Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2010
"One … two… Freddy’s coming for you, three… four… better lock the door, five… six… grab your crucifix..."
Freddy might have been born in the mind of Wes Craven, but he grew and developed in the knife-wielding hands of Robert Englund. Granted, not all of these films are equal in quality, but the first was everything you could ask for in a horror/slasher film of the era. Freddy himself is by far the most colorful and animated of the slashers. His burned face, fedora, striped sweater, and knife-blade glove were all integral parts of the wise-cracking maniac.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2010
I’ve often spent a lot of time talking about how Pixar has dominated computer animation, at least as far as full-length features go. With few exceptions, there isn’t anything out there that even comes close. Most films rely on toilet humor and crude innuendo to get a few laughs. A lot of the kids and adults might suck that stuff up, but they can’t hold a candle to Pixar. There are, as I’ve mentioned, some quite notable exceptions. The Fox Blue Sky Studios has had enormous success with their Ice Age films, and when you take a look at the third and latest entry in that franchise, you’ll understand why.
Ice Age came out in 2002 and took the box office like a blizzard piling up a drift of cash that amounted to almost $180 million before it was over. Not bad for a $50 million dollar film. Add in another $200 million in foreign receipts, and a sequel was an absolute forgone conclusion. The film introduced us to some memorable characters. Manny (Romano) was a lovable woolly mammoth. Diego (Leary) was a kind and wise saber-toothed tiger. Sid (Leguizamo) was their tagalong friend with not much going on in the noggin. A side story involved a prehistoric squirrel named Scrat who loved his acorns. He had a Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner relationship with acorns and took a lot of punishment to get one. Together they tried to return a lost human infant to his tribe. In retrospect of two sequels, it's neat to look back to before these original core characters met for the first time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2010
"Imagine a world of incredible color and beauty. Of crabs wearing jellyfish for hats. Of fish disguised as frogs, stones, and shag carpets. Of a kaleidoscope of underwater life. Now go explore it."
Jim Carrey narrates this IMAX experience that takes you deep under the ocean. The film focuses on five particular locations: New Britain and Milne Bay (both in New Guinea), South Australia, the Great Barrier Reef, and Indonesia. Because this was filmed with IMAX equipment and presented here in high definition, you can expect a pretty spectacular ride on this one. Most of the animals shown here are obscure and rare, including plenty of cuttlefish segments and some really bizarre but striking sea dragons. The coral reef settings are extremely beautiful. It was originally presented in 3D during its IMAX run, but that version is not included here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 14th, 2010
The SyFy Channel has been making original films for quite a few years. Unfortunately, they've mostly been known for their quite bad computer-generated f/x and rather silly plots and stories. It says quite a lot to me that I'm such a huge horror/science fiction fan but have never found one of these original movies to be even remotely good. Instead, I've found myself wincing with each new ridiculous script and every unimaginable lame creature the series has presented. The Maneater Series has been as guilty as any of the themed series in their efforts.
It's the old West, 1898. Sam (Marsters) is about to be hanged for robbing a train where some folks got killed. We later find out their deaths were an accident. So Sam isn't a stone-cold killer, but is going to hang nonetheless. Just as the sheriff is about to spring the trap and drop Sam on into infinity, the town is attacked by a large creature that looks like a giant silver ball with exoskeleton appendages and a tail that shoots radioactive projectiles. Talk about your tail gunner. The creature kills a lot of the folks gathered to watch the hangin', and the mayhem ends up freeing Sam. Instead of running, Sam remains to help fight off the creature and save as many folks as he can, including the sheriff who was about to stretch his neck. Before long a group of survivors is fighting off what turns out to be hundreds of creatures being dropped from a spaceship. The group includes Rose (Van Heteren), a bounty hunter who still wants her two thousand dollar reward for bringing in Sam. There's Abigail (Sampson) who happens to be Sam's old flame. He didn't know this was where she lived these days. Finally, there's Dr. Jules Arning (Knapp) who has been extracting uranium ore, which is what has been attracting the creatures. Together they decide to use the doc's uranium stash to blow up the creatures and their huge ship.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2010
If you're the kind of person who feels the need to understand, at least, what kind of film you're watching, then this movie must be avoided at all costs. It wasn't until the bonus features when I discovered that this was, in reality, intended as a dark comedy more than anything else. There were certainly signs in the movie that might have led me to that conclusion, not the least of which is a 2-minute Iguana Cam moment that had me questioning what might have found its way into my iced tea. The other clue should have been the over the top caricature of a character I found in the performance of Nicolas Cage. But then, the trouble with Cage is, you really never know for sure when he's kidding around or trying to be drop dead serious. In any case, even armed with that information, I'm not sure it's possible to pin this film down to any particular genre or style.
Part of the problem comes from the movie's title. We are immediately led to believe that this movie might have something to do with the Harvey Keitel film, Bad Lieutenant. It does not. Even director Herzog was very unhappy with the studio’s decision to tie the film to those expectations by using the franchise title. Of course, it was intended to add some kind of name value recognition to the project. It didn't really work at all. The film only played at just under a hundred screens and pulled in less than $2 million of its $25 million budget. So no one was buying the misleading name. You'd think many times that number would have checked it out just to see what Cage was up to.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2010
"I make a living in the movies, but for the past 20 years I've also been a cop. And, along with some of the finest deputies on the force, I serve the people of Jackson Parish, Louisiana. My name is Steven Seagal. That's right, Steven Seagal, deputy sheriff."
