Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 28th, 2011
"I don't remember if I started drinking because my wife left me or my wife left me because I started drinking."
Nicolas Cage has played quite an array of oddball characters in what has to be one of Hollywood's most eclectic careers. But whatever your favorite might be, this is the one that earned him an Oscar. The movie also earned Elisabeth Shue her only nomination for an Oscar. While those were not the only nominations for this cult favorite film, that's really where the money is. The film is a character study of two people on a downward spiral. The film was also nominated for two additional Oscars, but it is the acting that makes this movie somewhat exceptional.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2011
Dirty Tricks stars Martin Clunes as Edward, an underachieving English teacher. Edward meets an accountant (Neil Dudgeon) and begins an affair with his wife, Karen (Julie Graham). When Karen unfortunately passes away, the aging detective (James Bolam) assigned to the case, suspects Edward is involved. Edward is a charming protagonist at first and suddenly the lies and absurdities begin piling up. On the outside, the film resembles a typical comedy and as the film unfolds it becomes a mystery. Is Edward who he continues to say he is? Or, is Edward making appeals of innocence to both the audience and the characters within the film? As a viewer, you will struggle with this question throughout. British television enthusiasts will not be disappointed with this effort.
Martin Clunes plays the role of Edward to perfection. The subtleties of his performance are remarkable. His lying springs the famous George Costanza line to mind “it’s not a lie, if you believe it”. There is an organic quality to his performance which is the most appealing. Clunes is perfectly cast and the film would not be a third as entertaining without him. The other performances are not as dazzling as Clunes. However, within the narrative of the film, they are a nice compliment to a great performance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 25th, 2011
I’m kicking myself. Martin Scorcese’s The Color of Money has long been a favorite 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 Heavyweight) 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 Michael Durr on May 23rd, 2011
When I was a kid, I always wished and hoped I had super powers. Frankly, I did not even think my parents were my parents, rather hosts for somebody who would eventually change the world. Somewhere along the way, I grew up (kinda) but always wondered what would happen if things were different. I Am Number Four explores the story of a teenager who could change the world with his powers if he can simply stay alive long enough. By the way, I still don’t think my parents were my parents.
Two men (played by Greg Townley and Reuben Langdon) are asleep in some remote part of the world. All of the sudden, they feel something is wrong and wake up. They find nothing, but then suddenly one of the men is grabbed by an unknown monster and taken out of the cabin by force. The other man witnessing this horrid event has no choice but to try and run to safety.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 20th, 2011
The Usual Suspects is a most unusual movie, and in this case, that is a good thing. The Usual Suspects keeps you interested throughout its entirety by making you think and trying to figure out what will happen next. If only today's movies did the same thing!! As this has been one of my favorite movies of all time, the excitement I felt when I received this in the mail today could only be compared to a young child on Christmas morning.
A boat, thought to have $91 million in cocaine on board, is docked at a pier in San Pedro, near Los Angeles. Within seconds a thunderous explosion takes place. Soon after twenty-seven dead bodies are found at the scene. Miraculously, there are two survivors: a Hungarian gangster who clings to life in a local hospital and Roger “Verbal” Kint, a crippled con man from New York. As U.S. Customs Special Agent David Kujan conducts his grueling inquisition, Kint weaves a tale that begins six weeks earlier, at a police lock-up in New York. Five felons, accused of hijacking a truckload of gun parts in Queens, are brought in for a lineup. They are suspects. Strangers. With one thing in common: Keyser Soze — a criminal so feared and fabled. While an FBI sketch artist struggles to complete his rendering of Soze before the witness dies, Verbal Kint sits in the District Attorney's office, taking Kujan through the steps that led him there. The questioning is extensive. Agent Kujan is relentless and questions Kint for hours. In the end the surprise of all surprises takes place.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Bob Ross on May 19th, 2011
Precocious teenage girls are movie mainstays for a few reasons. They tend to be cute, for starters. They give young audiences someone to identify with and perhaps envy, because the movie girls get to say and do things that would get their real-life admirers grounded at best, imprisoned at worst. We have our favorites, of course, going all the back to The Bad Seed, The Children’s Hour and the original Lolita. More recently, we’ve been perversely charmed by sexually manipulative antiheroines such as Christina Ricci in The Opposite of Sex, Maggie Gyllenhaal in Happy Endings, Mina Suvari in American Beauty and Ellen Page in Juno. These characters have little in common except that they were captivating on screen and well treated by their screenplays.
