Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2010
"Have you ever felt like you were a little bit different. Like you had something unique to offer to the world, if only you could just get people to see it? Then you know exactly how it felt to be me."
The title is taken from a very short children's book written by Judi and Ron Barrett. I say the title and not the story because this movie takes only the most basic concept from the book to create the movie. Most of the characters are brand new creations, and the plot of the entire film deals with events not covered in the book. You have to credit Phil Lord and Chris Miller for pretty much everything you see happen in this film. I have only a passing familiarity with the kiddie book, but have now had the chance to see the movie in this Blu-ray high definition release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 13th, 2010
"... It is a dark time for the rebellion. Although the Death Star has been destroyed, Imperial troops have driven the rebel forces from their hidden base and pursued them across the Galaxy. But, you know this story..."
Know this story, you do. It's the opening of the second, or actually the 5th in sequence, but it is the second one made, unless you count... Never mind. This is the prologue to The Empire Strikes Back, more commonly referred to the 2 hour trailer for Return Of The Jedi. Not so long ago in this Galaxy, Family Guy took a shot across the bow of those Imperial Cruisers with its extremely funny and on the spot spoof of the first Star Wars film, or actually the 4th chapter.... Star Wars: A New Hope. It was only a matter of time before Seth Mac Farlane would steer his own ship back into George Lucas's universe once again. With equal parts faithful adaptation and off the wall detours, he's done it again, delivering another very funny tour into the dark side.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 12th, 2010
I'll be honest, at first Chuck sounded like a pretty bad idea to me. I expected it to be a kind of modern Get Smart with a reluctant geek hero. And that's pretty much what it turned out to be. Except it turned out to also be pretty darn entertaining as well. It all really starts with a solid cast and tightly written stories. Each episode manages to capture just the right blend of drama and comedy. I resist the trendy word dramedy, but if any series fits the mold, it would have to be Chuck.
In the first season we met Chuck Bartowski (Levi). He was a super smart student at Stanford when his best friend Bryce Larkin (Bomer) set him up to take the fall as a cheater and be kicked out of school in disgrace. The only job he can get now is working at the Buy More (Best Buy) on the Nerd Herd (Geek Squad). But Bryce wasn't done with Chuck yet. Turns out that Bryce is a CIA agent who has been working on the top secret project called Intersect. The Intersect is a computer program that can down load the entire government's database into a person's brain through a series of coded flash images. Not content with getting him kicked out of school, Bryce tricks Chuck into getting the Intersect inside his brain. Now Chuck is an important government asset and in need of protecting. Enter CIA agent Sarah Walker (Strahovski) who is Chuck's CIA handler. Their cover is boyfriend and girlfriend, which confuses Chuck's family and friends who never thought he could get such a hot girlfriend. The muscle for the team is Agent John Casey (Baldwin), who resents being assigned to such a lame mission. Not only do they have to keep Chuck and the Intersect safe, but they must take untrained Chuck on their missions because of the intel stashed in his brain. While Chuck is not consciously aware of the information he carries, when he sees something that triggers a piece of the data, something they call flashing, he is able to access the relevant data. The bad guys are part of an organization called Fulcrum which is this show's Kaos or Spectre.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 12th, 2010
“Now this might be the room of any small boy, but it happens to belong to a boy named Christopher Robin, and like most small boys, Christopher Robin had toy animals to play with. And together they had many remarkable adventures in an enchanted place called The Hundred Acre Wood. But out of all of his animal friends, Christopher Robin’s very best friend was a bear called Winnie The Pooh.”
“Oh Bother”A.A. Milne was quite an eclectic writer. He wrote murder mysteries that even appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents. From that fertile mind would also come a place known as the Hundred Acre Wood. In that select place some of literature’s finest characters had the greatest adventures any boy could imagine. And adventures are certainly no fun on your own. Young Christopher Robin was joined by Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, and, of course, Winnie-The-Pooh. Who didn’t fall in love with that silly old bear… Winnie-The-Pooh. OK, so maybe Dahmer or Bundy might have been exceptions. Still, anyone growing up in the last 30-40 years who isn’t a psychopath has had a love affair with Winnie-The-Pooh, all stuffed with fluff.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 11th, 2010
"Every day I get letters. I think I get more letters than Santa Claus, Zac Efron, and Dr. Phil combined. I'm kinda the shit. Sometimes the letters are from people who say they are praying for me. They tell me everything will be OK if I just accept Jesus Christ into my heart. I say the words, but nothing ever happens. Nobody comes back. Nobody gets off the cross."
There hasn't been this much hype for a mainstream horror film in quite a long time that I can recollect. Certainly, quite a few have created more buzz after their release and subsequent box office power. But this one was supposed to be the real deal. It didn't hurt that the titular body in question would belong to Megan Fox. With the huge dominance of the Transformers films at movie theaters across the globe, Fox has had a lot of ... eh ... exposure over the last couple of years. She's made a ton of those “sexiest” polls, and combined with this somewhat provocative title, I'm sure there were expectations of, at least, reasonably large draw. Unfortunately, it just never happened. The film barely made back its modest $16 million budget.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 11th, 2010
If you are looking for some kind of logical sequel to the WWE film The Marine which starred wrestler John Cena, you will be greatly disappointed. The film doesn't even feature the same character. There is absolutely nothing about this film that connects it to the original beyond the name. The WWE doesn't even use one of its bigger names in this film. While I have heard of Ted "The Million Dollar Man" DiBiase, Jr., I was not aware that he had a son who has followed his footsteps into the wrestling arena. I would suspect that Ted DiBiase, Jr. is a name only known to the fans who follow the WWE. Of course, that does provide for the major draw for these kinds of films, but I would also suspect that the WWE is hoping for more wide appeal by branching out into these films. So far it doesn't seem like the sports organization is having any luck. The Marine 2 will not do anything to further the cause.
