Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 20th, 2013
The problem with casting Ben Kingsley in this film’s title role is that the Oscar-winning actor is anything but common. He’s been a commanding screen presence for four solid decades, starting with his award-winning work in 1982’s Gandhi and continuing through his surprising performance in Iron Man 3. When Kingsley first appears in A Common Man, he immediately stands out in the crowded streets of Colombo, Sri Lanka thanks to a sharp goatee and his signature shorn dome. Turns out Kingsley’s inherent star power is the least of this movie’s problems.
A Common Man is a remake of the 2008 Bollywood hit A Wednesday. The film opens with news reports of recent terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka followed by an effective, nearly dialogue-free sequence of a man (Kingsley) leaving packages at different points — a bus, a shopping mall trash can, etc. — throughout the city of Colombo. The man, who calls himself Vincent, makes his way to his makeshift headquarters on a rooftop and calls overmatched Deputy Inspector General of Police Morris Da Silva (Ben Cross) to inform him he has planted five bombs across the city. He demands the release of four deadly international terrorists and threatens to detonate the bombs if his conditions aren’t met.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on April 16th, 2013
“When I get a crush, it’s really bad.”
Everyone has experienced it before: you meet that special someone, and a crush sidelines you. They fill your head when you’re not with them. When they’re near, you act like an idiot. The downside comes when your crush is not reciprocated; or worse, they don’t even know you exist. Most people can move past the disappointment and heartbreak to get over a crush. But for an unlucky few, their crush can turn into a dangerous obsession.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 10th, 2013
“Why save a few when we can save them all?”
An excellent question; have you ever noticed that in disaster films as soon as an apocalyptic event is discovered, plans go into motion to protect the elite such as the president, his cabinet, and a few select others while the rest of the world is left out in the cold to be lambs to the slaughter? Well, in Earth’s Final Hours, the lambs fight back, working to save the many rather than just the few.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 8th, 2013
For better or worse — okay, it’s worse — it’s now impossible to hear the words “Jersey” and “Shore” without thinking of a certain group of knuckleheads on MTV. Down the Shore is a dreary, observant drama set in the region and starring James Gandolfini. If anyone is ever going to restore the area’s good(?) name, you figure the Sopranos star is a better bet than most, having previously dominated the Garden State from a pop culture standpoint by starring in the landmark television drama.
Funnily enough, Down the Shore actually opens in a sunny playground in Paris. The first scene is a meet-cute between French merry-go-round operator Jacques (Edoardo Costa) and American tourist Susan (Maria Dizzia). Fast forward three months later with Jacques traveling to the Jersey Shore to inform Susan’s brother Bailey (Gandolfini) that his younger sister is dead. On top of that happy news, Jacques and Susan had actually gotten married, and Susan left Jacques half of the house where Bailey currently lives. Bailey — who works as an amusement park operator on the Shore (apparently, Susan was drawn to certain types of men) — is understandably not happy about any of this, while Jacques is merely trying to carry out his late wife’s wishes and is willing to pull his weight at the park.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 18th, 2013
Worlds Away is the tale of a young woman named Mia who happens across a debilitated circus, where she is enchanted by the performance of an Aerialist. Mid-performance, both she and the aerialist are sucked into a parallel universe that is littered with strange, seemingly supernatural circuses. Both are lead from performance to performance in an attempt to escape, or at least find each other.
Each performance we see is taken from a pre-existing Cirque Du Soleil show (most of which a part of their Las Vegas lineup). Only the portions featuring Mia and the aerialist traveling to, through and from them are unique to this film. The story is not new to the Cirque world as I have seen the story of someone brought into the magical/surreal world of amazing acrobats many a time before. The idea is to have the audience identify with that character and share in their awe of these uncanny performers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on March 11th, 2013
“I am steel. I am doom. I march for Macragge, and I know no fear!”
The above quote is the motto of Ultramarines, the best of the best of the Space Marines from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The popular miniatures star in their first movie, a CGI action/adventure tale from Anchor Bay films. I admit — as nerdy as I am — I’ve never had any interest in the Warhammer figurines. Because of that, I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy this movie. I was pleasantly surprised, then, when the story of the Warhammer universe and the Space Marines’ place in it was succinctly presented in the opening voiceover. Much like the opening crawl in Star Wars, it gives you just enough information to appreciate the story while wanting to know more.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 28th, 2013
When an action title comes along and you see the name Steve Austin headlining it, the expectation level shouldn’t be too high (unless, of course, you’re an obsessed fan of Stone Cold). I’ve seen more than my fair share of straight-to-video action films, so it takes a lot to deter me from giving a film a chance, and when it also gives Dolph Lundgren billing, well, the film becomes hard to resist. Tommy Wick (Austin) does work for a crime family to help work off the debt of his brother, who is currently serving time in the state penitentiary. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to see Austin in this role, but from the start of the film, which opens in a bowling alley, I found it hard to believe he’s even trying to act. With the bad quippy dialog and the zero-emotion delivery, it had me thinking The Rock was on par with Daniel Day Lewis by comparison. But thankfully it doesn’t take long for Wick to start pushing people around and breaking tables with people’s heads to get me to forgive the bad acting.
It’s when Wick is approached to deliver a package to a rival gang member that the story begins to take off. Everything, of course, seems simple enough, but “the package” is anything but the normal delivery. It appears everyone wants a piece of the package, though no one seems to be quite certain what it is that they are after. Wick’s partner attempts to check it out; after all, it looks like nothing more than an old book, but before he can crack open a single page, the two men are attacked by a rival group made up of formal special ops soldiers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on February 25th, 2013
“God never would have intended this.”
Has anyone ever noticed the pairings that tend to occur in disaster films? A lone scientist with an expertise in a particular field of study partners with a lone government agent or soldier to prevent a cataclysmic event that will result in the destruction of mankind, whether the disaster is manmade or an act of fate. This was in the case in Godzilla (American version), Independence Day (there may be some controversy on whether this qualifies but you must admit that the main focus was on Smith and Goldblum), miniseries Asteroid, and now it would seem Seeds of Destruction.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on February 15th, 2013
“What’s the matter? Don’t you like role-playing?”
I was on the verge of writing this film off as another zombie flick hoping to capture on the popularity brought about by the AMC series The Walking Dead, but then….BAM! It brought forth a plot twist that veered it away from all other zombie movies and grabbed my attention. It was no longer a zombie film; it was much more interesting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 24th, 2013
I see an Oscar nominee, an Emmy nominee, an actor who has carried two successful TV shows, and the bad guy from the highest-grossing movie of all time. In other words, I see more talent than you would ordinarily expect from a straight-to-DVD drama. Then again, I also see Soulja Boy, but he’s not the problem. Instead, Officer Down squanders a few fine performances and a solid premise due to some seriously (and unnecessarily) muddled storytelling.
Det. David Callahan (Stephen Dorff) may as well have “Dirty” in front of his name, but it’s not because he tears through bureaucratic red tape in his pursuit of justice; it’s because “Cal” always looks like he desperately needs a shower. Callahan is a former crooked cop/drug addict/philanderer who changed his bad boy ways after narrowly surviving a gun shot wound during a drug bust gone wrong. Cal never knew the identity of the man who saved his life until the Good Samaritan comes forward one year later.
