Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on September 11th, 2019
"I think it's time I told you about Aladdin, the princess, and the lamp."
There is very little new coming out of the Walt Disney Studios in recent years. For the last few years and into the near conceivable future, there has been a concerted effort by the Mouse House to remake as live-action films the vast library of animation classics. It pretty much started with the huge success of The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau in 2016. The film did a wonderful job of bringing these jungle creatures to life through the modern-age miracle that is CGI. Somehow the film captured the very heart of the original animated feature and immersed us more fully into that world. No, it wasn't the first time Disney recreated an animated feature with live-action releases. But it was so dominant at the box office that it appeared to set the mold for these conversions going forward. This summer Disney set an ambitious schedule, delivering no less than three of these remade films to the summer schedule. In March it was the tepidly-received Dumbo. In July it will be The Lion King, where Disney is playing with the most successful classic animation film in box office history, and eyes will be keenly on how that unfolds. With Elton John's recent resurgence with a new Farewell Tour and the upcoming bio-film Rocketman, The Lion King might deliver Sir Elton a hat trick, or at least a large hat filled with money. Set between these two films is another Disney animated classic: Aladdin. Will that deliver the same three-point bounty to Disney this summer?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on September 4th, 2019
When you have a movie that features Gary Oldman, you’d expect it to be pretty good. I feel Gary Oldman is one of the best actors who is working in the business, and I’ve been a fan since the Romeo is Bleeding and Leon days. So when a movie comes along about killers and government assassins and Oldman is playing a character in the middle of all the drama, you’d think this is going to be something great. After all, the man finally got an Academy Award, which was long overdue. The best way I can describe my experience with this is film is to imagine you’re going to a restaurant, one that is a two star rating in the Michelin Guide. While it may not be the best, it should still be good; yet when you get there, rather than getting a great meal you instead are given a plate of lukewarm Spaghetti-O’s fresh out of the can. From poorly framed shots to insipid plot twists, I can’t help but wonder, what did Gary Oldman do so wrong to be stuck in this film?
For those curious about what Jessica Alba is doing in the film, well, she’s Jade, an assassin we meet in the opening of the film, and one of her scenes is with Gary Oldman, whose character is cleverly named The Man. The way the conversation is shot is jarring, going from an oddly framed wide shot with too much negative space to these close-ups where the characters are talking into the camera. Not even Gary Oldman can save these shots, and when it shifts perspectives it becomes all the more painful. If this was a more personal scene, or simply a long shot with just one character speaking, maybe this could have worked better. The scene then jumps to a strip club where Alba’s character is with a blonde character we got a glimpse of from the previous scene. Apparently no one else is at this strip club where the only dancer is a hologram we can see in the background, but this odd little hook-up scene then turns into the girls fighting for their lives; apparently the blonde was hired to kill Jade. This fight is sloppy and cut with the opening credits that are animated depicting portions of the fight.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 29th, 2019
"My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive. To the outside world, I'm an ordinary forensic scientist. But secretly, with the help of my friends at S.T.A.R. Labs, I fight crime and find other meta-humans like me. But when my daughter came back from the future to help, she changed the present. And now our world is more dangerous than ever, and I'm the only one fast enough to save it. I am the Flash."
The fifth season begins almost immediately after the crazy reveal that ended the previous run of episodes. A young woman arrives at the West home and identifies herself as Nora (Kennedy) She claims to be the speedster daughter of Barry (Gustin) and Iris (Patton) and has arrived from the future so that she can meet her dad, because in the near future he is destined to disappear and remain missing for 25 years into that future. If all of this sounds a bit confusing to you, you're starting in the wrong place. Check out our reviews of the previous four years here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 28th, 2019
Back in 2014 when Godzilla came out, I had a blast with the film, though one of the major complaints seemed to have been that there were not enough fights or not enough of Godzilla. Personally I didn’t see how this could be a complaint to take too seriously; after all, if you watch some of the older films, we’d only get maybe 15 minutes of screen time, but thankfully this wasn’t always the case. Now with the release of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, the human story is a bit of an afterthought, and it’s the titans that carry this blockbuster bonanza. Is this a good thing? You bet it is, though I’m sure there are plenty of stuffy critics who will complain about there being too many monster fights, and for those critics, this movie wasn’t made for them. This is a movie made for the kid in all of us that wanted to believe in the possibility that giant monsters could exist, and seeing these hulking giants duke it out while destroying cities in the process just made us smile.
Right from the get go we get to see Godzilla in action, though it’s back in 2014, and Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) is trying to find his son during the chaos of the final fight from the previous film. Then we get a five-year time jump where we meet up with Madison (Millie Bobby Brown) and her mom, Dr. Emma Russell (Vera Farmiga) who are living in a Monarch facility in China. Emma and Mark are clearly having difficulty handling the loss of their son, and Madison is simply doing what she can to maintain a happy balance between the two. But the film doesn’t waste much time with this, as we are immediately introduced to the ORCA device, an invention Emma and Mark created that was originally meant to communicate with whales, but Emma has figured out a way to use it to communicate with the MUTO’s of the world (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organisms). And it’s early on where we get to meet one of these new organisms, and it’s none other than Mothra. But just as we’re enjoying getting to see this new incarnation of Mothra, a group of environmental terrorists led by Jonah Allen (Charles Dance) come into the Monarch facility and kidnap Madison and Emma along with the ORCA device. Yeah, basically this film is not messing around when it comes to story, as it keeps things at a nice fast pace so we can get to the monster action.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 27th, 2019
When it comes to Batman, he’s a character you can enjoy in just about every visual medium out there, and there is something out there for adults and even the little kids to enjoy. Personally, I think Batman: The Animated Series is the best adaption out there. I cherish those discs, and I dust off those DVDs plenty just to enjoy seeing my favorite caped crusader. When it comes to the LEGO take on the Batman property they are aiming for a much younger demographic, and that’s fine, so when you watch these films, you do have to keep that in mind. So how does LEGO BATMAN: FAMILY MATTERS stack up against the numerous other adaptations out there? To be fair, it’s somewhere in the middle.
