Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 25th, 2013
Nicolas Winding Refn is a director who may not be a household name but is easily one of the most unique directors working at this time. With films like Pusher, Bronson, and Valhalla Rising, he has managed to make a name for himself for doing artistic films filled with beautiful visuals as well as intense violence. It was the film Drive, though, that most people know him for. I was already a fan of Refn going into Drive, and for me it is one of the best films I’ve seen in the past decade, where the film is a rare piece of perfection that broods with atmosphere and simply captivates me from the opening frame to the closing credits. I know the film has its viewers who find it dull; it’s a film that doesn’t attempt to please anyone but simply tells a brilliant tale of love and violence for those looking for more than a brainless romp.
I mention all this because from the moment I first saw the trailer for Only God Forgives, it wasn’t just a film I wanted to see; it was a film that I HAD to see. The trailer teased more of the same that I loved about Drive, and the images in the promotional materials of Ryan Gosling beaten to a pulp struck a nerve. But then it had its premiere at Cannes, and the reaction surprised me; people actually seemed to be hating this new film. This didn’t make any sense to me, but it caused me to rein in my expectations, and I believe that is what saved my experience with viewing this film. This film is nothing like Drive, but feels much closer to Valhalla Rising, not just for its lack of dialog but for its tone and its spiritual nature.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 25th, 2013
Hugh Laurie is not the first — and he certainly won’t be the last — actor who decided he wanted a career in music too. The move might come as a surprise to people who primarily know Laurie from his sterling eight-year run as the misanthropic title character on House M.D. (Though not if you watched the show carefully.) In the past, Laurie has rocked out with some of his small-screen comrades for charity. But it turns out that after eight years of playing one of the crankiest characters in television history, Laurie was ready to sing the blues.
Hugh Laurie: Live on the Queen Mary aired on PBS in August. The concert finds the actor and the first-rate Copper Bottom Band performing aboard the legendary luxury liner, which is permanently moored in California. For Laurie, dressed for the occasion with a captain’s hat as he took the stage, the show was the realization of a lifelong dream. You wouldn’t necessarily expect an Oxford-born Englishman to be obsessed with New Orleans jazz/blues, but Laurie acquired a passion for that music as a teenager. Laurie was especially dazzled by blues legend Professor Longhair, who had recorded his own “Live on the Queen Mary” album in 1975.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 23rd, 2013
Hollywood (rightfully) gets a lot of flack these days for being creatively bankrupt. But you can’t throw a rock down Broadway without hitting the marquee for a musical that’s based on an existing film. It’s not exactly a new phenomenon — and it doesn’t always work — but some of the most successful and beloved musicals feature stories you already know and fell in love with on the big screen. The trend seems to have really picked up at the turn of the century, and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. So adapting a massive hit like Shrek for the stage must’ve been a no-brainer.
Then again, Shrek wasn’t your typical cartoon musical. The most notable "musical number" involved Smashmouth’s cover of “I’m a Believer” — remember when “Smashmouth” was a thing? — and the film, based on William Steig’s book, actually took some not-so-thinly-veiled shots at the Disney machine. Although I’ve enjoyed the various Shrek films on their superficially lighthearted terms, I’ve always had an irrational grudge against the first one after it beat out the infinitely-superior-in-every-way Monsters Inc. for the Best Animated Feature Oscar more than a decade ago. However, I’m a semiprofessional, so I put aside my bias when I sat down to review Shrek: The Musical, now out on Blu-ray.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 23rd, 2013
“Maybe this could be whatever happens on tour, stays on tour.”
Yeah, because that always ends so well; when are people going to learn that there’s no such thing as continuous casual-nobody-gets-hurt sex? Sooner or later (especially sooner), feelings develop on both sides, or on one side rather. In the case of one-sided feelings, Plush is the latest in films to show us what could possibly happen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 23rd, 2013
In the wake of Captain Phillips being released in theaters, another tale of a ship being held hostage by Somali pirates is released on Blu-Ray and DVD. This true story comes out of Denmark and has made a successful run through the festival circuit, but how does it fare up against the mighty Tom Hanks and his tense, nail-biting thriller? Well, to be fair, though the two films deal with the same subject matter, the execution is vastly different, but A Hijacking manages to deliver an equally stunning film filled with great performances and filmed in such a way we feel as though we are one of the hostages on the ship, or in the negotiation room where numbers are crunched to ensure survival of the crew but also preserve the company’s bottom line.
