Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2016
There are many films that depict the ferocity and cataclysmic power of the vast ocean. It is a fearsome display that cannot be imagined in any way that compares to the reality of the experience. The Perfect Storm, Life of Pi, The Guardian, and Titanic are just a few examples of disasters at sea. It is the United States Coast Guard’s job to rescue distressed people under severe emergencies at sea. The Finest Hours is a depiction of a true-life sea rescue under the most challenging and horrifying conditions. It is known as the most successful small boat rescue ever recorded. When I say small boat, it is the rescue boat I’m talking about, but the ship they were singlehandedly sent to rescue was a gigantic T2 tanker Pendleton, which had split in half on open seas. Part of the problem was that another tanker had already split in half a few hundred miles away, and all resources had already been diverted in that direction. The second tanker was an afterthought that was tackled by a relatively inexperienced crew. To repeat the true-life situation, T2 tankers SS Mercer and SS Pendleton were split in half off the New England coast. The Pendleton had lost radio communication and was only identified by an alert citizen from the shore.
The Finest Hours is a Walt Disney film, and I think Walt would be proud. The film takes place on February 18, 1952, and all of the American values that were part of this country at the time are on display. It is a very old-fashioned film in both look and approach. The only difference is that modern-day technologies are fully utilized to show an amazing true-life display of courage that would have been impossible to do in 1952.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 25th, 2016
Time travel films have been around for years, and with each film there are viewers who just enjoy it at face value and others who watch it to poke holes in the film’s theories. I have to admit I fall somewhere in between. With a film like Back to the Future, I don’t look at it as anything more than silly fun, but then a film like 12 Monkeys comes along, and I just go bananas over its theory and execution. So when a title like Synchronicity came along, I went into it with an open mind. I know you don’t need a giant budget to pull off a time travel film; what matters first and foremost is the story and the characters that lead the narrative tale for us.
It’s inescapable to not see the influence Blade Runner has on this film; everything from the set design to the lighting simply screams at us to see the influences. Some may even pick up a familiar Dark City vibe. Setting these visual tones was for me what worked best for this film, because it at least made it visually fun to look at and to wonder if this story could be happening in the sync with the other two films; after all, the film does bring up the idea of numerous parallel universes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 25th, 2016
Robert De Niro and Zac Efron have a combined seven Academy Award nominations and a pair of Oscar wins to their names. So it was only a matter of time until these titans of cinema joined forces on the big screen. All joking aside, none of us were expecting Dirty Grandpa to pump up De Niro’s Oscar tally. What *is* a bit surprising — other than how truly bad this charmless, dimwitted, mean-spirited “comedy” turned out to be — is that Efron kind of outclasses his legendary counterpart.
DeNiro stars as Dick (tee-hee) Kelly, who recently lost his wife of 40 years. After attending his grandmother’s funeral, strait-laced Jason Kelly (Efron) agrees to drive his grandpa from Georgia to Boca Raton, Florida at the older man’s request. Dick and Jason used to be thick as thieves, according to the poorly Photoshopped pictures in the opening credits. The pair drifted apart after Jason abandoned his passion for photography to go to work as a corporate lawyer for his dad/Dick’s son (Dermot Mulroney, getting absolutely nothing to do). The road trip is supposed to be one last opportunity for Jason and his grandpa to bond before Jason marries his uptight, controlling fiancée Meredith (Julianne Hough, admirably leaning into her character's awfulness).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 19th, 2016
After Robert Eggers received best director out of Sundance, The Witch became a film that went on my radar. Following the release of the trailer to the film I was hooked; its startling yet beautiful imagery was enough to get my attention. As buzz built around the film as it continued to awe audiences in various festivals, my anticipation for this film was getting out of control. Could a film really be this great? Is it possible to make a film that still shocks and terrifies audiences? By the time I found myself getting to this screening, The Witch now was a film that unfairly had something to prove to me, I poked the bear and dared this film to blow me away. As the lights dimmed and the film played out, I came away with more than I asked for.
The film transports us to New England in the 1630’s. What is important to keep in mind is the time period. This is a time when scientific reason had no place and the settlers of the time were ruled by their faith. The land that surrounded the villages was mostly untouched, and in the darkness, evil was believed to lurk. Robert Eggers beautifully captures the time period here, everything from the sets, the costumes, to even the Old English dialect used by the characters is authentic and helps immerse us into this time. One of my few nitpicks with the film is that the language is so authentic I had trouble with some of the dialog, as did others around me. Perhaps subtitles could have been used, but I’m afraid it would have taken me out of this world created for us.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 18th, 2016
“Hello boys…I’m baaaaaack!”
You probably know that Independence Day — the spectacular, shameless sci-fi smash that introduced the world to “Will Smith, Global Superstar” — has a sequel coming out next month. What you may not know is that the original film has been granted a 20th Anniversary Blu-ray release. I was 13 when ID4 came out in the summer of 1996, which means the movie’s deluxe destruction and alien shoot-em-up antics were right in my wheelhouse. So I was curious as to how an older and wiser, um, taller version of me would feel watching it with a critical eye.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 12th, 2016
There's a grand, lurid tradition of cinematic saps who think with the wrong head and get themselves in a heap of trouble. Misconduct tries to tap into that spirit while also mimicking none other than Alfred Hitchcock and Brian De Palma (who was pretty much mimicking Hitchcock himself). Those are some lofty goals, but — at least on paper — Misconduct has some heavy hitters on hand to help achieve them. Unfortunately, this legal thriller is guilty of sloppy, nonsensical storytelling and largely wasting the talents of a pair of screen legends.
