Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 3rd, 2014
“I don't know why death still surprises me.”
As someone who's seen every single episode of True Blood, I suppose nothing should surprise me by now. HBO's vampire drama has given us more than its share of head-turning sex scenes and a hearty helping of over-the-top violence. However, the further the series ventured from Bon Temps and its core group of characters, the more it seemed to lose its way, even as a satisfying guilty pleasure. This penultimate season still relied on an overly-crowded cast of supernaturals. But it was ultimately an encouraging sign that the show might get back to basics as it prepares to end its run this summer.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 2nd, 2014
The tagline for Beyond the Trophy definitively states that “Power is the only thing that matters.” Well, having watched this low-budget cops and kingpins crime drama, I humbly disagree. The film strives to tell a story about the violent perils of all-consuming power. Unfortunately, Beyond the Trophy forgot to include some of the stuff that matters to movie-watchers: things like “focused storytelling”, “coherent action sequences”, and “fresh characters.”
The film opens “somewhere in the Caribbean” where a hitman catches up to lounging, unsuspecting Danny (Michael Masini). The action then flashes back seven months to show us how Danny ended up with a gun pointed at him on a tropical beach.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 28th, 2014
On the surface, The Color of Lies resembles many other murder mysteries set in a close-knit community. The 1999 film, however, is a late-career effort from Claude Chabrol, the French New Wave director who first gained acclaim alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut in the late 1950s. So it’s not surprising to learn The Color of Lies is really a subtle, stylish exploration of the various ways people deceive each other.
The body of a 10-year-old girl is found near the home of struggling artist Rene Sterne (Jacques Gamblin) and his wife Vivianne (Sandrine Bonnaire). Rene was the girl’s art teacher and quickly becomes the prime suspect in an investigation conducted by Inspector Lesage (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the town’s new police chief. Despite the fact that Inspector Lesage has zero hard evidence connecting Rene to the crime, he becomes a pariah in his small Breton village and gradually loses the rest of his art students. And if things weren’t bad enough for Rene, he also has to contend with vain local celebrity Germain-Roland Desmot (Antoine de Caunes), who is aggressively pursuing Rene’s wife. (It doesn’t help that Vivianne isn’t exactly rebuffing Desmot’s advances.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 26th, 2014
Christian Slater has managed to make a decent career lately by simply appearing in numerous direct-to-DVD productions for several years now. It seems as though every month the former 80s-90s heartthrob is slumming his way through productions as though he never once looked at the script and instead was just adding another lackluster credit to his IMDB profile. As a longtime fan of the actor from the days of Heathers, True Romance, and Pump Up the Volume, I can’t help but hope the guy will make a resurgence (though appearing in Lars Von Triers Nymphomaniac is a good start to that career revival).
As for Slater’s new release Way of the Wicked, he somewhat takes the back seat on this film despite appearing on the Blu-ray box art. Henry (Slater) is a priest who seems to have an obsession with a young boy who is held responsible for the murder of a classmate even though there was no physical evidence to show for it. Several years later Robbie (Jake Croker) returns to the small town, and as he returns to school he immediately seems to embrace the role of outcast.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 21st, 2014
Ever since Elijah Wood completed filming Lord of the Rings, it would seem that he has done everything in his power to not be locked down with the label of simply being Frodo. From playing a mute psychopath in Sin City, to voice work in Happy Feet, a suicidal pot-head that is best friends with a talking dog in Wilfred, and even the killer role in Maniac, it’s clear that he’s an actor that likes to challenge himself. With Grand Piano Wood delivers his most dynamic performance as the brilliant concert pianist Tom Selznick who suffers from stage fright. It’s a film that didn’t see much of a theatrical release but shone in the film festivals it did play at, most notably Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. But it’s not just the performance that sells me on this film; instead, it’s the beautifully shot and constructed thriller that seizes its grip from the opening moments of the film and doesn’t release until the end of its 90-minute-plus running time.
