Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 27th, 2018
“Run, Forrest, run!”
Forrest Gump is one of the most beloved films to be released in the past 25 years. The movie received critical love (to the tune of 6 Oscars, including the Academy Award for Best Picture) and commercial love (this was the highest-grossing film of 1994) upon its release. For better and worse, Gump can be seen as a reflection of its good-natured, dim-witted hero: it's a classic example of heart triumphing over head. Time — and, specifically, the internet — hasn't been nearly as kind to Gump as it has to several other films released the same year, but the movie endures thanks to some unforgettable sights, sounds, and a miraculous lead performance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 26th, 2018
"Who is Jack Reacher? Born Jack, not John. No middle name. He's a ghost. Served in the military police. A brilliant investigator, troublemaker, too. And two years ago he disappears. You don't find this guy unless he wants to be found."
We've found him. The character of Jack Reacher comes from a series of thriller novels written by Lee Child. From the very start you know that this is going to be a different kind of Jack Reacher than fans have come to know and love from the books. He’s described as being 6' 5’’ and about 250 pounds. Tom Cruise doesn't really fit any of those description elements. He does, however, fit two very important descriptive elements when it comes to Hollywood. He's still a big name and a pretty reliable box office draw. He also put up some of his own cash to produce the movie. Now that's how you get cast for a part very physically different from yourself.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 19th, 2018
When Pacific Rim first came out, I had a blast with the film. It was the ultimate giant-monster-versus-giant-robot film that my inner ten-year-old has wanted to see for so long. Sure, the film had some dialog issues, but the world that Guillermo del Toro created with the film was so over-the-top and beautiful that the bad dialog was easy to forget. It knew what it was, brainless eye candy, and it delivered in a big way. Now we have the sequel coming out; del Toro is no longer at the helm, and in his place we have Steven S. DeKnight whose previous directorial efforts have been episodes from Daredevil and Dollhouse. Does the sequel hold up? Well, to put it bluntly, not even close.
John Boyega has been an actor I’ve appreciated since I first saw him in Attack the Block. Seriously, if you haven’t seen Attack the Block yet, stop wasting time and see this immediately. While I’ve enjoyed seeing him in the new Star Wars films, I just feel he’s an actor who hasn’t gotten the appreciation he deserves, and for a while when I saw he was going to be in Pacific Rim: Uprising I had hopes that this could be the film that put him over the top. He comes into Uprising playing Jake, the son of the famed hero of the jaeger/kaiju Stacker Pentecost who was played by Idris Elba. He wants nothing to do with that legacy and instead has become a thief in the world that is still in ruins from the kaiju attacks that occurred ten years prior. It’s while he is trying to steal tech from an old jaeger that he runs into Amara (Cailee Spaeny), who is stealing jaeger tech of her own so she can finish building one herself. The two, though, are eventually caught, and instead of serving jail time the powers that be decide to send them to Top Gun…I mean jaeger training. How this makes any sense is a stretch at best, but this is a movie about monsters the size of skyscrapers, so logic I suppose should really be left at the ticket counter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 14th, 2018
For some reason, adapting video games into good films has been the nut Hollywood just can’t seem to crack. The Resident Evil series has been successful, but I wouldn’t say it really holds up to the game. Personally, Silent Hill has been the only adaption I’ve really enjoyed, and that film has divided fans as well. As for the Tomb Raider franchise that kicked off in 2001, sure, it had some fun sequences. And with Angelina Jolie becoming a hot commodity at the time, it’s not too much of a surprise that it did well at the box office. Now 17 years later, the time has come for Tomb Raider to get a makeover and work its way through the reboot machine. This is a reboot, though, I don’t mind; after all, the video game gave its featured character a makeover and decided to tell the story of a much younger Lara Croft. As for the film, how did it do as it followed the game’s footsteps by casting a younger actress to fill the role?
Tomb Raider is kind of a big deal for Warner Bros. Sure, they kicked in a lot of money for this film, but, more importantly, this was obviously a potential tentpole franchise that they hoped to squeeze several sequels out of. Because of the franchise potential, it is no surprise that they would cast a younger talent for the role of Lara Croft, and for me Alicia Vikander is great choice. For those unfamiliar with Vikander, I simply can’t recommend Ex Machina enough. Is she Angelina Jolie? No, but that’s okay; times have changed, and, instead of sexualizing the role, we get a more grounded and relatable take on the character.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 13th, 2018
“A straight line…you just go, and you never…look…back.”