Ben Cahill (Josh Duhamel) is an ambitious, morally flexible lawyer who works long hours, which has put a strain on his relationship with wife Charlotte (Alice Eve). Ben perks up when college girlfriend Emily (Malin Akerman) contacts him out of the blue wanting to get together. Turns out Emily works for/is involved with pharmaceutical magnate Arthur Denning (Anthony Hopkins), who is currently in the news due to some unethical drug trials. Emily claims to have evidence of Denning's wrongdoing, so Ben — recognizing an opportunity to jumpstart his career — offers his lawyerly services with the hopes of impressing senior partner Charles Abrams (Al Pacino).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 10th, 2016
With every day that passes we lose those who survived the horrors of World War 2, and eventually there will no longer be those with memories to share from the past, and all that will be left are the films and newspapers from another era. As these survivors grow older, their memories fade, and all that is left are fragments pieced together from what they can remember. In the new film Remember from Atom Egoyan, he delivers an intimate tale about a man suffering from dementia who is seeking revenge for atrocities committed in the past. Considering Egoyan’s last film left me a little underwhelmed I went into this film with caution, and the result is that I think this may be Egoyan’s best work.
Zev (Christopher Plummer) is spending his twilight years in a rest home suffering from dementia. Just about every day Zev gets to wake up only to discover his wife has been deceased for some time and that things simply are not as he remembers them. With his wife gone it is time for Zev to set out and follow through on a promise he made that he could only go through with following the death of his wife. He made a pact to kill a surviving Nazi guard who is living in the States under a different name. Zev just so happens to be the only man who can recognize and identify the guard; the trouble is the guard is hiding under an alias that four people across the US have. Max (Martin Landau) has gathered all the information Zev will need for his journey; if not for being bound to a wheelchair, he would march right alongside of Zev to follow through this vigilante quest.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 6th, 2016
Shout Factory digs into the archives for this one. It was back in 1988 that French director Jean-Jacques Annaud went into the wilds to bring us The Bear. Of course he's best known for his take on primitive humans in the more successful Quest for Fire. Like that film, The Bear uses almost no dialog. While it appears to be a nature story akin to Disney's recent Bears, these animals are trained and following a carefully-crafted script based on a novel written by fellow Frenchman Gerard Brach. There is also a small use of stop-action bears that were created by Jim Henson out of his Creature Shop. These exist in only small scenes that do stand out as quite fake. It was intended to use the stand-ins more frequently, but if you watch the film you'll understand why that decision was eventually abandoned for the trained performing bears.
The story takes place in 1885 in British Columbia. A bear cub has just lost his mother to an avalanche trying to dig up honey from a nest. He's scared and not likely to survive on his own. His survival is made that much less likely with the presence of a pair of hunters in the area. They already have an impressive collection of bearskins and are on the trail of a huge bear who has, so far, managed to elude them. Once shot, the giant bear goes a bit crazy and rips into the hunters' belongings and their horses. It's time to bring in the hunting dogs as this hunt starts to get personal.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 4th, 2016
Whatever happened to the days of telling a story without having some kind of gimmick or need to have to have a twist in the plot to show the viewer just how clever you are? I blame The Sixth Sense for this, because ever since the film came out it seems a requirement to be considered a thriller is you have to have some kind of twist, whether it’s at the midpoint or towards the end, somehow you have to find a way to jam that twist in there. I’m not saying let’s just throw the ban hammer down on all twists, but they should be used to only further the plot, because at this point it’s just gotten silly, and when you start piecing things together after the film you realize how little sense it all makes. When it comes to Backtrack, you’ll need to do more than just retrace your steps on this one, and it’s sad, because beneath all the twists there is a good story here; unfortunately it’s managed to lose its way.
Peter Bower (Adrien Brody) and his wife are mourning the loss of their daughter who was killed in an accident. Peter carries the guilt around with him, and it has begun to have an effect on how he is able to treat his patients. Very early on we are given clues to there being something not right with his patients up to the point it is discovered that all of them are dead. While this may seem like a spoiler, instead it’s key to driving the story forward for Peter to understand why the dead seem to want to make time for him on his couch. While I’m fine with this idea of him treating ghosts or simply Peter being insane, there is a practical question that bothers me. How does no one else notice how odd it is that he is treating, to the outsider, no one? How were they going about paying for visits or even scheduling visits, since it seems he doesn’t have a receptionist? It seems like I’m being nitpicky, but really, I was having a hard time accepting the reality of the story that was being presented.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 28th, 2016
Based on the story “The Colorado Kid” by Stephen King, the SyFy series Haven comes to its end with the last 13 episodes for the final season. When we were last in Haven a fog bank surrounded the small coastal Maine town and Duke (Eric Balfour) accidently unleashed all his “troubles” upon the town. Things were not just looking bad for the town; in fact this may be the darkest days they’ve had to encounter. Would 13 episodes be enough to wrap up all the loose ends and finally allow the town of Haven to be normal, or would this take a darker turn and dare to leave the town to suffer its doom to the mysterious Croatoan? Well, I’m not about to spoil anything, so rest easy, fans, but I should say that not everyone is going to make it through this alive; in fact, I can say this season kept me on edge from start to finish.
With no escape from Haven and half the town infected with “troubles”, the town goes under the command of the Order with Dwight (Adam Copeland) stepping up to take charge. As you would imagine with the Order taking control, this is the equivalent of martial law going into effect, but with so much chaos going on, the town is practically a war zone. These are the darkest days Haven has experienced, and in the second episode of the season, “Power”, we see Audrey Parker (Emily Rose) and Nathan (Lucas Bryant) take on a trouble that kills whoever is caught in the darkness. If that wasn’t bad enough, the power plant is shutting down, and the generators at the school where everyone is huddled around the light, well, the generators are not going to hold up long unless someone comes up with a plan.
