Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 24th, 2013
"Welcome to the wonderful world of magic."
They say that the hand is quicker than the eye. Through the art of misdirection and skillful manipulation we have been awed by magicians ever since Glog made Ooof's club disappear somewhere in Mesopotamia circa 20,000 BC. It's not all skill, really. The truth is we've always wanted to be fooled. We're begging for "magicians" to tamper with our sense of reality. I don't know how fast the hand happens to be, but today we're fooled at the speed of 24 frames per second (unless you happen to be Peter Jackson). The magic happens every time we walk into a movie theater or put a shiny disc into our magic machines. And what do we enjoy even more than being "tricked"? We love to laugh. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone has just the right amount of sleight of hand to pull it off.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 24th, 2013
“Midnight is the most evil part of the night. If someone dies at 23:59 hours, his soul will not rest in peace and will return to the mortal world.”
Every culture has its own set of ghost stories. They’re usually passed around very late at night by a group of very impressionable young people. That’s precisely where 23:59 — an atmospheric and thoroughly effective Malaysian/Singaporean horror flick — picks up, with a group of army recruits on an island training camp sitting around telling spooky tales. The only thing missing was the campfire.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2013
"On the evening of April 13th, 1865 John Wilkes Booth initiates his plan not only to kill Abraham Lincoln, but to decapitate the government of The United States."
Whatever you may think of Fox News or Bill O'Reilly, it would be a terrible mistake to discount seeing Killing Lincoln because of purely political leanings. The Department Of The Interior tried it when the book came out and underwent a campaign to keep the book from the public gift shops with claims of inaccuracies. Give O'Reilly credit for not taking the accusations lying down. He challenged any of the naysayers to point out these mistakes and, of course, nothing ever came out of the accusations. That's because the book is hauntingly accurate and tells a story most of you didn't get in your American History high school classes...unless you happened to have been in any of mine over the years. I can tell you not only as a film reviewer but a former history honors teacher and avid presidential reader that this account passes every test you can put to it. Of course, it's impossible to know every detail or intimate fact of an event we cannot witness. This comes as close as any production I've seen to date.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 20th, 2013
Any discussion of the greatest living rock stars has to have Paul McCartney at or near the top of the list. Obviously, “greatest” is a totally subjective descriptor, but even if you’re more of a Stones person you can’t argue with McCartney’s staggering success. He has sold more records than anyone else, wrote the most covered song of all time (“Yesterday”) and owns a handful of other Guinness World Records. The recipe for his singular greatness is a mixture of artistic brilliance, versatility and longevity. It’s what has allowed him to remain relevant more than 40 years after the dissolution of the best-selling band of all time. And a key part of that staying power was Wings.
The first Wings album, “Wild Life”, was released in 1971, just one year after the formal break-up of The Beatles. Wings released nine albums in the 1970s — seven studio albums, the “Wings Greatest” compilation, and the live “Wings Over America” album — scoring five straight chart-toppers in the United States. The band was arguably at the peak of its powers in 1976 and featured its most celebrated lineup — Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney (keyboards), Denny Laine (guitar), Jimmy McCulloch (guitar) and Joe English (drums) — when it set off on a massive world tour that covered ten countries and brought music to more than two million people. That tour turned into the 1976 “Wings Over America” triple album and was also captured cinematically with 1980’s Rockshow. I know patience is a virtue, but 33 years still seems like an overly long time to wait for such an excellent concert to get a proper home video release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 19th, 2013
“Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, ask not whence the thunder come. For between heaven and earth it’s a perilous place, home to a fearsome giant race. Who hunger to conquer the mortals below, waiting for the seeds of revenge to grow…”
Jack the Giant Slayer is the mash-up adaptation of two classic fairy tales; Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer. Now adaptations are big business in today’s industry, but is combining two different source materials wise, or a recipe for disaster? To answer that question, let’s examine the recipe of this film: two popular children’s stories, Bryan Singer at the helm, top-shelf actors Nicolas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, and Stanley Tucci. Well, considering that the resulting brew is an entertaining, family-friendly fantasy film, my answer is going to be coming up on the positive side.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 18th, 2013
Enigma: something hard to explain or understand: well, that about sums up Charlie Zone. The story itself is mildly interesting but takes its time building traction. I was expecting to be introduced to a film about underground fighting and instead was introduced to a film about two people who were dealt a bad hand and are thrust into a life-or-death situation. At odds at first, the two must work together in order to survive. Does this plot theme sound familiar to anyone else?
