Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 20th, 2016
“Billionaires are people too.”
HBO’s Silicon Valley, which takes merciless aim at the tech capital of the U.S., was impressive right out of the gate. The series struck comedy gold in its debut season by making fun of both self-important, aggressively eccentric billionaires and the bumbling “guys in a garage” who are trying to get to their level. Season 2 is both nerdier and more confident in its skewering of corporate soullessness and the scrappy underdogs who often can't get out of their own way. (I'm not sure there's another show on TV that would use a SWOT analysis to decide whether a douche-y stuntman lives or dies.) The result is a very funny sitcom that has gotten even better.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2016
"We have known them only as shadows, gazing at us from a ghostly world of black and white. But now the American Civil War can at last be seen as those who lived and died experienced it...in vivid color."
It was the bloodiest conflict in American history. Maybe because Americans fought on both sides of the brutal conflict. It might have been because it was a deeply personal war, often between brothers. The cause was one that cut deeply in both the hearts and minds of the men fighting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 8th, 2016
“Look at where the world is because of solitary dudes going mental in the desert.”
Depressed, deplorable artist Tom heads to the Mojave Desert, where he unexpectedly meets his match in crazed, charismatic drifter Jack. The fact that their tense encounter results in a death is one of the least surprising things about Mojave. What initially appears to be a cat-and-mouse game set in the desert turns out to be an interesting, uneven meditation on perception vs. reality that spills over into the vapid world of Hollywood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 7th, 2016
"There's always room for improvement."
Banshee is one of those improbable plots that finds a way to pull us into the action all the while ignoring how unlikely any of this might really be. Of course, we do that all the time. It's certainly unlikely we're going to face a zombie apocalypse or run into a super-powered hero. That's a different kind of unlikely. This kind of real-world fantastic is usually a bit harder to accept. Credit folks like Allan Ball for keeping us engaged with some of the most entertaining sleight of hand on television.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 4th, 2016
When you see the name Kiefer Sutherland and Jon Cassar together, you might well expect that you're going to get another helping of the popular television series 24. There Sutherland made a pretty big name for himself in the television landscape as the gritty and "get it done" cop Jack Bauer. In the director's chair for a good many of those episodes was Jon Cassar, who also shared executive producer duties on the long-running show. But you won't find the ticking-clock-modern world of Jack Bauer here. Instead you'll find a thoughtful western that actually avoids a lot of the genre-typical violence and delivers one of the better westerns I've seen in many years.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 3rd, 2016
Keanu Reeves is a guy who I don’t think anyone would be crazy enough to say is a “great actor”, but instead he’s a guy who has been in some pretty great films. For me he’s an actor I grew up with from his days doing the Bill and Ted movies and Point Break. (Seriously, how dare they attempt to remake that gem?) Between Speed and The Matrix, those are the two movies I’ve held onto for so long as his career took a more interesting turn; that is until John Wick came along and blew my mind with all the insane coolness that was up on the screen. Finally it seemed I was on track to getting the Keanu Reeves that I grew up watching. I know, so what’s the point of all this? Well, until now, none of the Reeves films that I’ve liked could I really say it was because of his performance, and Exposed is finally the film he’s needed where he can show he’s more than just a brooding action star.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 30th, 2016
The name Quentin Tarantino carries the weight of legacy as such directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and more recently Christopher Nolan. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but simply by name recognition alone Tarantino is in the company of directors that when you hear that his name is attached there will be a loyal fan base flocking to the theaters to see what they have to dazzle us with. This time around Tarantino returns to the cinema in his biggest release to date; in glorious 70mm we have The Hateful Eight.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 30th, 2016
“It was as if all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place since what was being discussed here was a matter of creating something unique: a cuisine based exclusively on raw Nordic ingredients.”
That pull quote, which appears at the start of Noma: My Perfect Storm, accidentally serves as a microcosm for the film as a whole. The excitement that builds at the prospect of witnessing something special quickly gives way to a chilly, undercooked experience.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2016
When Vikings Season 1 first arrived a couple of years ago, I have to admit I was pretty excited. I was particularly eager to see footage from their very first game. Fran Tarkenton came off the bench, and the Vikings went on to become the first expansion team ever to win their very first game. OK, as Baby, our shepherd/chow mix dog film reviewer would say: I made that last part up. You'd have to have been living under a pretty isolated rock to have missed all of the buzz over the History Channel's drama series Vikings. Now season 3 is out on Blu-ray, and it's certainly a season to remember.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 23rd, 2016
Between their stints on Saturday Night Live and their subsequent sitcom hits, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are two of the most successful comedic voices of the new millennium. (I happen to think Fey’s 30 Rock and Poehler’s Parks and Recreation are both among the five best comedies to debut in the last 10 years.) The longtime friends — dating back to their Chicago improv days in the early ‘90s — have also proven to be funny together, most notably during their well-received gigs hosting the Golden Globes. I'm telling you all of that to tell you this...I can’t believe how bad their new movie is.