It’s been five years since Tom has performed for the public, ever since his meltdown while trying to perform a piece written by his mentor Patrick Godureaux. The piece titled, “La Cinquette” is believed to be an unplayable piece and is considered to be Godureaux’s master work. But it’s on this one night, an event organized by Tom’s wife Emma (Kerry Bishe), a Hollywood socialite who has bloomed into superstardom during Toms retirement; the event has been put together to help Tom recover from his disastrous performance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 21st, 2014
Most action pictures have an aura of super-seriousness, or they are filmed as comedies and everything is meant to be ridiculous. It definitely is a difficult task to mix the two effectively. On some level most action pictures are ridiculous, since most of us will never experience the close proximity to death and danger that is depicted on the screen. Also, life and death are often cheapened with high body counts but little consequence for our hero. In 3 Days To Kill, all sorts of elements are brought to bear in order to reinforce the average everyday family experience and not the lone killer. Early on, a different sort of danger affects our hero. It's not bullets and bombs but a rare disease that is likely to kill him in the very near future. As a spy, he has always neglected family to the extent that his teenage daughter barely knows him. Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is intent on changing that.
The film is directed by McG and written by Luc Besson, both filmmakers with impressive credentials, but I'll get back to that later. The real focus is Kevin Costner as an aging and battle-weary veteran CIA agent who is always counted on to take out whatever targets are assigned him. During a particularly explosive encounter in a Serbian hotel, he begins to get dizzy after chasing one surviving member of a gang. He is subsequently hospitalized and told he has maybe six months to live, and thanks for his service. He leaves the hospital determined to reconnect to his wife, Christine (Connie Neilsen), and daughter Zoey (Hailee Steinfeld).
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on May 15th, 2014
Bodybuilders present a series of fascinating contradictions. They objectively embody the ideal physical form, but there are also people who can’t even stand looking at them. They’re in tip-top shape, but instead of running, jumping or hitting each other, their competitions involve…posing. Pumping Iron, the 1977 documentary that turned Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno into stars, was the first film to shine a light on the world of bodybuilding. Generation Iron stylishly and thoughtfully explores how the sport — and its participants — have grown immensely in the ensuing decades despite remaining a somewhat peculiar part of popular culture.
“They are an oddity. Stares...pointed fingers. They are in a freak show with no circus tent to hide in.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 13th, 2014
“Whoever tells the best story wins.”
This bit of lawyerly wisdom is given by John Quincy Adams in Amistad, Steven Spielberg’s account of a real-life 19th century slave revolt. President Adams is offering advice on how to mount the most effective case on the slaves’ behalf, but his words ring true well beyond the courtroom. Spielberg has been telling some of the best stories since the 1970s. Amistad may not be top-tier Spielberg, but the film — making its Blu-ray debut — is an absorbing historical drama in its own right.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 13th, 2014
Her is someone you could fall in love with. Her is full of wonderful qualities. Her is elusive and unattainable as well as enticing and satisfying. Her is the awkward title of the new Spike Jonze film starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson (though not all of her), Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde and Chris Pratt. It does not star Samantha Morton, Carey Mulligan or Chris Cooper. It might have, but the project evolved so much that they dropped by the wayside. It grew out of the third collaboration between Jonze and Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) but Charlie Kaufman also dropped out, and this became a written-by-Spike Jonze project. Her takes place in a non-specific but soon-to-be future in a gorgeous and ethereal L.A. The production design and cinematography couldn’t be more tantalizing and beautiful. The performances by all are soulful and full of nuance in every nook and cranny of their being. Joaquin Phoenix is a whole new bunch of wonderful as our main character. It also applies to her (even though her being is much more elusive).
Her is an Operating System, but an advanced one. It ponders the day that is soon coming where artificial intelligences will start to proliferate. That day is practically here, but it hasn’t quite happened yet. But that day is here in movies. We all remember Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey. That led Kubrick much later to develop Artificial Intelligence, which show us a little boy who was created to love.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 12th, 2014
“You are not to leave this building. America is closed.”
That's certainly a far cry from “give me your tired, your poor...your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” It's also the predicament faced by Viktor Navorski, an accidental refugee who falls through a proverbial crack in the system and winds up trapped at JFK International Airport. The harsh, sobering command comes early on in The Terminal, a large-scale, feel-good parable. Even 10 years ago, a tonally-tricky studio movie like this one could only find its way to multiplexes if someone with the clout of a Steven Spielberg or Tom Hanks decided to make it.
