Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 21st, 2009
Ridley Scott’s Body of Lies is a reliable piece of filmmaking exemplary of the great director’s ability to make a tensely watch-able film, even if said film isn’t his best work. Such is the case with this Leonardo DiCaprio-Russell Crowe-led action-thriller that focuses on the post-Iraqi invasion conflict. DiCaprio’s Roger Ferris is left with those little pieces of death that have proven so much more dangerous after the old regime was toppled by U.S. forces, and he seems fine with it.More at home is he in the Middle East because control always seems to be within his grasp. It’s when that control is threatened by the meddling of Washington, D.C., bureaucrats that he finds it difficult to function.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 18th, 2009
Everything you loved from the first film is back again. Dreamworks took the high road and brought all of the voice cast back. That means the wonderful chemistry these characters developed in the first film gets to continue. We don’t have to waste time setting up new bonds. We can get right to the adventure. Dreamworks also retained pretty much the entire animation team and added even more talent. The quality of this animation actually improves upon that of the original. Water, in particular, is startling on this film. It is as photo real as I’ve seen it in any animation feature to date. The characters are a little blocky, evidenced by Alex’s paws, but that’s really a style decision and not an animation flaw. Another stand-out rendering is the dust factor. Throughout the film dust plays an important role in the overall look of the picture. Again, you get incredibly photo real particles or clouds of dust in this film. Both of these achievements are milestones in animation technology. Of course, technology is only as good as what you do with it. We get lovable characters in very interesting situations. If you even liked the first film, I think you’ll love this film even more….Except for that pesky “Move It Move It” nonsense.
The film opens up with a quick recap of the events of the first feature. We also get to go further into the past for a very brief encounter with our zoo friends as babies. (Do I smell a cartoon series or prequel film coming our way?) After that quick recap, we join the zoo gang where we last saw them, in the wilds of Madagascar. The Penguins have repaired an old aircraft and set it up on a huge slingshot in preparation for a flight back to the New York Zoo. There’s tearful goodbyes all around, but unfortunately, King Julien decides to join the gang on their return home. The Air Penguin has a successful takeoff, but makes it only as far as the African mainland before it crash lands. Once in Africa, the zoo gang gets to meet wild members of their own kind. Alex (Stiller) discovers his parents and learns how it was that he came to be at the zoo. Gloria (Smith) finds that the African plains are just “raining” male hippos. She hooks up with the continent’s resident stud, Moto Moto (Am). Of course, that’s going to bring out the jealousy in Melman (Schwimmer). Melman also discovers that all giraffes are by nature hypochondriacs and usually crawl off to die at the first sign of illness. His vast knowledge of medicine earns him the rank of herd witch doctor. Mart (Rock) discovers that all zebra look and sound exactly alike. He gets depressed by his perceived lack of uniqueness. Zuba (Mac), Alex’s father, is the ruler of this particular part of Africa. His reign has been plagued by the conniving of fellow lion, Makunga (Baldwin). He’ll use the return of Alex to gain control of the crown. When Alex fails a coming of age ritual, Zuba abdicates and Makunga is in control. Unfortunately, his reign is soon threatened by the dry up of the watering hole. Alex, intent on proving himself, sets out to return the flow of water to the hole. With Marty by his side, they trace the problem to a dam, built by New York tourists that include the old lady who gave Alex a whoopin’ in the first film. Ninja Nana has organized the tourists who have been stranded by the penguins’ commando raids to salvage parts to repair the plane. While Alex and Marty set out to fix the problem, King Julien has another plan. He wants to sacrifice someone to the mighty volcano to please the “water gods”. Thinking he’s dying anyway, and has lost Gloria, Melman volunteers to be fed to the volcano. These events all converge into an ending very much a Madagascar adventure. For a running time less than an hour and a half, there is no wasted time at all here. If anything, the story all seems to happen so fast that it’s over before you start to sink your teeth into it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 16th, 2009
In my life, I have been married and divorced once. Quite simply, I made my share of mistakes and in my opinion, my ex-wife made some mistakes as well. It just never worked like one thinks a marriage should work. Instead, it left me broken but more importantly it left me a lot smarter and a better person. So naturally, I felt some connection to the broken marriage plot of the movie Fireproof. However, would my experience or failure in the art of marriage provide a bias to this film? We will just have to find out.