Well, I hope you’re ready to have everything you know about the Terminator franchise turned on its head. As a franchise known for his alternative timelines where the things we come to know are often turned around, my previous statement may sound like the usual bread and butter to you. However, I must say that I feel like the latest incarnation of the franchise, Terminator Genisys, has really outdone itself this time. As far as reboots go, this may be one of the best that I have seen in quite some time as we are introduced to a completely new cast (well, almost completely new cast) portraying characters already near and dear to our hearts. Terminator Genisys was an action-packed experience sure to leave the audience entertained.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 29th, 2018
The film is based on a series of books that I had never read, and from what I understand the film takes many liberties with the storyline and characters. As his sophomore effort behind the camera, there were high expectations for what Garland would do, and the result I believe is one of the most divisive films I’ve seen in a while. This is the kind of film that gets me excited for the future of cinema, not just because I loved the film, but I love the conversation it can provoke with other filmgoers.
The film has a non-linear narrative; really, this is my only complaint, since it opens virtually where our story is nearing its end. While I usually don’t have a problem with this kind of storytelling, I’m annoyed by it this time around, because all the suspense around the survival of our lead is stripped away. The film still manages to squeeze in some head-spinning surprises at the end, so I can easily put my one measly complaint aside.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on May 23rd, 2018
“Don’t give them all of you, Dominika. Hold something back. That is how you will survive.”
There appears to be nothing Jennifer Lawrence can’t do. She is an Oscar winner, the face of a successful movie franchise, and now she is a Russian spy who specializes in seduction techniques. Now in the looks department, there are scores of men that would gladly hand over their social security number for the opportunity to be seduced by J Law, so her casting was a no-brainer. But she went much deeper than that, showing an unparalleled intellect and natural aptitude for the world of espionage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 22nd, 2018
The Matrix (1999) was a landmark film in the Sci-Fi genre. While its box office intake was dwarfed by Episode 1, it was The Matrix that had people talking. Andy and Larry Wachowski’s story of a post-apocalyptic world where humans serve as biological generators of energy for the machines that rule the planet challenged people’s perceptions of what reality was. Computer hacker extraordinaire Neo (Reeves) has this gut feeling that life isn’t all that it seems to be. Turns out he’s right in a big way. A group of revolutionaries led by the thought-to-be-mythical Morpheus (Fishburne) open his eyes to the Matrix.
The Matrix, it turns out, is nothing more than an elaborate computer-generated reality intended to mollify humanity who are in reality nothing more than sheep, or in this case a renewable energy source, to feed the machines that have inherited the Earth. Morpheus believes Neo is “The One”, a prophesized savior who can bend the Matrix to his own will who will eventually lead humanity out of slavery. What follows is enough eye candy to give an army of Swiss chocolate factory workers diabetes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 20th, 2018
Clint Eastwood has been at the top of the game both as an actor and a director, often both at the same time. There's no question that he still has the skills. Unfortunately, 15:17 To Paris isn't a great example of his direction skills. Don't get me wrong. There is a nice intense film in here, but it only lasts for about 10 minutes and hungrily screams out for more of the same. Eastwood's problem is much the same that he had in Sully. He doesn't really have enough material for a truly great feature film, so he is forced to fill the screen time with something he hopes will entertain us long enough to stay with him for the good stuff. But as Clint said once as Dirty Harry, "A man's got to know his limitations."
On August 21, 2015 a terrorist boarded a bullet train to Paris in Amsterdam. He carried several weapons including an automatic rifle with over 300 rounds of ammunition, enough to take out nearly all of the passengers on that route. He didn't get very far because of the heroism of some of the passengers aboard. Three of the passengers were friends taking a cross-continent backpacking trip in Europe. Anthony Sadler, Spencer Stone, and Alek Skarlatos had been friends since childhood. They were instrumental in stopping the terrorist before he could cause too much damage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 16th, 2018
"I shall tell you of William Wallace. Historians from England will say I am a liar, but history is written by those who have hanged heroes. The king of Scotland had died without a son, and the king of England, a cruel pagan known as Edward the Longshanks, claimed the throne of Scotland for himself. Scotland's nobles fought him, and fought each other, over the crown..."
Mel Gibson had a bit of a rollercoaster life for a while there. His DUI arrest and subsequent anti-Semitic rant caused many to look less favorably upon the man himself. He appears to be making his way back into the fold. Of course, it helps that Hollywood has bigger fish to fry now, and suddenly Gibson's flaws don't appear quite so damning with all the new revelations that really started with Bill Cosby but blossomed with Harvey Weinstein. Gibson's directed films hadn't been as accessible to the public, but last year he took the film world by storm when he released Hacksaw Ridge. It was perhaps the most meaningful World War II film since Saving Private Ryan 20 years earlier. Little by little, Gibson is coming back. He won't win everyone over, but he's making some headway. Still, no matter how you view Gibson or his work today, it can’t be denied that he has created one of the more compelling films of our day in Braveheart.
