Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 3rd, 2006
Excalibur tells the story of King Arthur, from his simple beginnings to his noble ends. War plagues Great Britain, and many countrymen relish at the thought of peace as everyone is making claim to the Kingship. It is told that who ever removes Excalibur from the stone will be declared King. This legend might sound familiar to you as The Sword in the Stone (Excalibur being the sword). It is a mythical sword, which has been said to have magical, and only a noble and worthy man can bear it. Every noble i... the land claims they are worthy enough to remove the sword from the stone but each who tries, fails. Arthur, who has yet to realize who he really is, accidentally removes the sword one day. Being so young, the nobles are divided on whether to follow him as King. Civil war wages on and Arthur quickly defeats and unites the remaining noble leader, forming the fellowship of the Round Table. From here we are taken on the adventures that span most of Arthur’s life, including the search for the Holy Grail.
Excalibur has hit a chord with many people and has its own cult following, unfortunately I could not be completely drawn in to this film. Excalibur has all the elements to make it an enjoyable movie but misses the mark from making it truly memorable. Some scenes seemed really out of place, and overall it failed to captivate my attention with drawn on dialogue and mediocre action scenes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 1st, 2006
When I first heard of the film Accepted I immediately thought of Camp Nowhere. Both films have a similar plot – that of kids convincing their parents of a fake place that they're all going to. Accepted is a modern version of the aforementioned film, but lacks the overall humor that Camp Nowhere gave us.
When Bartleby Gaines is turned down by every single college he applied to he decides to make up a sister school to Harmon College simply named South Harmon Institute of Technolog... (read S.H.I.T.). The college campus is located down the road from Harmon in an abandoned psychiatry ward. Everything seems to be running smoothly for Bartleby and his buddies. The parents have all handed them the first 10K semester tuition and the parties seemingly never end. Naturally something has to go wrong, right? Well it turns out that when Bartleby's best friend Sherman designed the college website, he made the mistake of letting everyone who hit the 'accepted' button on the site actually become, um, accepted to the school. What on earth will Bartleby and his buddies do with the sudden influx of students? Why have an endless of amount of parties of course!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 26th, 2006
Natalie Portman stars in V for Vendetta, cast in a role unlike what I typically expect from her, a dialogue driven action movie with a serious tone to it. This movie even got me thinking a little bit about mankind’s intolerance of other man and how far society has to go to protect itself. I enjoy movies of this nature, you know the kind taking place in a not to distance future and not so distant problems, but a drastically different way of life. Something these movies always have in common is the civil rights ...hat are stripped from society for “beneficiary” reasons and leadership is in the form of a dictatorship. Basically, mankind takes a step back and a docile society is brought forward. Curfew and the inability to freely express oneself via certain forms of art and music plague a futuristic England. The real question here being, would you rather live in a world with few forms of expression and the inability to be a non-conformist but with crime almost non-existent? Comparable to the movie Equilibrium before it, the people in this future must sacrifice these certain rights in order to live in a “safe” environment.
The movie also has obvious Nazi undertones; the most obvious would be the rise and rule of Chancellor Adam Sutler, which shares similar traits and action of Adolph Hitler. The way the speeches are conducted, and the way the personal army of the Chancellor have rule of the streets all seem to remind me of the Nazi regime. I believe this element of the film makes it much more real to the viewer, seeing as fear tactics have and still are being used by government officials today.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 23rd, 2006
I’ll come right out and say it. I don’t see what the big deal is with actor Owen Wilson. Sure he was funny in Wedding Crashers, but he always seems to play that super annoying character in his films that you just want to hate, but seemingly can’t sometimes feel sorry for. Such is the case in his recent 2006 affair with Kate Hudson and Matt Dillon entitled You, Me and Dupree.
Carl (Matt Dillon) and Molly (Kate Hudson) have just gotten married in the beautiful Hawaii islands. Dupree (Owen Wilso...) is Carl’s best friend and best man at the wedding. Life for the newlyweds is running smoothly until Carl learns that Dupree has been fired from his previous job for taking the week off to attend Carl’s wedding without informing his boss. Now Dupree is homeless and living on the street with no job. Naturally, as any best friend would do, Carl invites Dupree into his home for a few days in hopes that he’ll get back on his feet. Antics after antics result in Carl and Molly realizing that their genuine hospitality toward Dupree may have been overly nice. As the film’s tagline goes ‘Two’s company, but Dupree’s a crowd.’
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2006
For nearly eleven years now, I've heard nothing but horrendous comments about Kevin Costner's post-apocalyptic film Waterworld. Critics and audiences alike have torn this film a new one, claiming that the film was boring and full of so many holes that it literally swallows itself. While I didn't absolutely love the film, it surely surprised the hell out of me as I found it to be rather entertaining.
The basic plot of the film goes something like this. The unknown future has arrived along with the me...ting of the polar ice caps. The Earth is covered almost entirely in water. The humans that are left have totally forgotten the past and tend to believe in a modified creation belief in which their god, or creator, created the world covered entirely with water. There is also a so called 'dry-land' somewhere on the planet. Actor Kevin Costner stars as a drifter (i.e. people who ply the water in their boats trading and collecting with one another) named Mariner. He's a mutant of sorts with webbed feet and gills (a very useful attribute to have especially considering the amount of water surrounding him). The other main group of people are the Smokers who are basically pirates who inhabit abandoned oil tankers. The Smokers have been tipped off that a girl named Elona, whose mother is named Helen, has a tattoo on her back that serves as a map toward Dry-land.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 16th, 2006
Steven Seagal has never been able to do it for me, that probably explains why this is the first time I have ever seen this movie. Upon reading the back it seemed to have potential, the first thing I notice on the back was the comment “Die Hard on a battleship”. That’s a bold statement as Die Hard is one of the best action movies ever made, having all the core elements.
