Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 23rd, 2009
In the vein of The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and a sprinkle of The Sting (1972) John Dahl brings us Rounders. Card prodigy Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) quits the game after losing everything. Once Mike’s best friend Les “Worm” Murphy (Edward Norton), gets out of jail, Worm attempts to get Mike back into the poker world. As Worm’s behavior begins to implicate Mike, Mike decides to come out of poker retirement.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 21st, 2009
Melissa Leo is a hard-working café waitress in Tennessee who regularly sends what little extra cash she has to her adult son who, for reasons never explained, is a drug-addict in Johannesburg. A drug lord (Joey Dedio) kidnaps said son, and demands a ransom that, for Leo, is next to impossible. Nonetheless, a mother's love knows no obstacles, so she scrapes together the money to fly to South Africa. Once there, she connects with Tina (Lisa-Marie Schneider), her son's prostitute girlfriend, and is made to run the gauntlet by Dedio, who shows very little inclination to let his hostage go, no matter what demand is met.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 16th, 2009
A “sexy” movie is more than a movie that just has two people performing the horizontal mambo with heavy breathing. There needs to be passion, there needs to be raw emotion and even sometimes there needs to be love. If there are words to be spoken between the two beings, they need to have strength and feeling.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 12th, 2009
Actor Edward Norton first came to my attention in the heist film, The Score. I hadn’t heard a lot about the bright young actor, but I remember that he impressed me quite a bit. When you consider he was playing along with the likes of Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, that’s no small achievement. Somewhere along the way I missed the 1996 release of Primal Fear. Based on the William Diehl novel, the film would be the first major feature to star Norton. It was a breakout character and a breakout performance. He deservedly was nominated for an Academy Award for the role, one he likely should have received.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 12th, 2009
Finally, this show has really gotten to me. I don’t know what it is about this 8th season, but I was far more interested in the show than I had ever been. Maybe I’ve spent so long with these characters that they started to come alive for me. Maybe I was resistant to a slightly different way of telling stories. Maybe it was that the stories became less about who was with who that I was finally able to enjoy the great courtroom drama and investigation elements of the series. Whatever it was, I am finally a fan.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 12th, 2009
Richard Gere is Martin Vail. Vail is an egotistical hot shot lawyer who is looking more for news cameras than an innocent client. The truth is, he doesn’t give a crap if they did it or not. His only concern is what the case can do for him. He thrives on front page magazine articles and sound bites on the 6:00 news. It’s no surprise that when Vail sees a headline making case unfold live on the television, he chases the case. The entire city of Chicago witnessed police chase 19 year old altar boy Aaron through the railroad yards.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 11th, 2009
Say Uncle. That’s U.N.C.L.E., otherwise known as The United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Starting in 1964 The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was one of a flurry of shows to take advantage of the new James Bond craze. It featured much of the same elements as the super spy films. You had sophisticated spies in tuxedos. There were plenty of gadgets. And there were constant threats of world domination, mostly from the evil counter organization, THRUSH. The two top spies for the good guys were Napoleon Solo (Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (McCallum). The Bond references were never subtle and always intentional.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 11th, 2009
Does the name Quasimodo ring a bell? It should, and he did. The deformed cathedral tower bell ringer first appeared in the famous French language novel by Victor Hugo. The story is one of the more frequently filmed tales, going back as far as 1923 and the silent film starring Lon Chaney. Chaney created the definitive appearance from his own collection of grease paints and handmade appliances. The physical restrictions he placed upon himself then nearly crippled the actor. Charles Laughton put his own stamp on the character in 1939. This would become the defining sound film. Even the Walt Disney Studios put their own unique stamp on the tale.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 11th, 2009
Dateline: Texas. Christmas Eve. Christmas carols are playing on the radio. And even though this is one heck of a hot day, the stores are decked out like the preverbal halls. It’s Christmas time in the city. But this isn’t going to be one of those White Christmas warm and fuzzy eggnog cozying by the fireplace stories. Don’t get me wrong. There’s going to be plenty of roasting by an open fire, but those aren’t chestnuts. Those are people.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 10th, 2009
It’s always a danger when you have the same person do too many roles in a film. There have been notable exceptions, but the rule proves true enough to be considered an axiom. In this case we have the duet of Hunter Hill and Perry Moore co-directing and co-writing the script. The problem is that neither of them had done either of those things before. Their inexperience takes its toll on a film that had a lot of potential. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a project is to let it go. Unfortunately these two couldn’t give up even a little of that control. In the end you have a movie with a very powerful cast that can’t seem to salvage anything given them by Hill and Moore.
![Primal Fear [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/primal-fear-blu-ray-large.jpg)