On board cargo ship,The Rozen, the ship and its crew is getting ready to head into Mumbai where the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbaek) is excited about returning home to his wife and daughter. Unfortunately those plans are indefinitely delayed once the ship is taken over by a group of pirates. In Denmark, the CEO of the shipping company, Peter (Soren Malling) is notified about the ship’s capture, and the motions quickly roll into place to return the ship and the crew safely.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 22nd, 2013
James Wan is simply a director who continues to impress me. Ever since Saw was released, I’ve been a fan of his visual style that he brings to every film. Let’s face it, Saw is pretty much the biggest horror franchise of the past decade, and it all started with a simple little indie film that took place mostly inside a dirty bathroom. When Death Sentence came out, I was floored by how well he managed to construct a Death Wish film for a new generation. The parking garage scene was just freaking awesome. Then along came Insidious, which was another massive smash for Wan. Sure, the movie had its creepy moments, but for me the final act just fell apart. Now Wan is set to release The Conjuring upon the masses; is it another smash hit like Saw and Insidious, or will this be destined to fall flat as Dead Silence did?
The Conjuring is based on a true story about famed paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who are staples of the paranormal investigation history and made famous for their “findings” with the Amityville investigation in Long Island. With ghost-hunting shows saturating the cable channels, it was inevitable that we would finally get a tale about the investigators who somewhat started it all. But this isn’t so much just about the Warrens, but instead about the most terrifying case of their lives.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 19th, 2013
So, it is the Upcomingdiscs.com 31 Nights of Terror and your favorite columnist, Mr. Michael "Hey, were you expecting John Ceballos?" Durr has stepped in for a review about some of his favorite subjects. Cheesy Horror flics and Alyssa Milano. Today's title is an absolute cult classic and that is the original 1995 Vampire thriller, Embrace of the Vampire. So strap yourself in, and prepare to watch something so beautiful that it brings a tear to this columnist's eyes. (Tissue please)
*Warning*, the following post may contain absolute chicanery. Any attempt to make sense of this review should probably require a trip to the local psychiatrist's office for an immediate appointment. While there, you might want to ask for my mind back. I seemed to have lost it on my way to the Badminton for Divorcees convention. Thank you for your cooperation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 18th, 2013
"46,000 people died here. Do you think it's haunted?"
It would have been so much better for me if I had seen the first season of American Horror Story. Of course, it isn't necessary. This has to be one of the most clever television ideas I've encountered. You don't have to have seen the first season because, while the actors are pretty much the same, they play completely different parts in a completely different story in the second season. This kind of television takes you back to the early days of sketch television and reparatory theater. The difference is that this stuff has an edge. It has an edge so sharp that you're very liable to hurt yourself if you're not very careful.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on October 17th, 2013
“Zoe Hart, you went from no boyfriends to two in one night… which one you gonna keep?”
That’s the burning question at the heart of this charming dramedy's second season. Most of the fish-out-of-water shenanigans from the previous year are done now that city girl Zoe Hart has settled into her medical practice in fictional BlueBell, Alabama. As a result, season 2 of Hart of Dixie focuses heavily on the many romantic entanglements of BlueBell’s citizens, led by the least convincing doctor since Dr. Pepper.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 17th, 2013
My knowledge of Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal bands can be counted on one hand with a couple fingers to spare. So as you can probably imagine, when this discs found its way to me, my enthusiasm or my confidence in it was not high. So when I say that Black Label Society: Unblackened was not what I expected, it is not an indictment; quite the opposite, in fact. The concert started right as I hit play, I expected to see the band come out, pick up their instruments, and possibly do a little introduction (that came towards the end of the concert) but that was not the case. As soon the banner drops, the group launched into the first song of their set, Losing Your Mind; no muss, no fuss. The song had a catchy and enticing chorus, but other than that, it did not resonate with me, possibly due to the fact that I had trouble understanding what vocalist Zakk Wylde was saying. I don’t attribute this inability to him but rather my ears adjusting to this new experience.
Needless to say, I did not take an immediate liking to the group and their brand of music, but by the third song of the set, Sold My Soul, I had been brought into the fold. There was palpable passion behind the vocals of that song, making it one of the most relatable songs of the set in my opinion. From then on, I was a member of the crowd; if I knew the words I would have been singing along.
