Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 22nd, 2008
Traditionally, I love spoofs. I spent many of my younger days watching movies like Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Young Frankenstein. More recently, I have actually (for the most part) enjoyed every Scary Movie. So whenever I see a new spoof, I am at least somewhat interested in the movie and have aspirations to see it on disc. Epic Movie scares me a bit because it comes from the same people who did Date Movie. I found Date Movie to be okay at best, but I had a small hope that this would turn out better. Jello shots & Nyquil could not save me from this disaster.
The movie starts out with Lucy (played by Jayma Mays), Edward (played by Kal Penn), Susan (played by Faune Chambers) and Peter (played by Adam Campbell) who find golden tickets inside Willy chocolate bars. Their scenes emulate DaVinci Code, Nacho Libre, Snakes on a Plane, & X-Men. They get to the chocolate factory where they meet Willy (played by Crispin Glover) who shows them inside. He then explains how the four lucky winners are to become parts of his candy. So they start running.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 13th, 2008
Waitress is a film that could easily be passed-over as a tired, generic chick flick when perusing the DVD section of your favorite retailer. Those that take a chance on this underrated film, however, are in for a real treat. This is a film that has genuine heart, is honest and surprisingly funny.
Keri Russell stars as a down-on-her-luck waitress that makes pies in a small town diner. When she discovers that she is pregnant, she begins to want more than her lowlife husband is giving her. Unfortunately, she seems to find what she is looking for in her Doctor.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 6th, 2008
In the Valley of Elah is the second film I’ve seen recently that addresses the condition of soldiers returning from the Iraq war. Unlike Home of the Brave, however, Elah is actually a strong film with impressive performances and a story that hooks you and holds on to the end. It’s a Paul Haggis production – the two-time Oscar winner wrote, directed and produced the film – so Elah has some serious cred right off the bat, thanks to the success of other Haggis projects. Maybe you’ve heard of Crash, best picture winner of 2004, Million Dollar Baby or Letters From Iwo Jima?
Those credits aside, In the Valley of Elah’s best feature is a masterful performance by Tommy Lee Jones (No Country for Old Men), who’s up for a best actor Oscar for his portrayal of an old-school army veteran searching for his son.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 22nd, 2008
I don’t particularly care how many times filmmakers recycle old tales, so long as they produce enjoyable films. The Invasion revisits sci-fi scribe Jack Finney’s “The Body Snatchers” for the fourth time on film, following in the steps of the original 1956 film and the ’78 and ’93 remakes. Dave Kajganich wrote the screenplay, and Oliver Hirschbiegel (The Downfall) directed. Then Warner hired the Wachowski brothers (The Matrix) to rewrite some scenes and inject more action into the film, and James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) to direct the re-shoots.
So is The Invasion a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, or just the right creative balance to bring Finney’s classic horror tale to life in the new millennium?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 27th, 2007
Sometimes I absolutely adore anime. Great action from the far east that breaks boundaries one could only dream of. Or perhaps to tell an engaging story about a love lost long ago. Once in a while, I hate anime unfortunately. This usually occurs when they break no boundaries, tread over the same story or it plays out like hentai (tentacles in places where they don't belong). So I receive Paprika to review. Hoping I would like it, I quickly stuffed it in my dvd player and found the following:
Paprika is the story of what would happen if somebody built a machine (called the "DC Mini" here, presumably the Mini DreamCatcher) that would allow psychotherapists to enter their patient's dreams and help them understand their hidden meaning. The DC Mini was designed and built by Dr. Kosaku Tokita, an extremely large fellow who is basically a child at heart. The main therapist Dr. Atsuko Chiba uses the device to enter her patient's dreams as "Paprika". Paprika is a fun and whimsical being and in contrast to the doctor who is very serious and laid back. Her primary patient for the film is Detective Konakawa Toshimi. He is having a recurring dream where he is trying to find this killer on the case he is working on. However, he can never make that breakthrough as the killer keeps escaping thru the various scenes in his dream.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2007
I like Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting). A lot. Generally, his presence alone is enough to make me watch a particular movie — an unfortunate fact, given his spotty record. The man can be hilarious, and he has starred in some highly entertaining films over his long career. But he's also done bad movies, flops and failures. License to Wed is one of those.
