Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 13th, 2017
“Think inside the box.”
One of the major through lines in season 3 of Silicon Valley is that our heroes at Pied Piper have created a product so ahead of its time that it is failing to connect with consumers, which puts the start-up company in peril. Fortunately, HBO’s brainy and bawdy tech comedy hasn’t had any problems connecting with its audience: the show’s confident and hilarious third season seamlessly mixes talk of “compression algorithms” with outrageous sight gags involving horses getting, um, familiar with each other.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 30th, 2017
“The price for your glory is their suffering!”
For most of us, hearing the name “Martin Scorsese” leads to iconic wiseguys, rock and roll, and Robert De Niro/Leonardo DiCaprio movies dancing into our mind’s eye. Further down the list of Marty-related things — probably even below Scorsese’s real-life film preservation work — but no less crucial to appreciating the director’s filmography is the role that faith has played in his personal and professional lives. The most obvious manifestations are the three religious epics Scorsese has directed, including his latest film Silence.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 27th, 2017
You ever hear that old adage about not putting your hands too close to the flame? Obviously Walter Stackhouse, Patrick Wilson’s character in A Kind of Murder, did not heed the warning as he finds himself embroiled in a murder conspiracy of his own while investigating a separate one. This film noir is based on a novel from the famous author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Patricia Highsmith. Murder mysteries in recent months have become a huge interest of mine, so when presented with this film, I was extremely excited with the opportunity. However, after watching, though I was intrigued by the whodunit aspect, I found the other areas lacking, specifically connecting with the lead character.
Walter Stackhouse (Patrick Wilson) appears to be the man who has it all: a successful career as an architect, a beautiful home, and a gorgeous wife (Jessica Biel) to share it with. But a happy man is the last thing he appears to be, escaping his seemingly perfect life in order to delve into the macabre world of murder. After a gruesome murder of a woman, Walter begins to investigate her death, which eventually leads him to her widow (Eddie Marsan) and puts him at odds with investigating detective Laurence Corby (Vincent Kartheiser).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 24th, 2017
“Black women aren’t bitter. We’re just tired of being expected to settle for less.”
When people talk about racial and gender equality, they typically point to notions like everyone having the right to vote or the same opportunity to pursue their personal or professional passion without fear of discrimination. The premise of Insecure — HBO’s funny and insightful comedy series about modern relationships — is not quite that lofty, but no less worthy: black women reserve the right to be just as neurotic and lead love lives that are every bit as messy as their white counterparts.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 13th, 2017
“Life's pretty simple, you know. It's long periods of waiting broken up by brief moments of change. That's it...that's all it is.”
100 Streets tells three barely-connected stories set in the same one-square-mile area of present-day London. (The neighborhoods of Chelsea and Battersea to be exact.) The stories are each quite compelling in their own right, and they're performed by a talented group of actors. Unfortunately, the movie is occasionally bogged down by distracting, pseudo-profound soliloquies like the one at the top of this review. I appreciate the stabs at thoughtfulness and depth, but they come off as forced here and are more likely to make you roll your eyes than inspire you.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2017
Brad Pitt appears to be making this World War II thing a bit of a niche. In recent years he went from Inglourious Basterds to the superior Fury and now to Allied. I wish I could say that he's getting better, but Allied marks a step backwards for the actor in more ways than just the performance. It's an unfortunate aspect of Hollywood that sexy rumors and scandals sell more theater tickets than a good movie. Hollywood power couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have called it quits, and the scuttlebutt is that it was Pitt's fling with Allied co-star Marion Cotillard that caused the split. I don't know if any of that is true and honestly wouldn't care a hill of beans if it were. I only bring it up because if Pitt was having some kind of on-set torrid romance, it's a shame that none of that passion ever made it to the screen. These two have about as much romantic chemistry as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. (Too soon?) If only that were all there was to sink this period drama.