Paul Avery (Glen Gould, Cashing In) was once an up-and-coming boxer from the Indian Reservation. He was thought to have a real chance at a pro career until he got caught up in a smuggling racket and served four years in prison. After losing his boxing license as well as four years of his life, Paul now struggles to make ends meet and has turned to participating in recorded internet street fighting for extra cash.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 18th, 2013
"Now, this game has 12 rounds. You win more than you lose, I turn myself in. You don't, a lot of people die including you. If you refuse to cooperate, people die. If you make any attempt to contact the police, people die."
I'm usually pretty skeptical when it comes to movies that are made by any of the various fighting federations out there. W?? usually stands for "What The F***". I get it. There are a lot of tough guys out there who would like to follow in the footsteps of guys like The Rock. But for every successful transition to acting there are a hundred stories of mindless muttering substituting for actual... I don't know.... words. The idea is if enough guys beat up enough other guys we'll take the necessary testosterone injections to come along for the ride. Did I mention I hate needles? Still, I actually quite enjoyed John Cena in the original 12 Rounds and gave it a pretty respectable 3.5 in my review back in 2009. It's taken someone four years to figure out that the title has yet to be mined for another outing. Take away John Cena, director Renny Harlin and a guest cast that included the likes of Ashley Scott, and I found myself wishing that whomever that certain "someone" was would have contracted a serious case of amnesia.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 18th, 2013
The pint-size heroes of The Dragon Pearl battle greedy thieves and come face to face with a centuries-old dragon, but their biggest challenge may be overcoming a pair of skeptical/clueless parents. It’s a familiar plot device in kid-centric adventures, yet it’s one I’m becoming more sensitive to as I get older. For example, I was absolutely sure at an early age that the bumbling Wet Bandits were the bad guys in Home Alone; however, as I’ve grown older and not-necessarily wiser, I realize the real villains are the nincompoops who left little Kevin McCallister behind in the first place. To be fair, the parents in this film are being asked to swallow a much more fantastical story.
The Dragon Pearl opens with a prologue about an ancient Chinese emperor who enlisted a celestial dragon’s power to help him fend off warring tribes. The source of the dragon’s power is the titular pearl, which is said to be lost in the heat of the battle. In the present day, we're introduced to sullen Australian teen Josh (Louis Corbett) and outgoing Chinese teen Ling (Li Lin Jin). Josh and Ling are meeting up with their respective parents, Dr. Chris Chase (Sam Neill) and Dr. Li (Wang Ji), on what Josh assumes will be a boring archeological dig in China. (He should've known better: having Sam Neill at an archeological dig is a recipe for excitement.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 17th, 2013
Earlier this year, Warm Bodies become a solid box office hit by giving its zombie hero a heart. The Amazing Adventures of the Living Corpse seeks to carve its own uniquely bloody path by saddling its undead protagonist with a soul. It’s a clever way to go considering there’s not much new territory to cover in zombie fiction 45 years after George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead shambled into pop culture immortality. I just wish this provocative promise had yielded a better movie.
Based on the Dynamite Publishing comic series “The Living Corpse: Exhumed”, the film introduces us to John Romero, who rises from his grave and promptly snacks on his own wife and daughter. As a horde of the undead prepares to eat his son Taylor, John realizes what he’s done and saves his only surviving family member. Confused as to why he’s the only zombie with a conscience, he ventures to the underworld, where he is counseled by Asteroth Guide of the Wretched and Worthless Merk (the movie’s source of "comic relief"). Meanwhile, a traumatized Taylor is taken to a sinister boarding school filled with other misfit orphans and inconveniently located next to a cemetery.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on June 17th, 2013
Hank Williams, Sr. was arguably one the most influential country artists of all time. During his short life (he died at the young age of 29) he had more than 30 #1 singles. His music has been covered by not just country artists, but has also crossed over into the pop, gospel and blues genres. With The Last Ride, this music legend joins Johnny Cash and Loretta Lyn in having their lives put on film.
When a stranger with a brand new Cadillac comes into his garage, young Silas (Jesse James, As Good as It Gets) takes notice. After Silas overhears the stranger asking for a driver, he immediately offers his services. He is hired and finds out his job is to get “Mr. Wells” (Henry Thomas, E.T. the Extraterrestrial) to West Virginia in two days, and to get him there sober. If Wells arrives drunk or hungover, Silas won’t get paid. Fighting the weather and sometimes each other, the two embark on what ended up being the last trip Hank Williams ever took.
