBA less than two years later? Well, imagine if Jordan had actually made it to the majors with the Chicago White Sox and put up a .375/50 HR/50 SB mark on his way to winning the American League Rookie of the Year/MVP awards, along with a World Series ring. The artistic equivalent of that was Michelangelo — one of the most significant figures of the Italian Renaissance, but a sculptor by trade — painting the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 3rd, 2014
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Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 27th, 2014
They say you can't choose your family, but apparently that well-known phrase never made its way to France. At the very least, no one bothered to tell Paul de Marseul, the legacy-obsessed vineyard owner at the center of You Will Be My Son (Tu Seras Mon Fils.) Cohen Media Group gave this tasty 2011 French offering a theatrical release last year, and now the film — which alternates between being a picturesque delight, a tense family drama, and a thriller — arrives on Blu-ray.
Niels Arestrup stars as Paul, who has a great nose (and palette) for winemaking. His adult son Martin (Lorant Deutsch) is a hard worker, but he didn't inherit his father's natural abilities. (Much to Martin's chagrin, Paul never misses a chance to cruelly remind his son of this fact.) Since the vineyard's longtime manager Francois (Patrick Chesnais) is terminally ill, Martin is eager to become a bigger part of the family business. Enter Francois's son Philippe (Nicolas Bridet), a charismatic, successful California winemaker who returns home to be with his ailing father. After Paul enlists Philippe's help with the upcoming harvest, he realizes he'd rather hand the family business over to someone else's son rather than his own flesh and blood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 26th, 2014
"Let me tell you a story."
Remember the tagline in Alien? "In space no one can hear you scream." Gravity begins, appropriately enough, with complete silence. We're treated to a rather spectacular view of the Earth from orbit. Eventually chatter begins to intrude upon our revelry. We soon meet the crew of a space shuttle mission to do repair work on the Hubble telescope. We quickly learn that this is the final mission for retiring astronaut Matt Kowalski, played by George Clooney, although I certainly consider it a bad sign when he's told to enjoy his last walk. He's acting as a mentor of sorts to younger astronaut Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock. There are others on the mission, but we're treated to very little time with them. In a short time, they won't really matter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 25th, 2014
"Don't mess with a man of God."
It has been said that an old vaudevillian was on his deathbed and was asked how he was doing. He replied, "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard". And no, it wasn't Shia LaBeof. The fact is that comedy is easy. Horror comedy is hard...very hard. One needs only to look at the lame attempts each year to make us laugh at the carnage. For every Shaun Of The Dead there are 100 Vampire In Brooklyn's Let's not even talk about the last Scream entry. Needless to say I was quite a bit overwhelmed when I received Hellbenders 3D. Not only was this some cheap Exorcist knockoff, but it was going to be low-budget 3D. I watched it the night before a surgery figuring it was the most likely film to make me actually look forward to the surgery. Let's face it. You see this stuff coming from a mile away. What I never saw coming was that I had one hell of a good time watching. I'm not going to call it a classic by any means. But Hellbenders delivers like few horror comedies I've seen in a very long time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 24th, 2014
Bruce Dern is the one generating the greatest praise. June Squibb (About Schmidt) who plays Dern's wife has also gotten multiple nominations. Woody Grant (Dern) is seen at the start of the film walking the winter roads of Billings, Montana. It is his intention to walk to Lincoln, Nebraska. The local police pick him up, and we are introduced to his son, David (Will Forte). The heart and soul of the movie is watching Dern and Forte interact. Forte is best known for acting silly as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, but his performance in this film is perfect. He is dour and forlorn and takes it on himself to be the only family member who tries to care about his father's feelings. He takes his father on a road trip because he believes he is slowly sinking into dementia. His dad believes he has won a million dollars because he received a magazine subscription sweepstakes letter. Everybody but Woody knows that it's a scam, but David wants the chance to spend some time with his dad. Woody's wife Kate (Squibb) thinks they are both insane and doesn't ever mince words for one minute. The film turns into a reunion with many people from the past and an unexpected journey to forgotten places. David doesn't know much about his dad, and he will start to learn a lot. They take an extended stop in Woody's home town of Hawthorne, Nebraska where much of his family still lives. For a time, many people in Hawthorne believe Woody really is rich including his former business partner, Ed Pegram (Stacy Keach). Many members of the family members and friends start to come up with stories about how they lent Woody money over the years.
Through it all David is by his father's side, tenderly finding ways to support him and make him feel good about himself in what is clearly near the end of his life. The whole film is handled with such finesse and subtle wit, filmed in pristine black and white that beautifully makes nearly every image like a classic photograph. Bob Odenkirk (Breaking Bad) as the other brother, Ross, adds ably to a continuous stream of humorous vignettes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 20th, 2014
“If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.”
Even if Game of Thrones had inexplicably wrapped its run after two stellar seasons, the HBO series would’ve gone down as a landmark in television history because of its unprecedented scale and audacious storytelling. But then fans wouldn’t have gotten season 3, an adaptation of (roughly) the first half of “A Storm of Swords”, the third novel in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. “A Storm of Swords” is considered the “Empire Strikes Back” of Martin’s novels, which is a terrifying prospect considering the “Empire” in the world of Thrones has been “striking back” since the very first episode.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 19th, 2014
“Zombies…killer robots…nice town you got here.”
If nothing else, filmmaker Christopher Hatton definitely thought outside the box in his attempt to spice up the lumbering zombie genre. The random appearance of killer robots about halfway through the film is such an out-of-leftfield move — assuming you started watching this movie without looking at its Blu-ray cover (and, no…Dolph Lundgren is *not* one of the robots) — that I actually found it to be inspired. It’s a good thing too because the rest of Battle of the Damned is essentially a low-budget, paint splatter-by-numbers survival flick.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 17th, 2014
“…Super secret spies living next door. They look like us. They speak better English than we do. I mean, come on. Someone’s been reading too many spy novels.”
And now someone has expertly taken the cloak-and-dagger intrigue of a great spy novel, transplanted it onto our television screens, and called it The Americans. While the show is very clearly set during the Reagan era, its complex, multi-layered portrayal of the human beings on both sides of the Cold War makes it feel thrillingly alive today.
