Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 22nd, 2016
The third release of the Vestron Video Collector’s Series that Lionsgate has decided to put out isn’t just one film but two, Waxwork and its sequel Waxwork 2: Lost in Time. If you think just because it’s a two-for-one release that they may have taken the lazy route on handling the transfers and features, well, I can happily say that you’d be wrong. If you like campy horror, especially the kind that existed during the late 80’s on into the early 90’s, then this is the kind of double-feature set you’ll have a blast with. It doesn’t hurt, either, that it’s being released just in time to be enjoyed for those of you looking to put together some horror movie marathons during the Halloween season.
Waxwork
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 21st, 2016
You know, I miss James Gandolfini. I know that HBO misses him as well. When The Sopranos finished, Gandolfini signed a development deal with HBO. He would not only work in front of the camera but help find and produce material for the network. We all know what happened next. Gandolfini passed suddenly, just when it seems he was breaking out of his Tony Soprano typecast, and one gets the feeling that he was going to do great things. One solid indication of that promise comes in the HBO series The Night Of... which was one of those passion projects that the man never got to see through. It's one of the best things to come out of HBO in a few years, and that is saying something when you consider the strong programming that can be found there now. Game Of Thrones is a great show. The Night Of..., well... that's something special all to its own.
It all starts out with our introduction to Nasir "Naz" Kahn, played by Riz Ahmed. He's a straight-A college student from a solid working class Pakistani family. His family is Muslim and very conservative. He tutors basketball players but otherwise keeps to himself. He doesn't date, do drugs, or pretty much anything else fun. That is until he's invited to a team party and he wants to let loose just a little bit. He sneaks out of the house and borrows the taxi that his father owns with two other partners when he's stood up by his friend for a ride. The problem is that he does not know how to turn off the "On Duty" sign, and a young, troubled girl gets into his back seat. Andrea, played by Sofia Black-D'Elia, strikes a chord with Naz, and instead of making her leave the cab he drives her around and finally takes her home. What starts as a bizarre encounter ends up changing his life forever. Naz wakes to find that Andrea has been murdered savagely in her bed. What he does next is begin a chain of events that will ultimately lead to him virtually framing himself for her murder.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 21st, 2016
"The universe, a vast expanse of space and matter. It includes all that we see and all that we know. Since the beginning of time, we have wondered how it all came to be. A gloriously orchestrated plan? A chance series of events? Or something much, much dumber?"
Space really is the final frontier. It's where they send tired franchises to die. They sent Jason and Pinhead to space. They sent the Three Stooges into orbit. Abbott & Costello ended up in space. They even sent Machete into space. It's the filmatic version of jumping the shark. In Ice Age: Collision Course they send lovable Scrat into space. Maybe it's time to put this beloved animated franchise on ice for a little while. It's clear they've pretty much run out of ideas, and the box office is the proof in the pudding. What the heck does that mean, anyway? And this is from a reviewer who has been rather fond and kind to the Ice Age films up to this point. Need more proof for that pudding? Bang it Here for past Ice Age reviews.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 19th, 2016
I can’t be the only one who misses seeing Mel Gibson in a tent pole movie for the studio every year. Sure, he said some rotten things, but does it matter what he does in his personal life? The man still is a great actor and an even better director. Hollywood has always been forgiving of its talent; it’s a system that seems to enjoy seeing talent make a comeback and do some amazing work. What it seems is that sometimes we forget that these icons on the screen are human, and they make mistakes and do stupid things and they have to own these experiences for the rest of their lives in the spotlight. I bring this up simply because when you look back at Mel Gibson and his downfall, Blood Father seems in many ways a reflection of the past decade for Gibson, minus the body count, of course. Rather than just roll over and phone in some roles like many of his contemporaries have, Gibson has been finding roles that continue to remind me why audiences connected so much to his work.
John Link (Gibson) is an ex-con and also a recovering alcoholic who struggles every day to make up for his past mistakes. He’s lost his wife and hasn’t seen his kid in years; he manages to get by running a tattoo shop out of the trailer he also lives in. He’s living on hard times but owns up to his mistakes and is working towards the day he can be forgiven for those mistakes. His sponsor, Kirby (William H. Macy), is pretty much his only friend and does what he can to keep John on the right path, but things get more than a little complicated when John hears from his daughter, and she is asking for help.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 19th, 2016
Growing up one of coolest jobs I thought was out there was undercover work. Not to diminish all the threats to one’s well-being associated with that profession, but come on, who didn’t want the opportunity to reinvent themselves as someone else entirely. Undercover affords that opportunity. That said, it does not come without a cost, and that cost is explored thoroughly in The Infiltrator, a based on a true story tale about a U.S. Customs agent who infiltrates the most successful and equally dangerous drug cartel led by the one and only Pablo Escobar. An interesting little tidbit that I was unaware of before the opening credits was that this film was shot right here in the Tampa area, which provided recognizable environment and a chance to pick out familiar territory.
The Infiltrator follows Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston), a seasoned agent with the United States Customs Service with a talent for undercover work. After successfully completing an operation, he finds himself thrown back into the mix for possibly the biggest operation he has ever every undertaken: infiltrating the money laundering operation used to clean the proceeds for the Medellin Cartel, led by Pablo Escobar.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 19th, 2016
I’ve always been a fan of Tarzan; I loved the old series and the films basically because I just dug how he was this fearless character who lived in the jungles who fought the bad guys and a few wild animals as well. As I got older that was when I discovered the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and I just had a blast with all these pulp tales about the civilized Wildman and the beautiful Jane. I even remember how excited I was about seeing Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan as a kid; even though this screen adaption bored me to tears, it was still exciting to see the character up on the screen. Now it’s 2016, and the character is swinging into action on the big screen again, and with a large budget to back it up. The trailers had me excited; everything seemed to look how I always hoped a Tarzan movie should be. Did the film manage to meet my expectations? Well, it came close, and the result is a film that shows how the wrong director can ruin a great story.
