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.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by John Delia on October 12th, 2016
If you are looking for action and adventure, then you will not want to miss X-Men: First Class, a top-notch production that thrills. The storyline under the able direction of Matthew Vaughn contains all the explosiveness you would expect from a prequel to Marvel Comics’ famous X-Men. It’s the beginning of the saga, and we find Magneto (Michael Fassbender) being haunted by the death of someone close him. Escaping the clutches of the evil Nazi war criminal Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), Magneto meets Charles Xavier (James McAvoy). The two make a pact of finding other mutants and helping them work for justice. When Shaw rears his ugly head with superpowers of his own, the world puts everything on hold in hopes for a miracle to protect them; enter the X-Men.
I love the screenwriting style of Ashley Miller (Thor) who brings so many dynamic characters to life with amazing superpowers, and in X-Men: First Class she presents some very realistic baddies along with her heroes. Directed by Matthew Vaughn who gave us the action-laden Layer Cake and Kick Ass, nothing’s held back on his radical style of introducing characters with pugilistic powers. Here he puts Lee’s characters to the test and comes up with a winner.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on October 10th, 2016
“There can only be one queen.”
After navigating treachery at every turn in French court and having to cope with a deadly plague throughout the first two seasons of Reign — the CW's campy, compulsively watchable adaptation of the Mary, Queen of Scots saga — season 3 was meant to introduce Mary's most formidable foe yet. Queen Elizabeth I of England becomes a regular character on the show and Mary's chief rival from afar. But in telling the story of two warring queens (while trying to service the series' many established characters) the show stretches itself too thin and loses some of the fizz that made it a guilty pleasure.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 8th, 2016
After the release of The Editor on Blu-ray last year and with the remake of Susperia in the works, it would seem that there is a slow revival of the Giallo film. For those unaware of the term or style, it’s basically a horror/ mystery film that tended to have slasher elements that emerged out of Italy. These were beautiful and stylish films that directors like Dario Argento, Mario Bava, and Lucio Fulci were the ambassadors of. While The Editor was more of a spoof of the genre, though well done, it is Masks that has really gotten my attention. Though it comes out of Germany, the love and attention to detail in adding so many of the familiar hallmarks of the Giallo film makes Masks more than just a simple homage, but it’s so well executed I could have believed this was a lost Dario Argento film. So many people have gotten wrapped up in trying to emulate the grindhouse and found-footage genre that to see someone attempt to pull off a Giallo is simply refreshing. For those of you out there looking for a horror film that is a step above the standard slasher, Masks is the film I hope to see people rally around.
The story follows Stella (Susen Ermich), a drama student who seems to have talent but just isn’t good enough to be accepted by any of the major schools. At one of her auditions one of the judges sees her and recommends a school for her that can help her take her talents to the next level. Upon her arrival to the school there are talks about some mysterious things occurring to some of the students. I’ll go ahead and say it; the plot sounds a heck of a lot like Susperia, only the teachers are not witches, but for fans of the Italian classic I’m sure the similarities will simply jump out at you.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 7th, 2016
"Did I miss anything while I was gone?"
Did you ever. Banshee came to an end with this, the fourth season, and it did not go quietly, to be sure. But it's not how it ends, but how this final season begins that's a bit of a mystery. There is a time jump of a little over 18 months that will cause you to feel like you might have missed something. If that doesn't confuse you, the season's constant tripping around in time will turn this season into a show very different from the Banshee we've come to know and love. It's not just one or two timelines that are presented here. The time can shift by any number of days, weeks, or months. Still the "current" story takes place nearly two years in the future. Fans appear to be divided on the season's dramatic departure from the show's style. The question has to be whether the team knew it was their final season from the beginning and felt the need to cover more ground to tell what story they had left to tell.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on October 6th, 2016
“Are you food or are you sex?”
When it comes to director Nicholas Winding Refn, he’s a director from whom I’m never all too sure what to expect. For me Drive is one of my favorite films in the past ten years, while Only God Forgives simply bored me; despite the stunning imagery, it had nothing else going for it.. His films going even further back are just as much of a mixed bag, so coming into The Neon Demon I knew better than to get my hopes up, and that I should just go ahead and let the film stand on its own, as it should. Even reading about its debut at Cannes, it was met with a mix of boos as well as applause, which was all I really needed to get interested in this film after seeing the visually impressive trailer. At a glance it appears to be nothing more than the story of Black Swan (2010), only instead of following dancers, this is a film that thrusts the viewer into the world of modeling. Just where do I stand on this film? Well, it’s stuck with me since our screening days ago, and I’m still processing everything.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on October 5th, 2016
“Be the hero of your own story.”
Not the funniest addition to Kevin Hart’s reign as the king of comedy, but still a welcome sight. This time around, Hart teams with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for Central Intelligence. I’ve been anticipating this movie since behind-the-scenes footage leaked earlier this year, and the official trailer did nothing but fuel the flames of my excitement. After watching it, I can say that despite a few predictable plot twists, I still found the overall product to be extremely funny and worthwhile.
