Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 23rd, 2011
"My money is on you being brutally killed within two days, but what choice do we have?"
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 23rd, 2011
A young couple are drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse when they investigate a piece of real estate and a psychopath starts to trail them. Brazen Bull is the title of the film and the killer's mantra, which means he acts as if he has nothing to lose, when in fact he's already lost everything.
The first act is a plodding mess of abysmal dialogue and weak acting from everyone. It was a genuine struggle for me to become invested in the story when there was nothing drawing me in. By the time it's poor Michael Madsen's turn to phone in another performance, I could care less about the torture his victims receive. There is something almost tragic about the fact that it was lack of talent that made me so callous to the lives of these fictional characters. A man's hand is slowly sawed off, and I'm yawning.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 21st, 2011
It's funny how the zeitgeist works, in that it is hardly unusual for two films with very similar high concepts to hit the screens at close to the same time. Dante's Peak and Volcano. Deep Impact and Armageddon. Hell, The Towering Inferno came about as a result of Fox and Warner cooperating in order to avoid making identical films. And this year, two animated features with super-villains as their protagonists: Despicable Me and our current subject: Megamind.
His childhood consistently ruined by the budding Metro Man (Brad Pitt), Megamind (Will Ferrell) becomes the super-villain he feels he was destined to be. But when his latest scheme actually succeeds in destroying Metro Man, he finds life curiously empty, and so sets about creating a new super-hero: Tighten (Jonah Hill). But Tighten, it turns out, is more villain than hero, while Megamind, thanks in no small part to a budding relationship with reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey), moves ever closer to hero territory.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on February 16th, 2011
A Chicago man has a strange genetic disorder that makes him involuntarily travel through time. This film follows the unimaginably complicated romance he has with a woman who he has known since she was a little girl and they never get to age chronologically together, and sometimes share different memories of the past (which might be the future for the other...I know...I told you its complicated).
Based on the extremely popular book of the same name, this film sometimes seems to be more an exercise in adapting a very challenging screenplay than it is an engrossing romance. Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana do glow when interacting, as they make the love their characters share convincing and helps us stay with the story when the time line gets a bit convoluted. Meanwhile, the dialogue doesn't do them any favours and occasionally bogs things down.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2011
"I've always believed that, done properly, armed robbery doesn't have to be a totally unpleasant experience."
You would think that Thelma And Louise would have been a blockbuster film. It's certainly become entrenched in our pop culture. The famous ending has been spoofed to death in other films and television shows, including the latest Star Trek, if you can believe that. You would think, but you'd be completely wrong. This was one of the movies that got a ton of critical attention and even some Academy Award attention. Ridley Scott, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon all got nominated for statues. The film ended up only taking one for the screenplay. Silence Of The Lambs took the actress and director Oscars that year. The film only pulled in $45 million, hardly a blockbuster but more than enough to cover the $17 million budget. The truth is that 28 films finished with better numbers in 1991, but few of them still have the enduring fame that Thelma And Louise has in 2010.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 16th, 2011
"This despicable remake of the despicable 1978 film, I Spit On Your Grave adds yet another offense: a phony moral equivalency."
Roger Ebert is at it again. Over thirty years ago he pretty much hated the original film, but he didn't stop there. He extended his hatred to the fellow movie-goers he encountered as well. The 2010 remake appears to retain his disgust, and couldn't be prouder of the slight. Go figure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 15th, 2011
"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead your next stop, the Twilight Zone."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 15th, 2011
"At the top of the world, there's a job only a few would dare. The Ice Road Truckers are back. Last year they chased their fortune over the frozen gauntlet of the Daulton. But this season, Alaska's most fearsome road is just the beginning...."
It was the peak of the 1970's, and CW McCall was teaching ordinary people like us about Cabover Petes with reefers on and getting by those Smokeys. The man practically started a new genre of music with the hit song Convoy. The song was so popular that the backup band used their cut to start a little project of their own. They became Mannheim Steamroller and used the cash to cut their own music. The movies started giving us things like Smokey And The Bear. Truckin' was in fashion, and a good time was had by all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 15th, 2011
"Earth: a unique planet. Restless and dynamic. Continents shift and clash. Volcanoes erupt. Glaciers grow and recede. Titanic forces that are constantly at work, leaving a trail of geological mysteries behind."
I saw a bumper sticker recently that read; "Geologists dig classic rock". I should have taken it as an omen that I would be spending some quality time with a few geologists over these last couple of weeks. It started with the excellent BBC mini-series How The Earth Changed History and culminated with the 13 episodes of the second season of How The Earth Was Made. It might be easy to confuse these titles in your video store. But make no mistake about it. They are very different shows down to their core, pun intended.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 13th, 2011
"A vile bag of garbage named I Spit On Your Grave is playing in Chicago theaters this week. It is a movie so sick, reprehensible and contemptible that I can hardly believe it's playing in respectable theaters..."
Seldom has a film been so proud of a bad review like the one Roger Ebert delivered when he saw the film in 1980 during its limited Chicago area run that year. The rest of the review continues its rant against the violence and despicable nature of the film. But Ebert doesn't stop there. He extends his contempt for the audience who shared the film with him. He describes them as a "profoundly disturbing" crowd. He continued to describe the audience: "they were vicarious sex criminals." The man's certainly entitled to his opinion. Give those associated with I Spit On Your Grave some credit for refusing to engage in the insult. Instead they wore it like badge of honor and used it in several of the film's later release campaigns. Good for them.
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