It’s the fiftieth anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor as the movie begins, and it’s the final voyage of the USS Missouri. ...teven Seagal plays Casey Ryback an ex-navy seal turned cook who has the tedious task of retaking the ship once terrorists seize it. Tommy Lee Jones and Garry Busey play the leaders of the terrorists, who are now hell bent on stopping Segal from reeking havoc on their plans. Yes the movie plays out in similar fashion to Die Hard but lacks everything that made that movie good. I’ve never been a fan of Seagal and this movie clearly demonstrates why. The guy acts like a robot, lacking any charisma that Stallone and even Schwarzenegger bring to the action genre. This guy is supposed to be well trained in martial arts but I don’t see it, all he does is throw people around, no Jackie Chan moves here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 15th, 2006
Ever since making the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Director Peter Jackson has almost become a household name that seems to always guarantee success. Don’t get me wrong though, Jackson has not always been successful. Before making the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson had the film The Frighteners and a few smaller films where he only produced. The idea of giving this not so successful movie director hundreds of millions of dollars to remake the Lord of the Rings trilogy, made many turn their...heads simply wondering why. After the gigantic success of the trilogy, Jackson targeted another remake, a remake to a film he says was the reason he wanted to become a film director. The film in question is the 1933 classic King Kong.
When news first arrived of this remake, many fans, including myself, were very excited to see what Jackson could come up with. However, I don’t need to spell out how many remakes, including the recent Pink Panther, are extremely horrid. With the news coming out that New Line wanted Jackson to trim the film down (from the final run time of 182 minutes to 140 for a quicker turn around audience) and that the film’s budget had sky-rocketed forcing Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh to fork over their money, a lot of fans started to worry if Peter Jackson’s King Kong was going to go down in history as simply another poorly made remake. Can a one-time nobody director, now an extremely famous director turn a black and white classic into a modern age epic? Read on to find out.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 10th, 2006
Warren Beatty attempts directing for the second time in Reds, a film based on the life of John Reed during the Russian Revolution. I didn’t know what to expect from this film, as I had never heard of it prior to its release on HD DVD. I have never seen a movie based on this subject matter, so the movie covered all new grounds for me. Upon investigation I discovered the movie was nominated for twelve Academy Awards and won three, including Best Director for Warren Beatty. Boasting an impressive cast including W...rren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Paul Sorvino, and Gene Hackman, this movie seemed to have a lot of potential.
John Reed was an American journalist and communist activist best known for writing Ten Days that Shook the World. He was married to writer Louise Bryant; they had a hot and cold relationship, which is one of the main themes portrayed in this movie. Of course the others being John Reed’s quest to document the Russian Revolution, and the years beyond it. We learn about things such as communism, the insecurities of the main characters, and observe their somewhat repetitive back and forth bickering. Interestingly, Beatty decided to tie in actual interviews with people who knew John Reed throughout the movie, which gave us real life perspectives about Reed as well as tying together different parts of the story. I enjoyed those parts, as they didn’t interrupt the flow of the movie and it added an insightful sense of realism to it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 8th, 2006
It seems that most of the creators behind today’s horror movies just aren’t thinking anymore. Films like The Grudge or the remake of the classic The Omen just aren’t as scary anymore. Such is the case with the recent Universal film Slither, which ends up being an entertaining movie, but never really produces that spook factor that say the original Halloween or Nightmare on Elm Street produced.
The film begins after a meteorite crashes in a Midwestern town. A man named Gra...t (Michael Rooker) stumbles upon a fossil and is infected by a life force living inside the fossil. Soon his super cute wife Starla (Elizabeth Banks) figures out that something is not right with her husband. He has a new found larger than life hunger for raw meat and he begins to crave strange body mutations. It turns out that a strange alien creature has infested Grant in hopes of infesting the entire human race. Now the next part sounds a bit out of the film Species. The creature inside Grant decides it wants to mate with Starla to create a whole new race. Bring in Deputy Bill Pardy (Nathan Fillion) and Jack MacReady (Gregg Henry) to do battle with this new creature and you have, surprisingly, a pretty entertaining film even if it never truly scares you.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 5th, 2006
The second of the Fast and Furious trilogy finds Brian O’Connor returning only this time in the streets of Miami. Down there he has become a Dominic type character ruling the streets with his excellent racing skills earning the respect of everyone. One night his buddy Tej (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) calls him up asking if he wants to race. Needing cash, Brian obviously agrees. After a close race including an impressive bridge jump, Brian wins. Cutting his celebration short, the police arrive after an undercover...cop Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes) watches Brian’s every move. We soon learn that the authorities were rather angered with Brian when he let Dominic go. Offering to forgive this and his numerous other charges, the cops wants Brian to infiltrate a Miami drug lord Carter Verone (Cole Hunter). The only way Brian agrees to do this is if he picks his partner, who turns out to be his childhood ‘friend’ Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson).
We soon learn that Monica is involved with Carter as his ‘girlfriend’ which is only so she can get inside and learn what his next move is. She brings both Brian and Roman to him along with a few others. Their goal is to obtain a package that was in the glove compartment of a confiscated vehicle. This is the test for both of them, something they easily pass. Now that Brian and Roman are on board, they can give tons of tips to the police about Carter and his newest deal right? Well, that will be found out soon enough.