Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 31st, 2016
"Stealing from the Pope is suicide."
We're not talking about that pope. We're talking about Robert DeNiro in his latest direct-to-video feature film Heist. It's true that DeNiro hasn't exactly been picky lately with his parts. He commands a big paycheck, often for just showing up on the credits. It's common among actors particularly those like DeNiro who have made quite a name for themselves and find themselves in the back nine of their career. You have to at least give him a little more credit than most. He's the kind of actor who always puts in the effort for a project no matter how big or small the film or part happens to be. You could say that gangster parts like Pope come naturally, and he doesn't really have to act. If you believe that, you've just glossed over the actor's best talent. He always makes it look easy. More than giving his best, DeNiro is an actor that appears to bring the best out of everyone else, as well. Most of the cast and crew refer to him as Mr. DeNiro in the bonus material here. That's the kind of respect he's earned from his peers. If he wants to have a little fun on a direct-to-video film from time to time while padding the bank account, I say what's the harm. Keep doing them and I'll keep assigning Robert DeNiro movies to myself every time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 30th, 2016
Shout Factory is churning out the 1980's horror films to provide us with a steady diet of schlock-o-rama. Through their Scream Factory series we've been getting many double-header collections along with the occasional horror film that stands alone, if not standing out. The films are the kind of thing you gather a bunch of friends together and have yourself a marathon of films that make you laugh as much as make you scream. The latest in this series is the 1987 Zombie High. Of course, the film doesn't have a single zombie, at least not in the classic Romero style, and it appears to take place at a college instead of a high school. But let's not let plot points get in the way of a good title. In fact, Zombie High is remembered more for how it was made than for the final product.
The filmmakers literally invaded the campus of USC in L.A. In what many describe as a pretty cool con, they were able to convince the school's staff and students that a major film was being shot there, and the crew was given a ton of cooperation from the school. USC has the oldest film school in the nation, and you might understand why everyone would be eager to help out a big film that wanted to use its locations and resources. Those resources included everything from camera equipment to providing the labor both behind and in front of the camera. The movie was made for very little money, because so much of the cost was picked up by USC in their attempt to "cooperate". Zombie High just might be the only completely stolen film to be released to any kind of a wide audience.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2016
There have been nine Jesse Stone movies starring Tom Selleck. They come from a series of books written by Robert B. Parker. Parker is also famous for the Spencer For Hire series, which was a television show starring Robert Urich from 1985 to 1988. Parker also created a popular Sunny Randall series that was originally meant as a vehicle for Helen Hunt. Many modern writers such as Harlan Coben, Robert Crais and Dennis Lehane credit Parker for revitalizing and reinventing the detective genre. It has been a tried and true genre for over a hundred years. It is a beloved formula. The Hallmark Channel has been behind this series of movies with Selleck, who has had a career resurgence with the CBS series Blue Bloods. He is well remembered for the Magnum P.I. show that ran from 1980 to 1988. Just to bring you up to date on the Jesse Stone movies which started airing in 2005, here are some of the titles in case you want to get the whole collection. The movies are all in chronological order: Stone Cold, Night Passage, Death In Paradise, Sea Change, Thin Ice, No Remorse, Innocents Lost, Benefit Of The Doubt, and Lost In Paradise. Another one is on the way in 2016. Selleck has become increasingly involved with the writing of the movies as well. Recurring characters from previous movies that show up in Jesse Stone: Lost In Paradise are Thelma Gleffey (Gloria Reuben), Gino Fish (William Sadler), Dr. Dix (William Sadler), Officer Luther “Suitcase” Simpson (Kohl Sudduth), Sister Mary John (Kerri Smith), and Lt. Sydney Greenstreet (Leslie Hope). (By the way, anyone who has seen The Maltese Falcon will get a chuckle out of the name Sidney Greenstreet.) The last time a Jesse Stone movie was broadcast on CBS was back in 2013 with Benefit of The Doubt and garnered over 13 million viewers. That was back in the good old days but was shifted over to Hallmark because it attracted too many older viewers. I can see why, because Jesse Stone is an unapologetic dinosaur who carries a flip phone and doesn’t respond to texts even if it’s an emergency.
Stone is based out of a town called Paradise, Massachusetts but heads down to Boston to pick up some cold cases from Lt. Greenstreet, because he needs to keep busy. Stone is doing his best to keep off the booze and has nothing but work to keep his mind off things. He also winds up helping a teenage truant girl whose mother is also an alcoholic. The main case this time is trying to find the murder of a prostitute. Stone visits Richard Steele (Luke Perry), who is in prison for the murder of three prostitutes. Steele believes prostitutes are a poison in society and has proudly confessed to the three murders. He specifically says he did not murder this new woman despite a similar M.O. (Modus Operandi). Strangely, this new murder is the wife of a wealthy man.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on January 28th, 2016
My first exposure to Bo Derek was Michael Anderson’s horror film Orca. While she may have had a minor part in the film, she had a rather unique beauty about her that was hard to ignore. After Orca, she dropped off my radar for the better part of five years, until her familiar face came to me in Shout Factory’s Bolero/Ghosts Can’t Do It combo pack. Once again I was graced with her unique beauty, but with a new understanding of her acting career: mainly how it was influenced by her relationship with her late husband John Derek. The two films in this Blu-ray set are towards the end of the pair’s collaborative projects, but I believe it is an accurate portrayal of their contribution (or lack thereof) to cinema as a whole.