With a running time of 79 minutes, there isn’t much time to waste when it comes to story, and the film pretty much jumps into it. Bruce Wayne, aka Batman (Troy Baker) is starting to find it cumbersome to play the part of Bruce Wayne the businessman; it seems to just get in the way of his crime-fighting job. This is despite the fact that Robin, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Batwoman are all playing their part in fighting crime. It’s at a business meeting where scientists at the Wayne Corporation reveal their new project, Brother Eye, an AI super brain that’s able to make decisions on the fly. Once Bruce sees what it can do, he decides to just sell Wayne Enterprises so he can focus on being the caped crusader. It’s a rash and impulsive move that we quickly see the fallout from.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 22nd, 2019
"It's going to be a tearjerker."
It all started with Iron Man in 2008. Marvel Studios put together the most ambitious film saga in the history of the medium. 22 films that served as introduction to comic book heroes and the various story threads that would ultimately bind them together into one epic tale. All along the way it was important that each film stand on its own legs and provide enough story and action to satisfy the film audiences at each signpost along the way. 22 films over 11 years, and it all finally comes to its inevitable conclusion in The Avengers: Endgame. From this film forward, it's going to be a very different landscape for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. New heroes are on the way, and some will either no longer be there or will take on an entirely different form and persona. I'm not about to tell you where these changes come down. That would ultimately ruin this three-hour ride you are about to embark upon. But when it ends, you will completely understand that it was all leading to this point, and it will be a sad but satisfying conclusion. But before we talk about endings, let's enjoy that final ride into the end.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 21st, 2019
"My name is Oliver Queen. After six years of being a vigilante, the only way to achieve my goal and save my city was to confess to being The Green Arrow. Now my family and friends must carry on my mission without me. I am no longer a hero. I am inmate 4587."
Who the heck is this Green Arrow of whom you speak? If that's your first question, you need to go back a couple of grades and catch up with the rest of us. The comics are good place to begin, but the television universe is its own place and not tied so tightly to the DC comic book universe. Your best place to go to catch up would be the first six seasons. It'll be worth the effort, and I can get you started with those reviews found here. This review will not contain spoilers from the seventh season but very well must contain some from the previous year. So if you're not caught up, do that first.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on August 16th, 2019
“That’s a great fifth option; let’s work on the other four.”
This line is one of the signature witty clips that Ryan Reynolds brings to the character of Pikachu in this movie adaptation of the popular Nintendo DS video game, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu. It is clear that Pokemon is standing the test of time, as I remember collecting and playing the cards in my youth. Though the card game appears to have fallen out of favor, the franchise received a resurgence a few years ago with the emergence of popular mobile phone app, Pokemon GO! In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised of the popularity of app led to the decision for this live action film starring Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith, and Bill Nighy. This was a solid opening in my opinion, though I am skeptical of its film franchise potential, given that those without a basic understanding of the video game or card game (there does not appear to be any connection to the original animated series or subsequent animated films besides inclusion of the Pikachu character) are unlikely to get by the questions of “What are Pokemon?” or “Where do they come from?”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 13th, 2019
It is hard to not like a well done baseball movie. From Bad News Bears to The Natural to The Pride of the Yankees, there have been a slew of movies on America's favorite pastime. Today's review of Major League in its thirty years after release is another fine baseball movie which does well with great characters and easy to root for story-line of the plucky underdogs. Let us take a look at this re-issue of a fine blu-ray with a snazzy new cover and see what it has going for it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on August 13th, 2019
I’ll go ahead and get this out of the way, Batman: Hush is my favorite DC graphic novel; it’s one I’ve read multiple times and one I’ve dreamed to see done as a live action film. The story is just one that offers up so much for the fans to enjoy, and considering it features just about all of the core characters in the Batman rogues gallery, it’s simply a graphic novel that I’m surprised it’s taken this long to tackle. When it comes to DC, though, they’ve been pretty hit-or-miss when it comes to their properties being adapted for the big screen, but for television and their animated films they’ve been successful. Basically when I heard Hush was going to be an animated film, it’s one I got excited about, but in the back of my mind I was worried this could end up being like The Killing Joke, great material that just didn’t connect. So how was this adventure with the caped crusader?
The story for Hush was originally done by writer Jeph Loeb and was a whopping 300 pages of beautifully crafted panels. For the most part the whole story is here, but there have been a few liberties taken (mostly with fleshing out the Batman and Catwoman relationship). The trimming is expected, considering this was only an 82-minute feature. In a perfect world I would have loved to have seen this get the kind of treatment we saw with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse. It’s a story certainly geared more towards adults, but with the large assortment of villains is a huge attraction to the project, and going the animated route would save on having to shell out the big bucks for big-name actors to fill these roles.