Max Vatan (Pitt) is a member of military intelligence during World War II. He's dropped into French Morocco to take down a high-priority target. The inside contact for the mission is the famous French liberation legend Marianne Beausejour (Cotillard), who poses as his wife. Together they complete their mission and return to England where their fake romance has blossomed into a real one. They are soon married with a child. Both are enjoying a break from the spy world as the war continues to rage about them. It's wedded bliss until Vatan is told that his wife might not be who she says she is. She might be a plant and a German spy. Needless to say his world tumbles down around him as he tries to stay one step ahead of his superiors to discover the truth.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 20th, 2017
Ewan McGregor has had an interesting career in front of the camera; he’s gone from playing a heroin addict (Trainspotting), to being a Jedi and several roles that just about make him impossible to typecast. With his new film, McGregor is doing double duty by also helming the film as director for the first time. When I first heard about McGregor taking on American Pastoral, based on the book of the same name by Philip Roth, I was worried that perhaps he had bitten off a bit more than he could handle with his first time at bat. What’s surprising is how relevant the film is at this point in time as the country is so divided, and because of this it adds a new perspective to the film.
The story is told with narration from the perspective of Nathan Zuckerman (David Strathairn), who has returned to his hometown to celebrate his high school reunion. Nathan has come back to reflect on his old memories, most of which involve the high school star of his day, Seymour Levov, or as the town affectionately call him, Swede.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 10th, 2017
Danny McBride managed to inhabit the role of Kenny Powers to such an extent that I do appear to have trouble keeping them separate. I thought that the arrival of a new series would finally put that issue to rest. I’m discovering there was a reason I had trouble telling them apart. They are indeed the same person. Add to the situation that Vice Principals uses the same writing and production team headed by McBride and Jody Hill, and there are moments when you will think that you’re still watching Eastbound And Out. The wild card that changes things up enough happens to be Walter Goggins. Goggins came to notice as the cold Shane in The Shield and the quirky Boyd Crowder in Justified. Put those two characters together and you get an inkling of his character here. It’s a wonderfully nuanced character big enough to shine over McBride’s shtick.
Bill Murray cameos in the pilot episode as Principal Welles of North Jackson High School with an ailing wife. His two vice-principals Neal Gamby (McBride) and Lee Russell (Goggins) have been competing for his job for years. Just when one of them is about to grab the silver ring, the school board brings in outside Dr. Belinda Brown (Gregory) who has left Philadelphia with her two sons, fleeing a broken relationship. She’s qualified, so now the two enemies have to join forces to get rid of her.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 10th, 2017
Season 1 of From Dusk Till Dawn gave us a ten-episode remake of the hit original movie while setting up a mythology to stretch its story over numerous seasons. Season 2 took us deeper into the culebra syndicate, and we got to see how they operate in their world as Carlos (Wilmer Valderrama) searched for an ancient blood source and sought to sit at the throne as the leader of all the culebras (a snake/vampire hybrid of sorts). All while the baddest outlaws North and South of the border, the Gecko brothers Seth (D.J. Cotrona) and Richie (Zane Holtz) were forced to work out their differences ever since Richie was made a culebra. Things have definitely taken some drastic turns from the original film, and I’m more than happy to say that Season 3 continues down its blood-soaked, horror western path, and this time it leads our band of misfit anti-heroes to take on a new enemy that is straight out of hell.
As we catch up with Seth and Richie they are stuck being collectors to the Lords (basically ancient leaders of the culebras), they’re not happy being bagmen and being at the bottom of the totem pole, but they really don’t have much of a choice. That is until a new breed of villain steps in, the xibalbans. The xibalbans are pretty much demons straight out of hell that use the culebras as slaves in their world. The introduction of the xibalbans also re-introduces us to Kate (Madison Davenport). Last time we saw her she was left for dead before some ancient blood got into her system As it turns out this ancient blood contained Amura, the queen of hell, and she is who has possessed Kate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 7th, 2017
To put things mildly, Warner Bros. still has a bit of a ways to go before its stable of DC Comics superheroes catches up to Disney's dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, Warner and DC have long had the upper hand on both the small screen (Smallville, Arrow, The Flash) and with their animated, direct-to-video offerings. The latest in that latter category is Justice League Dark, which mostly sidelines DC's best-known heroes in favor of a team of mystical outcasts led by a charming, abrasive rogue.
“The capes and tights group...useless against dark magic.”