For those who don’t know, the Dereks’ relationship was not something you would call conventional. She was seventeen and in high school, and he was married and in his forties. In order to maintain their relationship legally, John divorced his wife and eloped with his young lover to Germany, where they remained for three years before returning to the States to marry. While this fact might be quite disturbing to some, it is necessary to mention, because the Dereks produced their first collaborative film project while abroad for those three years. The independent production, Fantasies, was shot in Greece in 1973, with unknown Greek actors and actresses and Bo Derek (then unknown) as the lead. The film was not released until 1981 due to the controversy surrounding the film: a seventeen-year-old girl exploring her sexual fantasies involving an older man, complete with nudity. Following Fantasies, John Derek wrote and directed three more films exploiting Bo’s beauty before ending his career as a director: Tarzan, The Ape Man, Bolero, and Ghosts Can’t Do It.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 27th, 2016
“Being a woman's hard work.”
Femininity — the quality and essence of being a woman — is at the forefront of The New Girlfriend, a gender-bending and genre-bending offering from French director Francois Ozon. The film is a curious mix of farce, rom-com hijinks, frank sexuality, and serious drama about loss. The formula isn't always cohesive, but it makes for an intriguing twist on the old “boy meets girl” story.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2016
"The way of life depicted in this program dates back 300 years. Hunting, especially alligator hunting, lies at its core. Some images may be disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised."
And they're not kidding. Gator hunting is a bloody business, and this show gets you right up close and in the action. The hunters set hooks with bait, and once a gator is hooked they must reel it in and shoot it in a very small vulnerable spot in the back of the head. Let me warn you that animals were indeed harmed in the making of this film, and you're going to witness that harm. If you're an animal activist, I suggest turning to the Disney Channel for this particular hour. The rest of you will get a front-row seat to a truly thrilling non-stop alligator hunt.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 23rd, 2016
I have to admit that I'm not much of a Keanu Reeves fan. However, I'm a huge fan of Keanu Reeves movies. Let's face it, Keanu can be quite wooden with as much screen presence as a test pattern. OK, I'm showing my age with that line. But one thing he knows how to do well is pick great films to star in. From The Matrix and the recent very hit John Wick to the underrated The Devil's Advocate, Reeves can sure pick 'em. The worse case scenario here would be Keanu in an uninteresting movie. Well...Knock Knock. Who's there? An uninteresting Keanu Reeves film.
Knock Knock finds Reeves playing Evan Weber. He's an architect with a pretty much idyllic life. His wife is a renowned artist, and he has two great kids. But Evan is feeling a bit neglected on Father's Day. His wife has just gotten a shipment of catalogues from her recent exhibit, and she's not exactly paying him a lot of attention right now. To make things worse, wife and kids are off to spend Father's Day weekend at the beach, while Evan has to remain home to finish a project.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 21st, 2016
Have you ever stumbled across someone’s diary? At first glance it may look innocent enough, but for the person with dreams, fears and confessions, it is that friend and confidant that will listen to its author as they bare their soul and not be faced with judgement. In The Diary of a Teenage Girl, not only do we get a peek into the secret life of Minnie Goetze (Bel Powley), but we are taken on a journey of experiencing first love and sex through the eyes of a 15 year-old girl. It’s sweet, it’s tragic, but where this film’s strength comes at its audience the strongest is with its honesty, which for some may be a bit too sobering of a reminder of what life is like as a teenager.
“I had sex today…”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 21st, 2016
Here comes another in the long line of movies featuring a WWE superstar. Boy, I tell you, the floodgates open after The Rock (although now he goes by Dwayne Johnson) proved it was possible to move from wrestling stardom to silver screen stardom. That said, none them have really made the leap successfully since him; however, that is not from a lack of trying. This time around, Randy "The Viper" Orton looks to try his luck in the sequel to a WWE sponsored film in The Condemned 2.
After a botched operation to capture the leader of a gambling ring that ended in tragedy, bounty hunter Will Tanner (Orton) walks away from the bail enforcement life. Having his entire world rocked, Will resigns himself to a quiet life; however, just because he is done with his past doesn't necessarily mean that his past is done with him. He suddenly finds himself fighting for his life in a deadly game brought forth by an old enemy. To make matters worse, not only is he forced to do battle, he is forced to do battle against his very own team, the same men who accompanied him for years, men who he was willing to put his life in their hands in the past. Now he must stay one step of ahead of the men who know him best, all the while trying to make his way to the man behind the curtain.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 21st, 2016
"Did you ever have a dream but didn't know where it started?"
Some dreams did indeed start with the box office flop Nomads. It was the first starring role in a feature film for future James Bond Pierce Brosnan. It was also the first film directed by John McTiernan and his only screenwriting credit to date. Both would go on to have quite flourishing careers, and I suspect neither spends much time looking back at Nomads, and with good enough reason. And those careers did not take long. For McTiernan his next three films would be, in order: Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt For Red October. The film also sports a score by legendary Bill Conti, the man who started his feature film career with Rocky and ended up with a Best Music Oscar for The Right Stuff. Conti teamed up with Ted Nugent, and they improvised most of the Nomads score with Nugent making coffee runs packing his trademark extra protection. With a dream team like this you might expect Nomads to be a pretty solid film. You'd be wrong.
