Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 29th, 2015
Inherent Vice is the kind of movie I personally love to watch over and over again, partly because it is always tantalizing you with content that you can't quite get your head wrapped around. Almost anyone would want to see this more than once, even if only to make sure they weren't stupid for not connecting all the dots. The film has a classy, fun pedigree combing the talents of Paul Thomas Anderson and Thomas Pynchon. Paul is the beloved director of modern classics like Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and There Will Be Blood. Thomas is the novelist of unfathomable masterpieces like Gravity's Rainbow and V. Both are titans in the cultural zeitgeist of the academic and the bohemian. They both are supremely confident to put together a plot that flies high above our heads. It is also a detective story, but the gumshoe or private dick in this case is a hippie. The story takes place in 1970 and is immersed in the smoke of the period. It is also immersed in a period authentic string of 70's tunes and wild psychedelic set decoration and groovy duds. It would be pointless to start to outline the plot, partly because the plot is beside the point. The point is to feel the vibe. To settle back, take a deep breath, and hold it in. Hippies are not likely candidates to be private eyes, but it is the perfect way to get a cross section of a time and place. This time and place is as foreign to us today as is Moses in the desert.
If I won't give you a plot, I will give you a cast of characters. Larry “Doc” Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) gets a visit from his ex, Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterson). She wants his help with a problem. Shasta is the mistress of Michael Z. Wolfmann (Eric Roberts) and he seems to be the target of a plot to get his money. Tariq Khahlil (Michael Kenneth Williams) stops by the dentist’s office where Doc works to give him a job, that also ties to Wolfmann. Our unreliable narrator, Sortelege (Joanna Newsome) seems to float through the story as character as much as a ghost. Jade (Hong Chau) is a sweet Asian hooker who helps out when she can, especially when trying to warn him about “The Golden Fang”. Lieutenant detective Christian F. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) has a bit of a man crush on Doc when he isn't slapping him around and kicking his door in. Sauncho Smilex, Esq. (Benicio Del Toro) shows up to “help” Doc (but sometimes you're not so sure). Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone) hires Doc to find her dead husband, Coy (Owen Wilson). They are all mutual acquaintances of Shasta, who has also gone missing, as has Wolfmann. Deputy D.A. Penny Kimball (Reese Witherspoon) is involved because the F.B.I. is involved, but she is also Doc's current squeeze. A little later, we meet Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd, D.D.S. (Martin Short). He is a dentist but also the probable head of a heroine syndicate ensconced in a high rise that looks like a golden fang. Don't think anything I have told you is in any way a summary.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 28th, 2015
Despite being one of the most successful actresses in Hollywood for the better part of 20 years — Friends premiered in 1994 — it’s been all too easy to dismiss Jennifer Aniston’s big screen resume. Until recent sexpot roles in broad comedies (We’re The Millers, the Horrible Bosses two-logy), most of her hits (Bruce Almighty, Along Came Polly, The Break-Up, Marley and Me) were girlfriend/wife roles that didn’t stray too far from the Rachel Green mold. Cake made less than $2 million at the box office, but it’s also the first movie that made me excited about Aniston’s movie career.
“Are you always such a f---ing shrew?”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 27th, 2015
Beware The Ides Of March! For Julius Caesar it was a dire prophesy of death. For Bob Bergland (bass), Mike Borch (drums), Larry Millas (keys/guitars) and Jim Peterik, it was more like a harbinger of 50 years of rock and roll fame. The band started out as the Shon-Dels in Berwyn just outside of Chicago. The name turned out to be a conflict with another group, and it was changed to BattMann And The Boy Wonders. Of course, that didn't stick, but Bergland's penchant for paying attention in literature classes led them to The Ides Of March. The lads were only around 15 at the time. Fifty years later, the band is out performing the old hits and still writing new songs.
To be fair, the band wasn't really together all of that time. Jim Peterik went on to have a pretty strong career with the band Survivor. He was the chief writer in Ides Of March and filled that role in Survivor, penning hits like The Search Is Over and Eye Of The Tiger for a Rocky film. He also wrote hits for the band .38 Special like Hang On Loosely. From the mid 70's until the early 90’s, Ides Of March was pretty much inactive. Reuniting for a local festival that wanted to pay tribute to them, the band slipped into the old groove and has been touring and recording ever since.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 27th, 2015
“That’s exactly what a zombie would say.”