The casting of Alexander Skarsgard is just about as good as you can hope for in casting the role of Tarzan/ John Clayton. It’s absolutely vital how important it is to get the physical look of the character and make it believable that he can be stealthy, as well as a brute force who can fight giant apes and crocodiles but still look the part of a British lord. Sure, many audience-goers will enjoy the numerous shirtless scenes the film offers, but it makes it all the more believable when we see the character pull off some superhero-like scenes. When it comes to the casting of Margot Robbie as Jane, she is a knockout here. She plays this damsel (not so) in distress in such a charming loveable way that it’s clear that by the end of summer following the release of Suicide Squad she will be the A-list actress off Hollywood. She brings so much life to Jane that you can understand why Tarzan will do just about anything for this woman, and when they are together it’s a chemistry that has me hoping so much that we’ll get more adventures of Tarzan and Jane.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 14th, 2016
Imagine if Three Men and a Baby was remade with just two guys, a baby, a battle axe, and a bunch of arrows. Despite its exceedingly generic Americanized title, The Last King has a little something different to offer action-weary movie watchers. The story is set in a time and place — 13th century Norway during the country's civil war — that is probably unfamiliar to U.S. audiences. And while much of the hand-to-hand combat and royal treachery will prove cliched to some, they are presented with some fun tweaks and an occasionally sentimental tone that doesn't always mesh with the hard-hitting action.
The Last King is set in 1204 and is inspired by actual events in Norwegian history. King Hakon Sverresson (Benjamin Helstad) is killed in a plot hatched by power-hungry younger brother Gisle (Pal Sverre Hagen). Everyone assumes the culprit is Gisle's older brother Inge (Thorbjorn Harr) in a move to seize control of the country, and Inge is subsequently jailed. However, Gisle's path to power remains blocked thanks to a surprise wrinkle: the king has an illegitimate son with a stronger claim to the throne.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 13th, 2016
“Everything they've built will fall! And from the ashes of their world, we'll build a better one!”
Since Disney has taken over The Bullpen at Marvel, they have had an unprecedented run of successful comic book superhero films. During that same time DC/Warner has had trouble finding a direction for their cinematic universe. But the Marvel titles still in the hands of other studios haven’t shared in that run of good fortune. Sony finally had to relinquish control of Spider-Man, and Fox has followed disaster with disaster with The Fantastic Four. The single exception to that rule has been the Fox handling of The X-Men universe. Since Bryan Singer’s 2000 hit the series has had some ups and downs, but the box office verdict has generally been good. Since the series was revived with prequels in 2011, we’ve enjoyed two solid X-Men films sporting a younger cast. Spinoffs with Wolverine and Deadpool have added to the Fox/Marvel winning combination. But it seems the X-Men can fight end-of-the-world events but can’t seem to quite get the hang of third movies in trilogies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 13th, 2016
When you have a title like Satanic, it’s kind of hard to not start to build up expectations right out of the gate. I like a horror film that isn’t afraid to go dark and play with the subject matter of the occult, because honestly it’s the only topic that can manage to get under my skin. The Exorcist in my opinion is hands down the best horror film of all time and manages to haunt me after a viewing simply because the boy I once was who went to Catholic mass every Sunday knew that it could happen. That’s the thing about films like Satanic; you have a built-in audience that you already will have hooked from the start and have a reason to be afraid, simply because of faith. So when a movie has so much momentum going for them and it delivers such a lackluster result, it shows that certain people just shouldn’t be playing in the horror sandbox.
Chloe (Sarah Hyland) is on a road trip to a music festival with her boyfriend David (Stephen Krueger), but along the way they’ve decided to make some stops at the locations of some famous occult murder sites. The decision to make these stops comes at the suggestion of Elise (Clara Mamet), her cousin, along with Elise’s boyfriend Seth (Justin Chon). If not for the blood relation between Chloe and Elise, it would be difficult to imagine these couples ever being together, since Chloe and David seem to be more traditional college students, while Elise and Seth seem to be nothing more than Goth kids who are trying so desperately to be “dark”. This is a problem I had from the start; I never bought into this Goth couple. We’ve seen this story played out before in Kalifornia, where two odd couples go on a reluctant road trip to visit murder sites, but what worked is they cast the roles and made it more believable. By making Elise and Seth a joke from the start it simply pulls away any chance for attachment to these two despite blood relation. Even trying to imagine people on a road trip to the Coachella but deciding to detour for this murder tour is a hard leap for me.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 12th, 2016
"...And then all light will end, and the world will live in darkness. The very air will be pestilence to mankind. And our brethren, the night creatures, will emerge and feed."
We could be talking about the end of the world. We could also be talking about the untimely demise of Penny Dreadful with just its third season at Showtime. It came with a suddenness, and not without controversy. John Logan originally planned for the series to go 6-7 years. Something abruptly changed, and he has stated rather forcefully that it is impossible to continue the show beyond this third season. The finale is marked with a solid The End to punctuate his feelings. Showtime did not want to part with the show so quickly. Neither did the fans, and quite frankly neither did I. I haven't been this disappointed in a creator since Calvin & Hobbes went away because Bill Watterson got tired. Hell, I get tired, too. John Logan might have been finished with Penny Dreadful, but I wasn't.
