Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 19th, 2016
The Intern tackles a pretty important issue. Age gaps are the elephant in the room that no one wants to acknowledge. The issue is confusing to address, because a lot of people don’t even know what age group they belong to or don’t care. But the differences are very real, and they cause enormous alienation and division. Baby Boomers and Millennials are two examples which are represented here by Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway, who has a daughter starting the first grade, so another age group is represented. To be clearer, Baby Boomers are born between 1946 to 1964, Generation X 1965 to 1980, Generation Y/Millennial 1981 to 2000 and Generation Z/Boomlets after 2001.They are all categorized as having their own issues and identifying traits. You noticed I didn’t mention anyone over 70, and that’s because they don’t matter. In fact, Baby Boomers don’t matter. I don’t agree with that at all, but that is the tendency and thrust of modern culture. This is a complicated matter, so I’ll have to leave it there and move on to discussing this movie. The movie addresses this issue.
Jules (Hathaway) started an internet company that markets clothes, and after 18 months, it has become fantastically successful. Ben (De Niro) is a 70-year-old retired widower who wants to keep busy. He gets a job as an intern for Jules. His work ethic, competence, and experience become indispensable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 9th, 2016
"I'm under some medication for a medical condition so I may not be seeing this correctly. But I'm pretty sure I might be seeing some of your students possibly eating Mr. Peterson. Again it could be the medication."
Cooties starts out with the grossest sequence in the entire film. You might not want to start this film if you're eating, particularly if you're eating chicken nuggets. Ben Franklin once warned us that there were two things one should never see made: laws and sausages. He might just as well have been talking chicken nuggets. The opening sequence delivers the nuggets-making process from the clucking chicken through processing right to the plate of a young third-grade girl at Fort Chicken Elementary School. Unfortunately, these nuggets have their own secret recipe, and it's not 11 herbs and spices. But it will make for an interesting day at Fort Chicken Elementary.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 9th, 2015
“Why are the Romantics relevant today?”
Some Kind of Beautiful shamelessly embraces every rom-com cliché in the book. The utterly nonsensical title, the main characters’ impossibly-posh digs, and the film’s exceedingly contrived and predictable plotting are probably enough to send jaded moviegoers running to the airport exit. So why am I not kicking this film to the curb? Well it helps that this particular group of attractive stars shares a relaxed, mature chemistry that carries the story through its more outlandish shenanigans.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 30th, 2015
“Why are people trying to stab you?”
People in action movies aren't usually inclined to stop and ask that question out loud. In American Ultra, a small army of CIA operatives repeatedly try to stab, shoot, gas, and blow up an underachieving slacker and his girlfriend. Seems like a lot of trouble for a panic attack-prone convenience store clerk who sketches a goofy graphic novel about an adventurous ape on his downtime. American Ultra is funny, violent, and tonally-jarring at times. However, it's also a fun subversion of the action genre and (more specifically) “supersoldier” movies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on November 16th, 2015
The geriatric care wing of a hospital — where the employees are undermanned and overworked, and many of the patients are in a near-catatonic state — is not the most obvious sitcom setting. That's partly the reason it took me a while to warm up to the first season of HBO's Getting On, an adaptation of the British series of the same name. The biggest drawback, however, was that those initial episodes didn't seem very interested in shaking the grim specter of the original show. But what a difference a year makes!
Before I get into all the ways Getting On improved during its second season, let's do a quick summary. The show is exclusively set within the Billy Barnes Extended Care Unit at Mount Palms Hospital in Long Beach, California. The staff includes Dr. Jenna James (Laurie Metcalf), the unit's spectacularly off-putting and self-centered director of medicine. Dawn Forchette (Alex Borstein) is the eager-to-please head ward nurse who is a professional doormat for Dr. James and a romantic doormat for on-again/off-again flame Patsy de la Serda (Mel Rodriguez), the unit's supervising nurse/resident stickler. Finally, there's overwhelmed, underpaid DiDi Ortley (Niecy Nash), who remains the most openly compassionate staff member.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on November 9th, 2015
“Why, this is getting more farcical by the moment!”
It's easy to point at the 1960s Batman TV series and laugh. For Dark Knight loyalists who insist their hero be gritty and tortured, the show is (at best) a campy amusement. At worst, it's an embarrassing atrocity. The two most important things to note are 1.) the show is very much a product of the Swinging Sixties time period in which it was made, and 2.) the series is *supposed* to be funny. (Batman picked up an Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy nomination during its run.) Keeping those two factors in mind is crucial to enjoying this entertaining, monumentally bizarre run of episodes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 21st, 2015
“Whatever happened to good old-fashioned, run-of-the-mill sex?”
On its surface, The Little Death looks and sounds like the glossy, crowd-pleasing romantic comedies Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) used to make. But it becomes apparent rather quickly that no one in this funny, insightful, uneven Australian comedy is having “run-of-the-mill sex.” The movie’s jazzy, jukebox-y score also made me occasionally think of Woody Allen films, which is fitting because Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) easily could’ve been an alternate title for The Little Death.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 17th, 2015
Oh Hell No! is the cheeky subtitle for the latest entry in SyFy's made-for-TV Twitter Sharknado franchise. Coincidentally, “Oh hell no!” was also the response the creators of the first film got from everyone they approached about starring in it a few years ago. Flash forward to 2015, and things have changed dramatically. Now Sharknado auteur Anthony C. Ferrante needs a stick to beat away the washed-up actors, reality stars, and politicians(?!) angling to serve as chum for some comically unconvincing sharks.
“Why do you always have to be a hero?”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 8th, 2015
"Listen, my friend. This is going to be very hard to comprehend, but none of what you are seeing is real."
Of course it's not real. It's not really that hard to comprehend at all. This is an animated show, after all. And the figures look like cut-out pieces of construction paper. Of course, we're talking about South Park. What is hard to comprehend, however, is that we're talking about the 18th season of South Park. Few television shows last this long, and only The Simpsons has been around longer when it comes to scripted animated shows running today. That's rare air, indeed.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 6th, 2015
I don't enjoy writing negative reviews. It's a struggle when the film experience was joyless and then to have to go back and relive that. I also don't enjoy reading reviews by other critics that get everything completely wrong. It's even worse when almost all the critics get it wrong. Even worse than that is when I see critics dumping on a film that's actually good, but that's a story for a different day. How can I say Spy is so bad? Because I had to sit through the movie. I can get some enjoyment out of even the worst movies, and that's true here, but I would not recommend it to unsuspecting viewers.I do imagine a lot of people will enjoy the movie despite themselves if they are paying for babysitters, etc. Again, I do think every movie has some entertainment value. I will try to find it in the new movie Spy. The first good thing I can say is that Spy is a chick flick that lets chicks save the day. They don't look great doing it, but they save the day. That's one of the problems. Almost no one looks good in this film.
The film has a great cast. Melissa McCarthy is the big star, but she shares billing with Jason Statham, Jude Law, and Rose Byrne. You can also throw in sturdy supporting players like Allison Janney and Bobby Cannavale. There are plenty more, but those are the names. I will say that the person who comes off the best is Rose Byrne. She plays a super-bitch super-villain who you truly believe doesn't like anyone. She dispatches people with the unpleasant venom of someone who doesn't like the service she is receiving at a restaurant. Jason Statham has the thankless job of making fun of himself. He seems game, but he doesn't really pull it off. He gets some of the funniest material but almost flubs most of his lines with his mush-mouth delivery. Jude Law gets the part of the perfect James Bond-type spy, but you get the hint of embarrassment in his facial mannerisms like he's trying too hard to spoof the trope.
