Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on May 3rd, 2024
"People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it, and the soul can't rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong things right."
OK, let me get this out of the way. The Crow was a vehicle for Brandon Lee, son of martial arts legend and movie star Bruce Lee. The elder Lee trained Brandon in martial arts from the day he could take his first steps. When Brandon was only eight years old, his father tragically died just before finishing production on Enter the Dragon, a movie which would go on to become an international blockbuster making Bruce Lee the greatest icon of martial arts cinema. Brandon followed in his father’s footsteps studying martial arts and drama.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on May 3rd, 2024
"The honeybee has always had a special relationship with humanity. A sacred relationship. Why? No bees, no agriculture. No agriculture, no civilization. Our nation is not unlike a beehive, with its complex systems of workers, caretakers, even royalty. If any of the beehive's complex mechanisms are compromised, the hive collapses. Someone, a long time ago, decided that a mechanism was needed to keep our nation safe -- a mechanism outside the chain of command, outside the system. It's one mission -- to keep the system safe. Beekeepers are given all resources, empowered to act on their own judgment. For decades, they have quietly worked to keep the hive safe. That is, until now. It appears that a retired Beekeeper has gone off program, and is acting in what he mistakenly believes is the hive's best interest."
On its surface, The Beekeeper seems to be another mindless action film featuring a retired assassin or skilled operator forced out of retirement to right an injustice. Granted, those themes are central to the overall story; however, in my opinion, the film embraces those themes and provides a measure of excitement and substance to a premise that could have easily become basic. For me, I’d put the film up there with another one of my favorite Jason Statham movies, Homefront. And yes, it is not lost on me that both films feature a retired character who is forced to come out of retirement and take action. For me, in both films Statham’s characters have intrigue. Specifically in The Beekeeper, Statham’s character background is merely hinted at. We know that he was an elite operative. We know his organization operated independently and with a measure of impunity. Beyond that, not much is known about the group. It is left open for interpretation. It also doesn’t hurt that the cast also includes the likes of Jeremy Irons, Josh Hutcherson, Emmy Raver-Lampman, and Phylicia Rashad.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 26th, 2024
"Good to be back. We knew all along that everyone back home from the President on down was behind us 100%. It was God and faith in our families that kept us going. Speaking for myself, I'd like to say that the whole experience has made a better man, a better officer, and a better American out of me. Thank you very much."
It started in the 1970's just as the long and costly war in Vietnam was finally coming to a close. The conscience of the American people shifted from trying to stop the war to the soldiers who were now coming home and mourning the ones who didn't. There was also this group that fell somewhere in between. It took a long time to get the North Vietnamese to even acknowledge the number of POW's still held in captivity and the push was to bring them home. Suddenly Hollywood was on the bandwagon, and there appeared the war sub-genre that focused on these returnees, particularly those held prisoner. Films Like Missing In Action brought the subject to the front of moviegoers' attention, and other films like The Deer Hunter gave us a look at the psychological damage many returned to be haunted by. One writer who had already reached into that dark place of the mind was Paul Schrader, who penned Taxi Driver. His followup, which was actually intended to link to Taxi Driver, was Rolling Thunder, and while not the same level of classic cinema, it's an important film that Shout Factory has allowed us a detailed look at with the release of Rolling Thunder on UHD Blu-ray in 4K.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 25th, 2024
by Joshua Nuances
"I don't want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me. Years ago we had the church. That was only a way of saying - we had each other. The Knights of Columbus were real head-breakers; true guineas. They took over their piece of the city. Twenty years after an Irishman couldn't get a f$#@&% job, we had the presidency. May he rest in peace. If I got one thing against the black chappies, it's this - no one gives it to you. You have to take it."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 17th, 2024
"Jack, we have done our jobs and done them well. This fight was passed down to us and will continue with or without us. But we will always be better than the institutions we serve, and that is what matters when it matters most. There are no heroes in our profession. But occasionally there are good men. Men who act on what is right, not simply doing what they are told to do. I have not always lived my life with honor. But perhaps I have done enough to die with it. I hope the same for you."
Witness the birth of -- actually make that rebirth of --one of the most popular action heroes in literature. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan has been a character of many jobs and many faces over the years. Baldwin, Ford, Pine, and Affleck have all stepped into the role of the man who has been a soldier, an analyst, an operative, and a president. What might appear as a clear advantage for this Amazon Prime streaming television show can be just as much a liability. When you throw in the Tom Clancy novels, comic books, and fan fiction, there is a ton of Jack Ryan history that pretty much gives us a story arc from his humble beginnings to extraordinary exploits and wearing the face of a few good performers. It's a tall order for the series and perhaps an even taller order for actor John Krasinski, who has created a nice little horror franchise with wife Emily Blunt on the side. I don't really have the time or energy to watch streaming shows and films. There's always a backlog here of discs that need to be reviewed, and I've created a rather comfortable viewing experience with my home theatre I call The Reel World. Our motto: Here there be monsters. So I have not had the opportunity to check out this show even though I've heard pretty solid things from my colleagues. Thanks to Paramount's production of the series and their release of the first season on Blu-ray, I've finally had my chance to see what all the talk's been about. Let's just say, I get it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 14th, 2024
"You know your weapons. It's a lever-action breech-loader. Usual barrel length's thirty inches. This one has an extra four. It's converted to use a special forty-five caliber, hundred-and-ten-grain metal cartridge, with a five-hundred-forty-grain paper patch bullet. It's fitted with double-set triggers, and a Vernier sight, marked up to twelve-hundred yards. This one shoots a mite further."
