Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2010
"There are no multiple choices."
It's about time that someone did a good job of making a horror movie version of Revenge Of The Nerds. This is the first movie for director Joey Stewart. He's done a lot of second unit stuff, mostly for television in the past. It's like the third effort for writer Jason Kabolati, but together I think they just might be on to something here. The Final plays on both our desire for a good blood and guts horror movie and our satisfaction of seeing those picked-on socially awkward kids get the upper hand on their bullies
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2010
Maybe the problem is that I just don't get British. I'd like to think I'm just as hip as the rest of you out there, but I'm just not so sure. I mean, I love Monty Python to death, but just could never get Benny Hill. I'm a huge Doctor Who fan from a long time ago, but some of the British science fiction movies and mini-series I've seen of late mostly just leave me scratching my head. It's like everyone in the world is in on this great funny joke and I'm the only one who doesn't get it. I hate feeling that way, but that's exactly what The Reeds left me feeling before it was all over.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 6th, 2010
If you're reading this review, you must surely already know what the movie is about. We're talking, after all, about what must surely be the single most celebrated case of mistaken identity in the history of film. Cary Grant stands up in a lounge at just the wrong moment and is mistaken for a man who doesn't exist. That utterly perverse mix of chance and paradox, leading to ever more dangerous situations for Grant, in an ever more complicated tangle of battling conspiracies, is so utterly Hitchcockian, it might just as well be trademarked.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on April 4th, 2010
We're into the serious world of high concept now, people. Remember all those struggles D.W. Griffith and Sergei Eisenstein went through to establish cinema as a legitimate art form? Well, this here flick sure makes all those struggles worthwhile. Big Red – midget, former mascot, porn star – dies, and leaves his millions to be fought over by midget-hating son and gold-digging wife. The terms of the battle: each must coach one of the titular teams through a series of ridiculous contests and pranks.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 4th, 2010
Tell Them Anything You Want displays the nuances of a genius. Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs chronicle the successes and troubles of a pillar in children’s literature. Maurice Sendak became massively famous with the success of his book Where the Wild Things Are. In his career he has written over 100 children’s books and his work has been widely accepted as “brilliant, enchanting and masterful”. The film is full of intimacy; Jonze and Bangs display their obvious affection and interest in Maurice Sendak with this portrait.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 2nd, 2010
The Prisoner was a television show that ran in the UK from September of 1967 to February of 1968. It starred Patrick McGoohan as the Prisoner who was trying to understand what the Village was and how to escape from it. Enter 2009; we have a remake and this time we have Jim Caviezel in the familiar role. However, this time things go just a little bit differently.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2010
"The story of a man in a mountain climbing accident who cut his own friends off the rope to save himself. Convicted of second degree manslaughter, that's compelling stuff."
Well... technically he took a plea bargain. This is actually pretty frightening stuff in the very real world that we live in. It's a moral question that each of us would like to believe they would make a certain way. But, the truth is, one can never really be sure. It's a circumstance that no one wants to actually find out what they would do. But, it does pose a very interesting question, doesn't it?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 2nd, 2010
"In December 2005 a tragic accident began a series of extraordinary events that thrust a grieving family and the small Victorian town of Ararat into the media spotlight. This film is a record of those events."
How many movies over the last 10 years have started with that line? It scares me right from the jump, but not in a good way, when I realize I'm about to watch another "found footage" or "real event" film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2010
"Maybe I'm not being clear enough. Maybe I need to be honest with you and tell you what I want. I want your soul to open up for me."
Clive Barker's name has been synonymous with horror for quite a long time. Along with Steven King, there is likely not another name out there that has been responsible for so much written terror. His stories have sold hundreds of millions of copies and inspired many films and television projects. He's been called the modern Edgar Allan Poe, and when you witness something so frightening at its very base as Dread happens to be, it isn't hard to understand how he came by that kind of a reputation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 31st, 2010
An ancient facility beneath Antarctica becomes the launching platform to the lost city of Atlantis. Atlantis is buried beneath an ocean in another galaxy and can only be reached with an additional symbol on the Stargate. Because of power limitations this trip, at least for the time being, is a one-way adventure. A crew of scientists and military officers from many countries assemble to explore the Pegasus Galaxy from the Atlantis gate. Led by scientist Dr. Weir (Higginson) and Maj. John Sheppard (Flanigan) they take over the Atlantian command center and begin to explore.