We've all seen Steven Seagal kick the bad guys butts in the movies. Since 1988's Above The Law, Seagal has gained a reputation for playing a tough guy. What most people didn't know is that for just about as long he has been a fully commissioned police officer working a beat in Southern Louisiana. Recruited by the legendary Sherriff Harry Lee, Seagal works as a reserve officer for the Sherriff's office there. He pretty much does what any cop in the field would do. He responds to calls, makes arrests, and serves in whatever capacity might be required. He also uses his own extensive martial arts training to teach workshops for his fellow officers and up-and-coming officers in training. Now, on the surface you might be tempted to look upon this work as some kind of publicity stunt or half baked celebrity honorary role. The fact that A&E is now doing a reality show on his exploits on the force would tend to solidify such feelings. However, the truth is that he's been doing it for 20 years, actually going out of his way to avoid bringing attention to the gig. Believe it or not, this stuff's for real.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2010
"If you can control the sky, you can control the world."
With the current remake of Ray Harryhausen's Clash Of The Titans, is it any real surprise that there might be a resurgence of interest in the gods and goddesses of Mt. Olympus in Greek mythology? The Greeks created an entire family of deities to explain the various natural elements and phenomena around them. There were gods of the sea and of the underworld. There were even gods of wine and music. It was believed that these supernatural beings sat high on the highest point of the Greek island nation, interfering in the affairs of men to settle their own petty squabbles and arguments. Being all-powerful was somewhat boring, and so these beings, with very human qualities of greed, jealousy, and spite, played an endless game with the lives of the mere humans for their own entertainment and amusement.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 12th, 2010
Think of it as The Odd Couple Private Investigation Agency. These guys might be brothers, but they have only one thing in common, and that’s their skills as private investigators. Otherwise they are as far apart as night and day. A.J.’s (Parker) the clean cut, nearly anal member of the sibling pair. He sees the detective game more in the mainstream world and tries to play things straight and by the book. Rick (McRaney), on the other hand, is a slob of a guy. He’s the kick back let life come to him sort of chap. He doesn’t pick up very much after himself. He lives a Bohemian lifestyle complete with houseboat and Sanford and Son beat up pick ‘em up truck. Neither of them are pulling in very much money and have to deal with Mom’s (Carver) disapproval of their chosen profession. The two treat everything like a competition and take sibling rivalry to new heights. They were also in heated competition with the detective agency on the same block, run by crotchety old Myron Fowler (Barth) and his daughter Janet (Wilson). Janet eventually becomes a district attorney and really gets under the brothers’ skin. Unfortunately she’s absent on all but a couple of the third season’s cases. The pair worked with rather off-the-wall detective Downtown Brown played by WKRP’s own Venus Flytrap, Tim Reid. He was one of those “end justifies the means” kind of a guy.
The cases were always just a little over their heads and often led them into various traps, gunfights, and car chases. The real charm of the show was watching the brothers working together. They would fight and argue about pretty much everything. Still, when the chips were down, they could always each depend on the other to have his back. They weren’t the brightest of detectives and fell into as many clues by dumb luck as through good investigation technique. It was most definitely a lighter show than most of the detective shows of the 80’s. Miami Vice this was not. The pair went against the mold in almost every aspect. They were not very good with the ladies. They didn’t drive hot fast cars. They were almost always out of money. And they carried themselves as immature frat boys most of the time. The appeal was their Joe Public image. It must have worked, because the show ran for nearly a decade.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 12th, 2010
One of my soft-spots in films (puns aside) are erotic thrillers. This genre includes some of my favorite movies of all time include the likes of Basic Instinct, Sliver & Fatal Attraction. As it turns out, Basic Instinct & Sliver’s screenplay was written by one Joe Eszterhas. Then I get a copy of Jade to review on Blu-Ray which just also happens to feature Joe on screenplay credits. Color me interested.
Kyle Medford has been murdered at his own lavish estate. He was found with a fertility mask on his head and the murder weapon was a hatchet that looks to be from the middle ages. On the scene is David Corelli (played by David Caruso), an assistant D.A. with political aspirations who is there to investigate the case. The place is thoroughly searched and one of the most interesting things they find on the premises appears to be an assortment of metal tins that contain pubic hair.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 9th, 2010
Growing up in life came a little later for me than most people. Most people seem to hit maturity right around their later teen years and early twenties. Honestly, I didn’t really grow up until I hit my mid twenties. But what would happen if one was forced to grow up sooner, say around their seventeenth birthday? Well then, you might be like Jenny Mellor from An Education who had to grow up a lot sooner than she probably expected to.
It’s 1961 in England. Jenny Mellor (played by Carey Mulligan) is 16 and entering her last year of school. She studies literature, plays the cello and is certain to ace her A-levels and be accepted to Oxford University. Her weakness is currently Latin but she promises to bring up that grade as soon as possible. Or else her father, Jack (played by Alfred Molina) says that she won’t make Oxford.
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