Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 29th, 2019
"My father was a lighthouse keeper. My mother was a queen. They were never meant to meet. But their love saved the world. They made me what I am: a son of the land, a king of the seas. I am the protector of the deep. I am ... Aquaman."
It’s been a rough year for the DC Universe, losing both Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck as Superman and Batman respectively. In a time when Marvel is heading towards a big finale of sorts, this should be when DC goes full steam towards capitalizing on any residual momentum. The loss of two members of the Justice League is going to put a crimp in that plan; however, thanks to the release of Aquaman, DC does not have to start from scratch. Jason Momoa returns as the titular character in this origin story of sorts. One of the breakout stars of the critical failure that was the Justice League movie, Momoa proves that he was made to command the seven seas.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 22nd, 2019
“Everything is possible…even the impossible.”
To be clear, the fact that Disney has delivered a big-budget, star-studded follow-up to one of the most beloved family films in its staggering catalog is *exceedingly* possible. This is, after all, the age of reboots and live-action remakes of movies we already love. What seems impossible is that Mary Poppins Returns and its sensational leading lady both live up to and (re)capture the spirit of the Walt Disney-produced Julie Andrews classic from more than 50 years ago!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 22nd, 2019
"60 minutes is all it took for the ancients to bring humanity to the brink of destruction."
It only took Peter Jackson's crew along with director Christian Rivers 128 minutes to bring their audience to the bring of falling asleep with their Star Wars rip-off of Mortal Engines based on a series of books by Philip Reeve. Universal was likely looking for a franchise hit here. Hugo Weaving couldn't save it. Impressive visual f/x couldn't save it. When I discovered the film had been in some kind of production phase since 2008, it all started to make a little sense. Sometimes the harder you work on something, the more you lose sight of the simple aspects of the film. Most importantly, you lose the connection to emotional characters, and you stop telling their story, but force them into telling yours.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 19th, 2019
This is one of those films where the cast had me equally excited and concerned with how the film would turn out. On one hand it has Harvey Keitel; the guy is a living legend between his roles in Reservoir Dogs, Bad Lieutenant, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, and countless others. Keitel is one of those actors who elevates just about any film he’s in, and he’s in several films I’d even call classics. Then on the other end of the spectrum there is Hayden Christensen, one of the most lifeless performers to ever grace the screen in my opinion. I still have bouts of anger when I see him as Anakin Skywalker. But I’m always ready to have an actor surprise me, and I always go into a film with an open mind once I sit down and start watching it. Unfortunately The Last Man is a dud and was a film I struggled with so many of you won’t have to.
The film opens up with a dream sequence that looks more like a first person shooter scene in a video game. Apparently this is a dream that Kurt (Christensen) has been having quite often. This is told to us through the film’s narration, and I’d just like to come out and say I really hated the voice-over work on this film. I get that they were trying to go for a neo-noir style, but the narration is delivered with such a monotone delivery it felt more like a voice track someone would listen to while trying to sleep. Another issue with this narration is that it is so on-the-nose with the information that it is telling us things we can obviously see and figure out for ourselves. It was fine when giving us a little back story, telling us how the western civilization collapsed, but as you continue watching, everything you hear just begins to seem redundant.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 15th, 2019
Green Book represents an historical milestone for me as a critic. In my decades of reviewing and more decades following films, I have never selected a personal Oscar Best Picture two years in a row. I tend to be somewhat out of touch with the voting members of the Academy or even my fellow SEFCA (Southeastern Film Critics Association) members. But it finally happened. Last year my selection was The Shape Of Water, and it took the top prize. This year I went against the grain of the SEFCA members who chose Roma as the best film, and Green Book meandered to # 7 on their list. Fortunately, the Academy saw it my way for the second consecutive year, and Green Book took home the statue. Spike Lee threw a temper tantrum, and I'll talk about that in my conclusion. Take it from me, Green Book was the Best Picture of 2018, and now Universal has released the film in all of its newly-minted glory in UHD Blu-ray in 4K. You shouldn't even be waiting to read the rest of my review. Let me summarize it for you here. Click on the "purchase at Amazon" link to your right and order the disc now. Finished? Good. Now while you're waiting for that shipment, you can read on and find out why you just bought the best film of the year.
Lord of the Rings alumnus Viggo Mortensen plays Tony Lip. He's a bouncer at the legendary Copacabana night club in New York in the early 1960's. He's a typical son of Italian immigrants and fancies himself a kind of tough guy who just skirts the world of mafia mobsters and their like. We early learn that he's a product of his age and a racist. When two black plumbers drink water from glasses at his home, he throws out the "tainted" glasses. His life fits him well until a disagreement with a mobster to which he was a party gets the iconic night club closed for two months "for repairs". He's looking for an opportunity when he's recommended as a driver for a "doctor" making some kind of tour that coincidentally will last two months.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 15th, 2019
"The wizarding and non-wizarding worlds have been at peace for over a century. Grindelwald wants to see that peace destroyed."
