Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 29th, 2007
As you might imagine, I am often asked for my opinion on the films I see. Inevitably I’m called upon to compare the film with some other work, which is at best quite unfair and at worst simply impossible to do. But I’ve gotten good at the game. So let us play it now. We’ll call Neverwas One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest meets Alice In Wonderland. Unfair, some might say, for they are actually the very same story. When you look at it carefully enough, they really are, although important differences do exist. My point i... all of this nonsense is this: There really is a razor fine line between insanity and fantasy. Neverwas blurs this distinction to an almost indefinable difference.
When Dr. Zack Riley (Eckhart) arrived at Millford Mental Health Institute, which once housed his father, he had no idea that his journey would take him full circle to a childhood he had been running from. Zack’s father (Nolte) was the author of a famous children’s story titled Neverwas. Zack has been running from Neverwas ever since. He changed his name and refused his inheritance of the book’s royalties. Here at Millford, Zack discovers a rather remarkable patient. Gabriel (McKellen) is not only intimately familiar with Neverwas and Zack himself, but claims to be her King. Zack finds himself confronted by a place he always believed came from his father’s imagination. It’s a wonderful story with an almost magical potential. Unfortunately this film takes too long to develop and never quite hits its stride. The film travels a trail of breadcrumbs laid out in such painstakingly slow motion that it is our patience and not our imagination that is finally put to the test. Writer/directors often commit the fatal sin of overcomplicating what often plays best in simpler terms. Joshua Michael Stern is guilty of it here. The film becomes too muddled, trying to show too much history and never trusting its audience enough to find their own way. You should know this IS NOT a children’s film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 25th, 2007
Yet another Samuel L. Jackson movie containing the word snake in it, but unlike Snakes on a Plane, Black Snake Moan is a dramatic picture delving into dark issues like abuse. I’ll come out by saying that I though this movie was going to be a good laugh, seeing the trailer I though it would be a bearded Sam Jackson shouting out profanities at an unwilling captive in his home. Although this does happen it is a small portion of the movie, and not as comedic as I had supposed.
Black Snake Moan.../i> takes place in a rural part of the American south east, playing out in a small town and its surrounding area, but because the town is small doesn’t mean the problems are. Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction) is a former blues guitarist turned full time farmer with deep religious beliefs. In the beginning of the picture his wife leaves him for his brother, where a nearly violent rage ensues. Having a hard time dealing with his problems, Lazarus begins singing the blues once again, which at one time apparently had the whole town hopping. Meanwhile Rae (Christina Ricci, Sleepy Hollow) has to say goodbye to her Marine boyfriend Ronnie (Justin Timberlake) who’s about to be shipped over seas. As soon as he leaves she sleeps with a local crack dealer Tehronne (David Banner), attends a party where she sleeps with another patron, later Ronnie’s friend Gill finds her passed out in a field half naked and offers her a ride home. Along the way Gill nearly rapes Rae but instead beats her severely and throws her on the side of the road. The following morning Lazarus discovers her and takes her in, nursing her back to health. But when he learns of her past indiscretions he believes that God has put her on his path and offers her redemption. In other words he chains her to his radiator and offers her counsel on her history of abuse and sexual addiction but instead the two develop a bond and mutually help one and other with their problems.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 23rd, 2007
Snow Cake is a slow, quiet film that creeps up on you. You don’t realize it’s working for you until the end rolls around, and you’re left reflecting on its impact.
It’s about a lonely, middle-aged man whose life is changed by a car crash. Alex Hughes (Alan Rickman, Love Actually) is on a road trip across Canada. He reluctantly picks up a hitchhiker, a spunky teenage girl. Just as they’re developing a bit of a connection, they’re blindsided by a semi. This results in Alex making an unplanned st...p in her hometown of Wawa, Ontario, to visit the girl’s mother, Linda (Sigourney Weaver, Alien), a high-functioning autistic woman.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 21st, 2007
Flags of Our Fathers is based on the book of the same name by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the Battle of Iwo Jima and the famous raising the flag on Iwo Jima picture. It’s the second recently released movie about the Battle of Iwo Jima, the other being Letters from Iwo Jima.
Both films were directed by Clint Eastwood. Although both focus on the same event, they are quite different. Letters from Iwo Jima is from the Japanese perspective and Flags of Our Fathers from the Ame...ican. Also, Flags is more focused on the group of Marines that raised the flag, their efforts in selling war bonds back in America and their coping with the war. Having recently watched and enjoyed Letters from Iwo Jima, I eagerly anticipated this film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 16th, 2007
Watching the trailers for Black Snake Moan, I recall thinking it was going to drum up some outrageous controversy. I mean, the only thing we really knew about the film was that a big, scary black man chains up a half-dressed white girl in his home. Not exactly a wholesome image.
It’s a southern gothic parable, starring Samuel L. Jackson (Shaft) as Lazarus, a God-fearing man whose wife just left him for his own brother, and Christina Ricci (Sleepy Hollow) as Rae, a broken young woman wh...’s haunted by terrible sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather. Other key players include Justin Timberlake (Alpha Dog) as Rae’s boyfriend, Ronnie, John Cothrane Jr. (Madagascar) as Lazarus’ reverend friend, and S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order) as a potential love interest for Lazarus.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 16th, 2007
I’m kicking myself. Martin Scorcese’s The Color of Money has long been a favourite of mine, but for some reason I never knew it was a sequel to The Hustler, a film 25 years older and three times better.