It has been some time since I’ve been able to watch a parody film and speak about it fondly afterwards. If memory serves, the last time that occurred was A Haunted House. (The sequel was an obvious money grab.) Now, I wouldn’t quite put The Walking Deceased in the same caliber of that film, but it does manage to deliver enough crowd-pleasing hijinks to entertain.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on April 24th, 2015
When picking up a copy of Jonathan King’s Black Sheep, you know exactly what you are getting into: a lot of bloodthirsty sheep. For about 83 minutes, the film delivers exactly what is promised on the front cover. That being said, the film is definitely catered to a rather specific audience, consisting of people who would actually want to watch Black Sheep. However, hiding under the implied lunacy, is a rather intelligent pastiche of the genre tropes put forth by its many predecessors.
King’s directorial debut focuses on the Oldfield brothers, Henry (Nathan Meister) and Angus (Peter Feeney). Still traumatized by a childhood incident involving his pet lamb, Henry (now terrified by sheep) returns home to sell Angus his inheritance of the farmland, in hopes of leaving his trauma behind him. Unbeknownst to Henry, Angus has turned the once beautiful farm into a laboratory dedicated to genetically modifying the DNA of sheep.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on April 22nd, 2015
“A vigilante is simply somebody who violates the law in order to punish a criminal for what they believe is right, for what they believe is justice.”
It’s easy to understand the appeal of big screen vigilante justice. We’ve all gotten tangled up in red tape, which is why it’s so gratifying to watch somebody tear through it. (And often spray some red elsewhere.) John Doe: Vigilante ends up being as ludicrous as any of the 17 Death Wish movies, but it also goes beyond putting the entire blame on “the system.” There are some interesting ideas at play here, including the notion that there’s a little Vigilante in all of us.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 20th, 2015
Imagine the horror of being asleep and then suddenly you wake up, paralyzed. Your eyes flutter frantically about as you struggle to move, but nothing will budge. From the corner of your eye you see movement. You’re not alone, and the person who is in the room with you is ready to kill you. This is the hook Echoes attempts to use to suck the viewers in. As a psychological thriller about sleep paralysis, it’s unfortunate that the only suspense the film manages to deliver on is just when the film will finally come to its painfully boring conclusion.
Anna (Kate French) is a struggling writer working on getting her first screenplay sold. She’s eager to break into the industry and get her script shown to the big Hollywood players, but her agent/boyfriend has second thoughts. Paul (Steven Brand) decides to take Anna out to his desert retreat where the two can be alone together and where Anna plans to get more writing done. Only instead of worrying about her script, it’s her intense nightmares that lead to her restless nights.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 17th, 2015
This film did not hold my interest at all. I know, I know…kind of a crude way to start off a review. However, I just don’t see the point in sugarcoating my feelings about this film. I had envisioned a completely different movie in my head before popping the disc into the Blu-ray player, and the idea in my head and what was displayed did not match up in the slightest. Perhaps that is my fault; I know better than to go into a film with expectations. And on that front, I will accept my role in my displeasure with the overall product. However, Housekeeping did nothing to help its case, in my opinion.
The plausibility of the film was a major factor in my inability to connect with the story. A young medical student named Lucy (Adriana Solis) is forced to take on a crap job in order to support a brother in trouble. Okay sound premise, I can get behind this; I have seen many a tale of a responsible sibling being forced to do something they don’t want to do to bail out a sibling whose only talent is making the former’s life more difficult. It’s the delivery that I struggled with.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 14th, 2015
The longest-running crime dramas tend to be “case of the week” mysteries where the perp is comfortably caught within the hour. It’s a formula for sure, but it’s one that’s easy to replicate and works quite well if you have the right talent and personalities involved. In reality, of course, there are many cases when the crook isn’t captured before the end credits…or ever. The accompanying anger and uncertainty is much trickier (and messier) to convey dramatically. The Missing — a limited series from England that aired on Starz — isn’t the first show to tackle that territory, but it’s certainly a compelling recent example.
“It’s no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 10th, 2015
"There's something I need to tell you. We're building a weapon. It's not like any weapon the world's ever seen. It draws its energy from a fast-neutron chain reaction. It releases the power of an ancient star. If it works, and it's going to work, it will be the more destructive than all the bombs dropped in all the wars in history put together. It'll bring armies to their knees. Cities will disappear in the blink of an eye. The world will be united in peace by the most just and noble country in the history of mankind or it will burn to the ground. Whoever builds it first, there's the endgame. So it has to be us, whatever it costs."
It's one of those dramatic stories where mankind is altered forever. If it weren't absolutely true, someone would have had to make it up. Every child in schools around the world knows about the atomic bombs that ended World War II. We've all seen the terrible destruction that exceeded even the expectations of the scientists and engineers who designed and built these bombs. We all live in the aftermath of these events. Yet little is known about the people who devoted their lives to making it a reality, not only those directly involved, but their families and the support network necessary to bring them all together. Enter WGN America, and the tale is finally told. Now the first season of Manhattan, spelled as Manh(a)ttan, is available on Blu-ray from Lionsgate.