The film opens with the obligatory mission sequence. This scene does not really join with the actual film plot except to give us a chance to see Joe (DiBiase) in action. We quickly see how good he is. The scene also adds some pathos to the character when a young boy is caught in the crossfire and killed. Now we have a skilled Marine carrying around a bit of guilt over the dead boy. The mission ended, our hero gets a little R&R time. His plans to spend some quiet quality time with his wife, Robin (Cox) are somewhat sidetracked, because she has a mission of her own to conduct. She's helping a wealthy financier open his latest tropical resort. She's a PR person who will have her hands full with environmentalists and locals who resent the exploitation of their home. But Joe agrees to accompany her for what he expects will be five days of sun and sand. When they arrive at the resort, the 24 hour armed guards are our first clue that Joe's going to have to go "Marine" and do some butt kickin'. And, for a while the film settles into Blue Lagoon territory as Joe and Robin have some romantic time in the surf. They also meet up with the local boat tour guide who is also ex-military. He's a powder monkey, jargon for demolitions expert. You already know that this is no accidental meeting and that ex-Ranger Church (Rooker) is going to play a part in the events to follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 11th, 2010
When an inside operation movie is done properly, the plot is ripe with suspense and suspicion. Who can the informer/plant trust? Have they jeopardized their family? What are they willing to do to stay undercover? Audiences have seen this play out many times before in films like Donnie Brasco and The Departed, but in 50 Dead Men Walking the setting is Northern Ireland in the late ‘80s during the Troubles—a period of violent ethno-political conflict between members of the primarily Roman Catholic nationalist community and the Protestant unionist community. The film is based on events depicted by Martin McGartland, and Nicholas Davies in the book Fifty Dead Men Walking: The Terrifying True Story of a Secret Agent Inside the IRA. This depth of history brings an edge to the film that goes far beyond typical mobster fare.
Jim Sturgess made it big in Julie Taymor’s Beatle tribute Across the Universe, but in 50 he shows a side of his acting that really surprised me. He effortlessly steps into the shoes of Martin McGartland—a young swindler who goes door to door selling stolen goods just to get by. Unable to afford a car, let alone the gas to fill it with, he has to bum rides from his friend Sean, played by Kevin Zegers. But his fortune changes one day when British police eager to infiltrate the Irish Republican Army attempt to woo him into their services with a steady job and a car. He reluctantly accepts, and that’s when things start to spiral out of control for Martin.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 7th, 2010
High school was a nightmare for me, I try to forget most of it. For me, there was no 10 year high school reunion and I was glad I never went. Speaking of ten & high school, this is the 10th year anniversary of 10 Things I Hate About You, a Gil Junger comedy that helped launch quite a few careers. As such, they made the leap to Blu-Ray with a well-done anniversary edition. But how does the movie hold up?
Cameron James (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is new to Padua High School. He is assigned another student, Michael Eckman (played by David Krumholtz) to show him around. Michael introduces him to the various groups of kids and they start to develop a friendship. Cameron then spots a girl, Bianca Stratford (played by Larisa Oleynik) and his life would never be the same.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 6th, 2010
I've seen some dysfunctional families on television over the years. Haven't we all. It's fun to laugh at someone else's flaws. Along comes Showtime, and it's rather hard to classify the series The United States Of Tara. This one takes dysfunction to a whole new level. Tara (Collette) suffers from multiple personality disorder. Laughing yet? She has managed to control the problem by using medications and attending frequent therapy sessions. But the medication is sapping her creative ability. You see, Tara was once a gifted artist. She painted murals and was somewhat critically acclaimed. The meds put an end to all of that. With the blessings of her family, Tara goes off the meds, and the family grows by 4. Yes, there are 4 "alters" as she calls them inside of Tara's body. Now they are all coming out to play.
The first thing you have to understand about this show is who the alters happen to be. We learn over time that they were constructed by Tara's mind to protect her from a traumatic moment in her life. Tara can't remember the event, but from time to time, the alters offer up little clues to what might have taken place. She is totally aware of the alters and their personalities. The family has developed some protection techniques of their own. Husband Max (Corbett) is not allowed to have sex with the alters. They've decided that would be cheating. How about just f**ked up? The kids are to treat the alters as they are, not as Mom. I'll introduce you to the "real" people later. Here are Tara's alters:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 6th, 2010
It would appear that Michael Landon, Jr. is attempting to cash in on his late father's Little House On The Prairie appeal. He is one of the driving forces behind this series of made for television films. He has directed several of them and serves as an executive producer on them all. He has also been involved with some of the writing on the series. They are based on a series of books written by Janette Oke. They follow three generations of women in the days of the Western frontier. When I say that Landon is spending on his father's legacy, you need look no further than the common elements of the films themselves to understand how I come to that conclusion. All of the films feature frontier living and the interactions of these small town peoples in surviving the hardships of the West. There's more than one little house on a prairie to be found in this collection.
The films are more than Western affairs. They are intended to be "Faith" films. In ach case someone's faith in God is put to the test and they must find their way back to grace. The films are often interrupted with spontaneous Bible verses and more than a few sermons on faith. There's plenty to go around when it comes to testing that faith. In just about every film some poor girl loses a husband and must rebound with another. Of course, each of these prospective husbands are encountered with a level of hostility at first. I guess I can understand that part, because my own wife and I had less than positive feelings for each other at first. Now we've been married for over 20 years. She hasn't had to find a new one ... yet. The films all do a good job of throwing other adversity at these women. They are often in a situation where they find little support about them and often encounter hostility towards their dreams and ambitions. As the box art tells us, they must use love and faith to overcome these obstacles.
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