Back in the early days of the internet before videos went "viral", there was a Thanksgiving cartoon about a chef who needed to serve too many people with a small turkey. So to compensate, he kept stuffing that sucker until it eventually exploded. Watching the latest entry in the J.K. Rowling Wizarding World, I was very much reminded of that early video. There's an attempt to make the running time a bit leaner than we've typically seen with these films. It's just barely over two hours, making it one of the shortest running times in the series when you include the Harry Potter films. But it doesn't appear as if there was an accompanying cut of "stuff" going on. Rowling and director David Yates have crammed so much into the film that it gets very difficult to really keep up with it all. I left with a feeling that I had been overwhelmed. It's a semester college course in three days. Of course it's loaded down with exciting visuals and larger-than-life characters that have become a staple in the franchise and have incidentally made Rowling the richest woman on the entire planet. She'll add a few shekels to the bank account, to be sure. The film will score huge with the box office take. But it serves little else but to set up a game board. Its purpose is to identify the players and which side of the good vs. evil battle they will be playing for. It might just be the most expensive trailer ever filmed. But it's one people will pay hundreds of millions to have a chance to see. Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of the Gindelwald is a Thanksgiving feast of truly monstrous proportions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 7th, 2019
It may only be March, but I’m willing to bet The Standoff At Sparrow Creek will make the list of my top films of 2019. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that this is the next breakout film people will be talking about, because it’s just that damn good. Think about what Reservoir Dogs mashed up with Glengarry Glen Ross would be like if they were mashed together and the characters were all members of a militia; then you’ll somewhat have an idea of what The Standoff at Sparrow Creek has in store for you. We’ve all heard rumblings about militia groups, the kind that have their hidden bunkers that have stockpiles of weapons and ammunition that are ready to go into battle at a moment’s notice. At the same time we live in a world where it’s heavily frowned upon to want to own an automatic assault rifle, and those involved with these groups are often depicted as country bumpkins who are military washouts or just “gun nuts”. Well, writer/director Henry Dunham has decided to offer up a new look into this group and even dares to get into their heads and what motivates them. But Dunham isn’t trying to make any political statements, but instead he’s crafted a well drawn out thriller that explores each of these characters and gives them each motivation for their actions, keeping them human despite their actions at times.
What kicks off the film is a shooting at a police funeral, In a panic to find out who may be responsible, Gannon (James Badge Dale) has all the members of his group meet up at a lumber mill to sort things out. It’s at the mill where Gannon discovers that a gun and other materials are missing and that the person responsible for the shooting is one of the members of his group. Knowing the police are going to be out for blood, Gannon decides to interrogate the members of his group in hopes of finding the rogue killer and offering them up in order to preserve the safety of the militia.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 6th, 2019
"In the ring, you got rules. Outside, you got nothing. Life hits you with all these cheap shots. People like me, we live in the past. You got people that need you now. You got everything to lose; this guy has got nothing to lose."
For the last couple of decades the sport of boxing has lost much of its popularity, at least here in the United States. The big matches used to be events where neighbors and friends would gather and enjoy the spectacle together. It likely started when long-time fighting fan and announcer Howard Cosell distanced himself from the sport, and the collapse appeared finally complete around the time Mike Tyson added ear to his menu. It's devolved so far that I haven't known who the champ is for more than 10 years. Everyone used to know the champ. It didn't matter if you followed the sport. The names used to be household names. No longer. That doesn't appear to be as true with the boxing movie. Films like Rocky and Raging Bull helped to create an entire genre of the boxing movie, and it has survived the real thing. In 2015 Sylvester Stallone partnered with director Ryan Coogler to revitalize the aging Rocky franchise and focus the new films on the son of Rocky's friend and ring-rival Apollo Creed. Together with Michael B Jordan in the new titular role, the franchise saw new light, and Stallone would finally give the performance of his life. Coogler and Jordan went on to join the Marvel Universe and create one of the highest box office takes in history with The Black Panther. Now he's back as Adonis Creed without Coogler in the director's chair. This time Steven Caple Jr. directs from a story co-written by Stallone, who wrote the original Rocky back in 1976. I'm happy to say there's still some heart left in the old man and his franchise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 27th, 2019
At first glance, Mary Queen of Scots has all the makings of a film you’d expect to be nominated for numerous awards; after all, it’s a period drama that showcases some remarkable performances from Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie. Unfortunately this retelling of the story between Queen Elizabeth (Robbie) and Queen Mary (Ronan) is bogged down with its politics and the struggles these women have being leaders while their differing religions present a conflict preventing them from ever working together. Let me just jump into this and attempt to sort this film out.
For those who are not history buffs, I won’t disclose who it is that we see in the opening moments of the film as they are being led to their execution. It’s an odd way to open the film; despite it being historically accurate, it just seems a bit off-putting. The film then takes us to Mary arriving in Scotland to claim her throne after being away in France. At the same time Queen Elizabeth has been ruling over England and Scotland; since she hasn’t married and has no children, it is Mary who is ready to take on the reins of becoming the heir to the throne of England. This is the start of many squabbles between the two queens, where we see their relationship dissolve from a unique sisterhood to the pair becoming envious of one another. Basically how most families are, only without the royal labels.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 26th, 2019
All good things must come to an end, and so it was at Walt Disney Studios. The Golden Age of feature film animation had started with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. By the end of the 1970's, it was all but gone. As the studio entered the 1980's the things had gone from bad to worse. Walt was gone, and so it seemed was the magic. Most of The Nine Old Men had either retired or passed away. The studio leadership was considering closing the animated studio and moving on to live-action films only. It was a dark time for the artists and creative folks at the Mouse House. A shadow had fallen. Sounds pretty much like the beginning of a Tolkien tale, doesn't it?
Enter a new regime. Michael Eisner became the new head of the company, and Jeffrey Katzenberg teamed up with Walt's brother Roy Disney to head the new studio. The first thing they did was banish the animation studios from the Disney lot and set them up in warehouse-like trailers in the middle of industry nowhere. It looked like the axe had finally fallen. But the exile turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to this new generation of Disney talent. Under the new leadership the creative forces banded together and began to do something they hadn't in a long time. They began to dream once again.