Caleb Holt (played by Kirk Cameron) works as a fire captain and manages a fire station. He’s a hero among the community and has saved many lives. However, at home he has a troubled marriage with Catherine (played by Erin Bethea) for a number of reasons including internet pornography and simply lack of love. During a particularly heated argument, Caleb gets in Catherine’s face and she declares she wants out of the marriage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2009
“Once upon a time in New York City…”
Walt Disney might well have been the storyteller of more than one generation of kids. Is it any wonder that when we think of such characters as Winnie The Pooh or Peter Pan our minds conjure the images wrought by Disney animators and not necessarily the classic literature descriptions? That might not be the case with this Charles Dickens story, retold through Disney’s trademark animal point of view. Oliver & Company doesn’t appear to have had the staying power of films both before and after its time. After watching the film again, perhaps for the first time since its 20 years ago release, I can’t imagine why it has never quite caught on. From a popular culture standpoint the film has all of the elements that have led to other more beloved Disney classics. The Dickens story is a familiar one, read by most literature students as a matter of course. Many of the era’s biggest names lent their voice talents to the characters, including Billy Joel and Bette Midler. The songs are about as catchy as anyone might have hoped for. Just what was it that relegated this little seen Disney adventure to the bargain bin of animation classics?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 21st, 2009
“When one starts to perceive one’s own reflection as a completely separate being, one is suddenly confronted with two entirely separate egos, two entirely separate worlds that can surface at any given moment. A feeling of self hatred usually triggered by a psychological shock can split the personality in two, hence creating two or more personalities with distinct memories and distinct behavior patterns within the same individual. The patient has the false perception of the existence of two distinct worlds, the real world and the world inside the mirror.”
Or maybe not so false, at least according to the 20th Century Fox thriller, Mirrors.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 6th, 2009
David Koepp is one of Hollywood’s power screenwriters. His credits include Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, and Spider-Man. As a director he has also had some limited success with films like Stir Of Echoes. It seems almost from left field that we end up with a romantic comedy both written and directed by the award winning writer. If Koepp is out of his element here, it really doesn’t show at all. Of course the entire idea is far from an original one, but he handles it with relative competency. All of the essential elements are in place, and he has managed to surround himself with a fairly good cast and crew. This is the first American star vehicle for British funny man Ricky Gervais. His style is definitely one of British humor, but it translates well for the character he’s been given here. It’s actually a very clever bit of casting. The end result isn’t going to add any additional statues to his mantle, but it does provide some harmless entertainment for that rainy, or snowy, depending upon where you happen to be, day.
Dentist Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is a perfect role model for Ebenezer Scrooge. He has little use for other people. He avoids contact whenever possible and takes a perverse pleasure in watching others struggle, doing what he can to perpetuate their discomfort. He’s the kind of guy that will offer to hold the elevator only to close the door in your face just as you reach it. One day he is having a routine examination under general anesthesia. He dies for 7 minutes and is brought back to life. Everything appears fine, except now he has this annoying ability to see dead people all around him. As soon as they catch on that there’s someone who can see and hear them, they gravitate to him, imploring him to help with their unfinished business. Of course, Pincus wants no part of that at all. One such spirit, however, is particularly persistent in annoying Pincus. Frank (Kinnear) has recently been hit by a bus and wants to break up his widow’s budding new romance. He was a cheater in life and now can’t stand to see her with someone he believes is too much like him. After constant harassment, Pincus agrees to take on the job, but not out of kindness for Frank. It seems Pincus has become smitten with Frank’s widow, Gwen (Leoni). She works at the local natural history museum, and Pincus offers his dental expertise to help her examine a new mummy that holds her interest. Before long the two are a couple, but that wasn’t exactly what Frank had in mind, either. He attempts, rather successfully, to derail Pincus from his courtship. Pincus pretty much has his epiphany and decides to try and care a bit more about others. He helps a few of the other spirits and starts to feel good about helping others. In the end, when Pincus himself is again teetering between life and death, he does get a second chance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 31st, 2008
There are a ton of parallels between the Chris Farley/David Spade comedy team and that of John Belushi/Dan Aykroyd. Both teams began in the Saturday Night Live arena. It was that physical big/little guy combination that has its roots with Laurel and Hardy, and Abbott and Costello. Both teams were at the height of their careers when a drug overdose would claim the wilder member of the team. Both of the deceased comedians left behind at least one successful brother to carry on the name in show business. Tommy Boy was by far the best of the films this duo made before Farley’s tragic overdose in 1997.