Starring a young Paul Newman (Road to Perdition) in a role that earned him his second Oscar nomination, The Hustler is about a cocky pool player hustling his way to the top. When “Fast Eddie” Felson (Newman) challenges undefeated straight-pool champ Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason,...Requiem for a Heavweight) to a high stakes game, the talented young hustler shows he has the skills to be the best, but self-destructs toward the end of the 25-hour marathon match. Left near-penniless and without the managing partner who helped him get started in the seedy world of pool hustling, Eddie faces an uphill struggle to regain his confidence. Shacking up with smart, attractive and similarly self-destructive Sarah (Piper Laurie, Carrie) proves to be a decent diversion while Eddie wallows in misery, but while he uses her as a crutch, he becomes the cause of her destruction when he agrees to play for Bert Gordon (George C. Scott, Patton), a ruthless, greedy manager, and brings her along when they hit the road.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2007
Not all heist films are created equal. The Hard Easy is a poor man’s Ocean’s Whatever. Number. While that might appear more often than not a knock on the film, that would not be so in this case. Actually I rather liked the film, more for its nuances. The first thing that impressed me was the cast. This isn’t the gaggle of A listers found in the Ocean films. These are still some hard working craftsmen. Just because this isn’t as hyped or financed to the hilt doesn’t take anything away from the performances. It might...have made them work even harder.
Paul (Thomas) and Roger (Boreanaz) both have some serious money problems. Paul owes a huge gambling debt to vicious mobster Freddie (Allen). Roger is caught up in a stock scam about to explode in his face. The only way out, or so it appears, is an easy score. Seems there’s this can’t miss opportunity waiting for the right crew to come and make a good $15 million. Circumstances pull both of these misguided lads into the job. The problem is, of course, they don’t know each other. Both are working with separate crews planning the same job. So this easy score gets very hard; hence the title. When both crews show for the same diamond heist, all hell’s gonna break loose. What this film lacks in action it more than makes up for in characters. Peter Weller has some of the best lines in his over the top portrayal of Ed who leads Roger’s crew for the heist. The cigar crunching ex commando is such a stock character that it’s actually pretty funny to observe. An aging Bruce Dern puts in an almost equally rousing turn as Gene, the leader of Paul’s gang. Where most films concentrate on pulling off the job, this film mines the characters themselves for most of the running time. While it might not be gold they’re mining, it still comes up silver. Rae Allen might have the best role in the very short appearance of female mobster Freddie. I don’t know about you, but I’ll never look at a wrench quite the same way again. Her facial stuff is priceless. Gary Busey plays Vinnie, a counselo of sorts for Paul, who might just be setting him up for a fall. Vera Farmiga has the most unlikely role as Dr. Charlie. Why do all of the women in this film have guy names?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 10th, 2007
Freedom Writers is based upon The Freedom Writers Diary; a book written by teacher Erin Gruwell and her students. I’ll admit that initially I was quite mixed about what to expect from this film; on one hand I just didn’t want to sit through another one of these To Sir with Love, Stand and Deliver, Dangerous Minds type movies, but on the other hand I hoped it would be different and live up to some of the rave reviews I have read. Well, let’s find out.
Instead of giving a lengthy sy...opsis I will spell this one out simply. Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) is white teacher who is new to a predominantly black high school. The kids are your typical Long Beach gang bangers and she goes to great lengths for them to see their potential. From taking on a second job for money to spend on the class too distancing her relationship with her husband Scott (Patrick Dempsey), Gruwell will stop at nothing to overcome the doubting student and fellow staff who believe she is just overly optimistic, guess how this one is going to end folks.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 10th, 2007
Where was I when Miss Potter was in theatres last year? I don’t recall hearing much about it, and that’s a shame. This is one of the most charming, infectiously light-hearted films I’ve seen in long while.
It’s the story of Beatrix Potter (Renée Zellweger, Chicago), the 19th century British creator of the famous Peter Rabbit children’s stories. When we first meet Beatrix, she’s an unmarried woman in her early thirties, lugging her portfolio of paintings and a story to potential publishers. In meeting with two crusty older gents, it seems she’s not going to have any luck. They flip through her drawings of rabbits dressed in human clothes, while she insists they, the rabbits, are her friends. She must be crazy. Lucky for her, these guys have an annoying younger brother who’s insisting he be allowed into the family publishing business. They decide to give him this “bunny book” to minimize the harm he would surely do to their serious business.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 8th, 2007
Having heard exactly zilch about The Last Sin Eater before receiving my review copy, I expected it to be a low-budget horror flick. Boy, was I wrong. This film is based on a bestselling novel by Francine Rivers, a popular writer of Christian-themed fiction. Produced under the 20th Century Fox FoxFaith brand, it’s intended for an Evangelical Christian audience.
The story is set in 1850’s Appalachia, where a group of early Irish settlers have made their home. When the grandmother of 10-year-old ...adi (Liana Liberato) dies, Cadi loses the only person who loved her no matter what sins she’d committed, for even her own mother seems to blame her for a recent family tragedy. At her grandmother’s funeral, during a mysterious ritual, Cadi sees the Sin Eater (Peter Wingfield, Holby City), a disturbing man who symbolically eats the sins of the recently departed, taking them upon himself to allow the dead to rest in peace.
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