Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on April 8th, 2022
"I used to think of my body like an instrument for the accomplishment of my will. I could use it to run , pick things up, make things happen. There were limits, of course, but my body was nonetheless one with me. It obeyed my commands, mostly without complaint. Not anymore. Now there's tending to be done. I almost died when we first got here, they said sepsis. Pain makes your world very small. My world has been this room. Today I venture forth. My world can't be small. Not now. Because the others need me to protect them. Gilead is out there. Gilead isn't afraid. It does not hurt or sleep. It keeps coming forever and ever and ever..."
At least for another season. A lot has changed both within the world of The Handmaid's Tale and in our world of viewers. Ratings have dropped a little and this season the series is no longer being released on Blu-ray. That's a bit of a step down. I think the show is just as compelling but it has been somewhat politicized in recent times and that's never really a good thing when you're trying to reach a wide audience. In this case it's not the fault of the show itself but outside forces that have used the imagery to score political theatre points.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 4th, 2022
If I’m being honest, it’s been decades since I saw the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and I’m not even sure I saw the whole thing, but I do remember the ending. It’s not that I feel it’s a bad film; I just have had no need to revisit it because I enjoy the 1978 version so much. The startling ending of this film is quite infamous. For those who haven’t seen it, I won’t spoil it for you, but it is a moment that has stuck with me since I first watched back in the old VHS days. Since the 1956 film has been out, there have been several takes on the material, and numerous bad knock-offs as well, but for me, the 1978 film with Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum will always be the true classic in my eyes. Getting this title to review, it’s been ages since I’ve seen the film, so I was excited about revising this classic. I wasn’t sure it would hold up, but what surprised me most was simply how relevant the film remains with its themes of not conforming to the populace to even the paranoia about becoming a pod person in current terms infected with COVID.
The film opens up in space, spores traveling a great distance till finally falling to Earth and eventually spawning into small flowers and thus spreading from there. One of the highlights off the film’s opening few minutes is the cameo appearance of Robert Duvall as a priest who may be one of the first infected by the spores. The film then introduces us to Elizabeth (Brooke Adams). When she finds a strange plant she’s having trouble identifying, we as the audience knows that she shouldn’t be sniffing the flower and can already accept that she is doomed. To deflect our attention, Elizabeth starts to grow suspicious of her boyfriend Geoffrey (Art Hindle) when he starts acting strangely and she sees him meeting with other strangers from around the neighborhood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 1st, 2022
In 1999 when Man on the Moon was released, Jim Carrey was pretty much one of the biggest comedic stars in the industry, though at the time I don’t think audiences were prepared to see Carrey make such a departure despite it being a career best performance. This was one of those box office failures that shouldn’t have been, but to be fair, 1999 is one of the most stacked years of great films, though how Carrey didn’t even get a nomination is baffling. So what are my thoughts after revisiting the Andy Kaufman bio-pic that was penned by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood and The People Vs. Larry Flynt) and directed by Milos Foreman (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus)? The opening scene pretty much sets the tone for the film you are about to see with Andy Kaufman (Jim Carrey) breaking the 4th wall to address the film the audience is about to see. He goes on to tell them that the movie is over, and the credits roll and eventually the screen goes to black. When I saw this in theaters, I was surprised by how many people in the audience actually walked out, but to be fair, if you’re not slightly amused by this gag, I don’t imagine you’ll enjoy the rest of the film. Andy Kaufman wasn’t simply a comedian but more of a performance artist who seemed to get pleasure out of entertaining himself first, and if other people enjoyed the gag, well, that was an added bonus. For Kauf was great, but if they got upset or walked out, even better. When George Shapiro (Danny DeVito) catches one of Kaufman’s performances, he feels Andy is a unique talent and offers to be his manager.