Tommy Boy Callahan has been a screwup since he was a kid. It wasn’t looking much better as he matured into adulthood. After 7 years Tommy finally graduated college with a celebrated D+ grade. Now his father, Big Tom (Dennehy) wants Tommy Boy to come and take his place as the heir apparent in their auto parts manufacturing plant. Tommy’s best friend since childhood is Richard (Spade) who has been Big Tom’s right hand man all along. He feels cheated but is tasked with getting Tommy Boy ready to eventually run the company. Big Tom is also getting ready to marry a hot babe 20 years his junior, Beverly (Derek). At the wedding Big Tom suddenly dies, and now a group of con artists are trying to take control of his plant so that they can sell it to their biggest rival, Zalinksky (Aykroyd). Now it’s up to Tommy Boy and Richard to hit the road and sell a half million worth of brake pads to keep the company from defaulting to the bank, and falling into the hands of the con artists, who are working to place roadblocks in their way. Can they save the plant?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 31st, 2008
“I fear I’ve done some things in life too late… and others too early.”
Not a creed for the growing minions of our divorced population (though it probably should be), but a remarkably summative line from the new film The Duchess starring Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes. Knightley is Georgiana, a spirited young girl, who starts with a fairy tale ideal of how her life as a married woman will be, but soon learns the world (and especially her husband, Fiennes) isn’t ready for her brand of feminism. Knightley does an admirable job of charming the peripheral characters, as well as viewers, but she cannot seem to win the affections of her husband. As time passes, she no longer cares, and instead seeks solace in the arms of Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper), a promising young politician.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on December 31st, 2008
Based on the true story, Coach Carter follows the tale of a high school coach who was once an All-American athlete himself. He is brought in to coach basketball at his old school where he still holds a few records. He accepts a challenge to turn around a program that has become mired in a tradition of defeat. He takes a no nonsense approach to the players from the moment he meets them He insists on being called sir and insists that they demand the same respect from him. He puts them through workout drills that seem almost impossible, exhausting the entire squad. A few leave, unwilling to meet the high standards. In addition to the physical shape he is whipping them into, he has brought about a higher level of team spirit. That spirit is evidenced when one of the walkouts asks to return. Carter requires him to complete an impossible number of tasks. When the player comes up short as the deadline approaches, the team offers to take some of the load and do it on their own time. Lesson learned. Carter requires them to sign detailed contracts that outline his expectations which include a 2.3 GPA, .3 above the state requirement. The method pays off as the school goes on an incredible winning streak. But when Carter discovers that several of the team members are failing in their academic responsibilities, he makes a controversial call to lock the gym, canceling all practices and games until the GPA is met by everyone on the team. The community becomes outraged, but Carter holds steady, willing to be fired rather than relent. To his surprise, the team stands behind him, and they help each other reach the goal in time to make a run at the championship.
Coach Carter is really two films in one. It is certainly a sports film with many of the clichés that entails. You’re going to get a good dose of sportsmanship and plenty of basketball action. There is a second film here that makes this one rise above the many chumps to champions type movie you know you’ve seen a hundred times, if you’ve seen it once. Carter, as played by Samuel L. Jackson, is a dynamic character. In a way Jackson takes something away from the accomplishments of the real Ken Carter, because he’s so powerful that for us, it’s no wonder these kids were willing to follow him into Hell and back. I’m sure the real Ken Carter had a much tougher fight, simply because he’s no Samuel F’n Jackson. The second film here deals with the neighborhood the school is in. These kids deal with drugs and violence on a daily basis. Their lives outside of the school are likely more trying than anything they’ve encountered in school or basketball. This “second” film really begins after the first hour when the lockout begins.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 31st, 2008
Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan are on the run from a series of carefully orchestrated catastrophes. All are ominously foretold by a rather humorless young lady that may or may not be a robot in the new thriller Eagle Eye, a film that purports to be “from Stephen Spielberg.” Spielberg-lovers, don’t get your hopes up. Authorial rights belong more to director D.J. Caruso and a smorgasbord of writers that include John Glenn, Travis Adam Wright, Hillary Seitz, and Dan McDermott. Oh yeah, and a dozen other tent-pole blockbuster action films. Sound like a hodgepodge Hollywood mess? It is.
Caruso’s direction does its best impersonation of Michael Bay’s, whooshing about from one impossible set-piece to another. His snarky heroes immediately hate each other, even before they have a clear-cut reason. We know this from the snippy dialogue peppered throughout, and their forced reluctance to accept the other’s story. The concept, while not altogether weak, feels like a worn-out retread of Enemy of the State. Sure, the technology is better, and much more precise; but it doesn’t feel as innovative, cutting-edge, or thought-provoking as it did in that first effort.
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