It almost happened again. Lightning almost hit Tom Selleck for a second time, and I don't mean in a good way. Tom Selleck was having fun and a tremendous amount of success playing Magnum P.I. on television. It was a character he got on the strength of a recurring character on The Rockford Files, and it was a huge hit. But in 1981 it didn't seem so much like a blessing. Casting calls went out, and he was approached to play an archaeologist trying to beat the Nazis to some kind of a McGuffin or another. The Magnum commitment kept him from taking the role, and it went to Harrison Ford, who turned it iconic. But Selleck still had Magnum. Then a few years later he was approached to play an American sharpshooter in the Aussie Outback but once again had to turn the role down. That was 1984, and Warner Brothers was working on a John Hill script called Quigley Down Under. There were some delays, and the film ended up leaving Warner Brothers for MGM and losing director Lewis Gilbert for Simon Wincer. With that kind of turnaround issues, the film took until nearly 1990 to go into production. By then Magnum was off the air, and he checked in on that film again to find it had a new staff and new life, and yes, it was still available. Selleck finally got his swashbuckling part, but it's really more Pale Rider (Eastwood) than Indiana Jones, and the new director would later know more than a little bit about Indiana Jones when he went on to direct several episodes of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He would also return to the outback with the last Crocodile Dundee film, so this ended up being one heck of a circle. And in 1990 we got to check out Quigley Down Under.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 13th, 2024
"They say everybody's good at something. Me? I talk to fish. That's how I met my friend, Storm. He's always there when I need a lift. Some people think that makes me a joke, But I don't care. You know why? 'Cause I'm also good at something else: breaking heads ... I'm Aquaman."
This film release marks the end of the DCEU as we know it (also known as the Snyder-verse). The DCEU has been an interesting ride to say the least, full of ups and downs. And while it never truly challenged Marvel with their multi-phased game plan, it did provide unique opportunities that gave some deserving talents a platform to showcase their abilities. Momoa was one of them. For me, his casting was among the most unique and triumphant. When he was first announced, I had to take a hard look at that decision, as it went against the grain as far as traditional casting for Arthur Curry went. However, it is difficult for me to imagine anyone else who could have brought the same kind of life to the character. Momoa gave the character an exotic and wild-man energy that made for a very entertaining interpretation. Granted this at times made the character seem dimwitted, making his path to the throne seem all the more unlikely. On the other hand, the character was intended to struggle and chafe under the pressure of the crown, thus making Momoa’s performance believable.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by John Delia on March 1st, 2024
When Contagion was released in 2011, it was considered a horror film, more a flight of fancy than anything else. It wasn't a great box office winner. But in 2019 all of that changed as we lived through the pandemic that was mere science fiction before then. Looking back at the film, it becomes a game of what they eerily got right and what was far off the mark. Much of the world disaster element, thankfully, never came through, but in hindsight it is quite surreal the things the film did get right. The idea of a therapy drug possibly being downplayed by the government and an internet guy trying to drive those discords. The fear of a quickly-created vax also looks very much like what is still playing out in the world today. The film depicted a nasal vax that I wish had been true. The film avoided much of the political fallout, but you really must see this film in a post-COVID world.
Slick, compelling, and gripping, Contagion uses the fright brought on by past outbreaks of deadly virus attacks around the world to punch home a ‘what if’ plot that succeeds in scaring the pants off accepting moviegoers. The recognizable actors save the plot from being hard to follow as it jumps from country to country in this thriller that ‘could actually happen’.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 31st, 2024
While times may have changed a bit, many countries, especially in the 1970's up until the turn of the century looked down in disgust at those from the United States, from the way they looked, to way they acted, right down to the language they spoke. However, one of the things they most feared was that the US was going to take over their companies and do things the "American" way. Today, we take a look at a film called Mille Milliards de Dollars. In this film, we are introduced to the GTI, the Garson Texas International company, who are secretly taking over France Electronics, one of the biggest companies in Paris. It's quite the scandal and should be a very interesting film. Let's take a look.
We start the film with a call to the La Tribune switchboard. They are looking for Mr. Paul Kerjean (played by Patrick Dewaere), and it appears to be a personal call. Seems like the right time to put this person on hold and cue up the credits with some opening music. Kerjean seems preoccupied for a little while (or simply a clever way to play more credits) and finally answers the phone to hear a mysterious voice. The voice does not want to give his name, but wants to meet at a nearby parking garage to provide some very important information.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 24th, 2024
On November 22nd, 1963; President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, TX at approximately 12:30pm. Quite possibly everything else about the event can be disputed in such a manner, and I won't even attempt to confirm one theory or disapprove another. We have had movie after movie about this assassination, taking it in about every angle imaginable. Those movies are not regulated to the United States, either, as other countries have also dabbled in the storytelling of this infamous event. Many times these foreign productions treat it as a fictionalized event set in their own country, but the similarities are often so obvious that it cannot be disputed. Today's film is I ... For Icarus, a French film that explores the controversy behind the assassination of President Marc Jarry, who was killed by Karl Eric Daslow. Attorney General Henri Volney disputes the lone gunman theory, and this is the story of that investigation. That sounds awfully familiar; let's take a look.
The movie starts out with a simple phrase that essentially reads that this story is true as a I have imagined it from beginning to end. Ennio Morricone's score is queued up as we launch into the credits. Before I go further, I found it odd that they listed all of the people involved in the making of the film in alphabetical order before the movie even started. That alone runs for several minutes before the movie even starts. Anyway, on with the show.