The film lets us see the variety of characters that Kaufman developed, from his loveable foreign man that was made famous on Taxi when he was Latka to his obnoxious lounge singer alter-ego Tony Clifton. In some ways the character of Tony Clifton may be Kaufman’s greatest work that he created with his long time friend and comedy partner Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti). Seeing how Kaufman uses the character to pull one over on the studio and create drama on the set of Taxi is one of the more memorable yet cringe-worthy moments of the film. What’s even more impressive is how the filmmakers were able to get so many people from Taxi to return and shoot segments for the film. But it’s not just the Taxi sequences where we see people pulled from real life to play themselves in the film. So many people from Kaufman’s real life are in the film, his real life manager, Zmuda, his Dad, and his granddaughter all are sprinkled in this film that attempts to capture the essence of Andy Kaufman.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 25th, 2022
Despite my tender age, I didn’t see Escape from New York until I was in my early twenties. My parents never talked about it, my college friends didn’t seem to care, and the Internet wasn’t nearly as prevalent as it is now. But it has become my favorite movie of all time. What’s curious is that the sequel to the film, Escape from L.A., is what introduced me to Kurt Russell and the character of Snake Plissken (and became the foundation of everything I consider to be “cool”). It holds a giant chunk of my movie heart, and I’m glad today to bring you this review of the UHD Blu-ray from Paramount. It is 1998, and hostile forces inside the United States are growing strong. Los Angeles is ravaged by crime, and the US Police Force is formed to keep the peace. A political candidate (played by Cliff Robertson) emerges and predicts a millennium earthquake that will destroy Los Angeles in divine retribution. An earthquake measuring 9.6 on the Richter scale hits at 12:59pm on August 23rd in the year 2000.
The presidential candidate becomes President and shortly after becomes President for his life term. He relocates the capital from Washington DC to his hometown of Lynchburg, Virginia. Los Angeles is no longer part of the United States. As a part of Directive 17, all unfit people would be sent there indefinitely behind the Great Wall with no chance ever of retribution. Unfit people could be anybody the President decides, from criminals, murderers, to simply people based on their religion and red meat consumption. Yes, eating a steak in the 21st century could be grounds for exile.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 8th, 2022
"There's a new superhero in town."
The original Starman was created by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley back in 1941. Since that time there have been quite a few DC characters who have taken on the mantle of Starman. When DC executive and veteran comics writer/creator was asked to do a series on one of Starman's sidekicks, Pat Dugan and his eventual comic Stars And S.T.R.I.P.E., he was given a directive that he could not use the iconic S.T.R.I.P.E. armor, and that just would have made the series so much weaker. Instead he counter-pitched an idea from the same era of the comics. He pitched the idea of a new Stargirl who would be somewhat based and named after his daughter Courtney, who was tragically killed in a plane crash when she was just 18 years old. He wanted to do something to represent the spirit of his daughter, and the pitch also allowed for the Pat Dugan character to appear without the famous armor. The idea was accepted, and the latest member of the DC television Arrowverse was born. Enter Courtney Whitmore, played by Brec Bassinger, in Stargirl. Warner Brothers delivers that second season in a new Blu-ray release of Stargirl: The Complete Second Season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 17th, 2021
Besides the fact that it stars Leonardo DiCaprio and that it’s essentially a white collar gloss on Goodfellas, you’d be forgiven for thinking somebody other than Martin Scorsese directed The Wolf of Wall Street. I don’t mean to suggest Scorsese has lost his masterful touch or his passion for filmmaking, both of which were on display as recently as two years ago in the wonderful Hugo. It’s more that after spending the better part of the 21st century making strong, serious dramas, I didn’t necessarily expect Scorsese to make his funniest, loosest and most audacious picture in decades.
“I want you to deal with your problems by becoming rich.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 16th, 2021
I was disappointed when it was announced that James Wan wouldn’t be returning to helm the third Conjuring film, but when the reasoning was that he had a new original concept to direct, well, it still made me pretty happy. When it comes to the technical side of filmmaking, I feel James Wan is one of the most exciting directors currently working in the industry. What the guy pulls off is impressive mostly because he relies more heavily on in-camera trickery than depending on CGI. Sure, he did Aquaman and is about to do the sequel, but those films aside, he’s pretty much a master of the practical craft who I’d put up there with Hitchcock. So when I saw the trailers for Malignant, I’ll admit I was a bit excited, especially when Wan had said that this was a nod to the Giallo films of the past. But did he deliver?