10 minutes in, I wanted to turn it off. At 18 minutes, I was actively mocking everything and anything onscreen. By the half-way point, I was cursing my obligation as reviewer to sit through the entire film. This movie is an all-around bust. Stop reading now, and check out some other Upcomingdiscs reviews for better films to watch. You can pretty much close your eyes and click to find something that'll top License to Wed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2007
A friend that I work with said that if Hollywood ever ran out of creative and original ideas, and that if a studio managed to make a sequel about pirate zombies that lasted three hours long, it would clean up at the box office. But the fact of the matter is that if we survived a nuclear winter, we would be well prepared about what to do when zombies took over the land, because of the prep we had from guys like George Romero. So even though Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later might have presumably sealed the deal when it came to this particular interpretation, someone decided to dredge it up for whatever reason.
The sequel, appropriately titled 28 Weeks Later was written by several Spaniards, including Enrique Lavigne (Sex and Lucia), who also produced the film, and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (Intact), who directed. After the viral epidemic and the subsequent pronouncement that “all was well” in England, the U.S. led NATO troops helped to clean and repopulate the London area. That is slightly down the line of the film’s opening, which has Don (Robert Carlyle, The Full Monty) and his wife Alice (Catherine McCormack, Braveheart) separated when some of the infected invade their countryside cottage, and he manages to get away. Flash forward to the period that shares the film’s title, and Don is a key part of the repopulation effort when his children come back to England. But you know how sequels go, through divine effort or circumstance, London becomes infected again and everything goes straight to hell.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 16th, 2007
Despite its lame title, I've been excited about seeing Live Free or Die Hard since it was announced. The Bruce Willis franchise has been a favourite of mine for a long time, thanks to the original Die Hard which stands as one of the greatest action films of all time.
Willis reveals in the commentary that he and director Len Wiseman (Underworld) set out to make a Die Hard movie that surpasses the middle two in the series and is as good as the first. While Willis apparently feels they succeeded, I beg to differ. Live Free or Die Hard is certainly a good action flick, but nothing can ever surpass Die Hard in my book. Opinions of the film aside, this DVD set is sure to satisfy John McClane fans of any stripe.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on November 4th, 2007
Everybody remembers the first scary movie that gave them nightmares for days and months after they saw it. For some, it was the Exorcist and for more recent folks perhaps it was Scream or Saw. For me, it was Poltergeist. I was but seven years old and thought it would be something like E.T. Phone Home, but with swirly demons and ghosts? It was PG, how bad could it be? In the next two hours, I was treated to something that resonates with me to this very day. From the moment I heard "They're Here", I knew I would never see static on televisions the same way.
It's 3:00 in the morning, the national anthem is playing and then the television goes to static (remember those days, now we just get infomercials about losing weight). A small child named Carol Anne (played by Heather O' Rourke) gets out of bed and walks towards the television. She starts talking to the set and works up a pretty good conversation. The people inside the television were trying to communicate with the 5 year old child. However, there was something else in the television set, something far more sinister. There was more at work here than a girl perhaps making an imaginary friend.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 2nd, 2007
The Sopranos, called by some the greatest TV show in history, is over. With a much-publicized fade-to-black finish, the series finale aired June 10, 2007, leaving fans to forever speculate about the fate of Tony Soprano. Many were disappointed at this ambiguous ending, but I'm sure a similar number enjoyed having some major loose ends.
It's all academic for me, because I hadn't watched the series since its season three finale, and only caught the end when this DVD set came my way for review. After catching up on seasons four, five and six (part one) through synopses, I sat down to experience The Sopranos' closing act.