As often as not, the genre requires the young woman to be a fish out of water, perhaps relocated from a big town she likes to a small one she despises. Her story, like that of male counterparts in similar youth-market efforts, is designed to put the “coming” in “coming of age.” You know the bit: Sexual awakening is an awkward, confusing process fraught with physical and emotional peril. But there’s a fine line between useful familiarity and plain old cliché. Unfortunately, Daydream Nation can’t decide whether it wants to be radical, routine or ridiculous.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on May 19th, 2011
During the Korean War, a platoon led by Laurence Harvey and Frank Sinatra is captured and sent off to Manchuria. Here the men are brainwashed into believing that Harvey saved them all in an incredible feat of heroism (which he did not) and that he’s a loveable guy (which he isn’t).The unfortunate Harvey is programmed to become a remote-control assassin. Back in the States, Sinatra is plagued by nightmare memories of the experience, and gradually comes to believe that something … really did happen. The question is whether he and Harvey can solve the mystery and discover the target before Harvey is triggered.
The Manchurian Candidate accomplishes a spectacular balancing act. It is simultaneously one of the most intense suspense thrillers ever to emerge from Hollywood, and an absolutely corrosive satire. Said satire is all the more brilliant for savaging both the extreme right and the extreme left of the political spectrum. Also of note is Angela Lansbury’s ferocious performance as Harvey’s gorgon mother. Only 37, and but three years older than the man playing her son, she is utterly convincing, and a villain for the ages. Unquestionably, this is director John Frankenheimer’s masterpiece.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 19th, 2011
When I got to college, I had no idea what I wanted to be. I had signed up for computer science so I could go on to be a video game programmer. The truth is, I placed that as my major because I did not know what else to put. As luck would find it, five years later would get me a degree in Finance which I have never used in the professional world. But there was one thing in college I knew for sure. I wanted nothing to do with any fraternity and I am guessing Brotherhood is not going to change this opinion.
We start off the story with four frat guys in a van (if that van was down by a river, I’m out of here). Frank (played by Jon Foster), the pledge leader puts on a mask and runs out to rob a convenience store and comes back. He demonstrates that he wouldn’t ask the pledges to do anything he wouldn’t first. The other three are noticeably frightened because they think they will be arrested. Eventually one of the pledges decides to do it and when they hit the next store, he completes his task quickly.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 11th, 2011
The real world will try to teach us many things. It teaches us that only two things are certain, death and taxes. Unfortunately, one of the things that is not always certain is the wonderful mystery of love. Sometimes, it lasts for a lifetime but more often than not it can be a cruel device and become fleeting. The movie, Blue Valentine deals with this difficult subject and explores one such relationship that is clearly on the ropes.
Frankie (played by Faith Wladyka) screams for her daddy. She yells again. The girl makes her way back to the house and crawls inside using the window. She finds her dad, Dean (played by Ryan Gosling) asleep on the couch. Frankie wakes him and they go outside and we realize that their dog, Meagan is gone. They go back inside and try to wake the mother, Cindy (played by Michelle Williams). She resists but eventually stirs.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 11th, 2011
Of all the straight-to-video titles I didn't expect to see, Street Kings 2 would be high on the list. The original film was a predictable film with bad pacing. The box office was no better. That film pulled in about $26 million and quickly faded into obscurity. But here we are two years later and the title has been attached to a direct-to-video release from Fox. None of the original characters or actors are found here. The title merely suggests a similar story, this time in the Motor City, Detroit.
The film opens with a drug bust gone horribly wrong. Detective Marty Kingston (Liotta) is injured in the violence and spends his recovery at a desk and playing a department crime dog mascot at elementary schools. When his partner turns up shot and killed, Kingston injects himself into the investigation led by a green detective Sullivan (Hatosy). At each turn the investigation appears to paint an ugly picture of the deceased detective. He was as dirty as they come and mixed up in all sorts of seedy deals. It seems hard to believe that Kingston wasn't aware of his partner's dirt. Then other cops implicated in the corruption end up killed, and soon we understand Kingston's motives for being a part of the case.
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