The first thing I have to say is this film is not a Giallo film, but what it does have in common with the stylized Italian slasher genre is that Malignant IS highly stylized, but it’s more of a hybrid of several other genres. In many ways this might be James Wan’s best work behind the camera and shows just far he has grown since he made his splash in the industry with Saw. But from a storytelling standpoint, I can understand why it is a film that divides fans.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on December 16th, 2021
Be honest; who hears the theme music when anyone even mentions The Addams Family? I know I do, and then I have to resist the urge to do the finger snaps. Just in time for the release of the animated version comes the double release of The Addams Family and its sequel, The Addams Family: Family Values, featuring Raul Julia and Angelica Huston as Gomez and Morticia Gomez, and let’s not forget Christopher Lloyd and Christina Ricci as Fester and Wednesday Gomez respectively. Based on the wildly popular cartoons that appeared in the New Yorker that went on to find success as television series, the The Addamses are a satirical inversion of the ideal 20th-century American family.
The first film finds the family thriving, but without an essential member, Fester, who after a falling out with his brother Gomez, leaves for the Bermuda Triangle, not to be heard from for 25 years. Looking to capitalize on Gomez’s guilt over the situation is the family lawyer Tully, who is in deep to loan shark and con woman Abigail Craven. When Craven and her son Gordon, who is the splitting image of Fester, come to collect, Tully hatches a scheme to have Gordon pose as Fester to find the hidden vault where the Addams family fortune is kept.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on December 10th, 2021
Over the past decade we’ve seen a resurgence in reboots, remakes, and anthologies, so it isn’t much of a surprise that the beloved horror anthology Creepshow would get the reboot treatment. To be fair, this is an extension from what the first films set out to be, though the big difference is that instead of just being a film with a few stories, it is now a TV series, each episode containing two tales to horrify and entertain. When I first heard about the series I was cautiously optimistic. The first two films I consider classics, as do many other fans of the horror genre. Then there was that third Creepshow that I feel we all just want to forget and pretend never really happened. Without George Romero being around, I just wasn’t even sure I’d want to see a show that could possibly just water down everything that was great about the films and simply turn out to be a cheap imitation. Season 1 of the series I enjoyed, and it offered plenty of promise for things to come; did Greg Nicotero and his creative team deliver?
Episode 1 starts of strong with Model Kid/ Public Television of the Dead. I’ll just say I loved this episode. There is a lot of heart put into the first segment about a young boy who is obsessed with all things horror and how he shares his passion with his mother who is very ill. Everything works in this episode, and honestly I wish it was longer, because I simply wanted so much more with the story. The “horror” direction this episode takes is fun and macabre just as it should be for this series, and it definitely sets a tone. Then there is the next segment … This episode was a blast. Just think what could happen if the Necronomicon from Evil Dead was read allowed on a public television network, and the only person that could save humanity was Bob Ross (yes, that artist). While it may not be THE Bob Ross, we definitely get that that is who the character is supposed to be. Even adding Ted Raimi pretty much cements this episode as Evil Dead canon.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 25th, 2021
When we got aboard the Snowpiercer, it would seem like a new world order was going to be happening. Well, that still holds true for Season 2, but not quite the way we were initially imagining. Did you see what I did there, “got aboard,” because it’s a train. OK, OK; that’s my one joke. Last we saw Daveed Diggs’ Layton, he’d finally managed to seize control of the train carrying the last of humanity following an apocalyptic freezing of the planet. His reign is extremely short-lived, however, as he is almost immediately threatened by the return of Mr. Wilford (Sean Bean) and Melanie’s thought-dead daughter, Alexandra (Rowan Blanchard). I can tell you that after this cliffhanger of a season last season, I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation for the next season. And this season doesn’t disappoint, as the power struggle for the train is continued with a new adversaries, as old adversaries become new allies.
The series never takes its foot off the gas, as Layton finds himself thrust into a brand new struggle against the very person responsible for the train that is humanity’s salvation. Last season, Mr. Wilford was thought dead after being left behind by Melanie due to a fear that humanity would not survive under his leadership. She creates an elaborate ruse to keep the idea of Wilford alive in order to keep peace on the train, a ruse that is eventually discovered and leads to a degree of anarchy on the train, resulting in the uprising that has placed Layton in charge. Now he must confront the man who was originally supposed to lead Snowpiercer. In this respect, Melanie’s fears prove right, as Wilford is in possession of a truly sadistic and cruel nature. This nature is shown perfectly in flashback sequences that show just how ruthless the man can be.
