Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 16th, 2022
LAIKA Films has produced some amazing movies which have elevated the wonderful world of stop motion animation. Paranorman, Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Missing Link (all underappreciated by mainstream movie audiences). But one movie stands above those fine films and is the one for LAIKA that started it all. Coraline. Today, I received the Steelbook edition (along with Paranorman) in brilliant 4K. I can hardly contain myself. Let's take a look.
As the credits start to roll, we see a doll being undressed as well as un-stitched. Then that doll is filled up with sand and re-stitched. A couple of buttons are carefully selected and hair is sewn-in. It is finally thrust into the world. Hey, that kinda looked like Coraline, who we will meet shortly.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on December 6th, 2022
Hopefully, most of you have enjoyed my review of Unidentified, the first in a series of three films directed by Bogdan George Apetri set in a small town in Northern Romania. It is a nontraditional trilogy, as all three stories share the same universe but do not require the viewer to watch them together or in a certain order. Well, today I have received the second film in this series, entitled Miracle. Since they were filmed at the same time, one would hope that it is just as good and just as brilliant as the first film. Let's take a look and see what it has to offer.
We see a girl crying over some holy water. Her name is Cristina Tofan (played by Ioana Bugarin). She is dressed in clothes that resemble those of a nun and is staying at the covenant. Sister Mina (played by Nora Covali) enters and hands her a bag with a cell phone and tells Cristina to call. She does so, but there is no answer, and she tries again. Again, no response. The car is waiting by the side gate, and Cristina prays for safety.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on November 10th, 2022
I certainly do not want to get political here, but cops as a rule have a certain extent of power that we as common folk typically do not enjoy. It is often a plot point in many thriller movies that we sit and watch the officer harasses suspects or perhaps uses some shady tactics in order to get their man (or woman). It's common, heck it's probably in film school 101 and some might even see it as a bit cliché. Today's film is Unidentified, a Romanian film where a detective enters a very grey area in order to catch the perpetrator. It's also the first film in a trilogy. Yes, you read that right but more on that later. Let's take a look.
We see the sprawling countryside of Romania. It shifts to trees and then to lots of houses and businesses. We arrive at the city, time is 2:45 PM and Florin Iespas (played by Bogdan Farcas) is looking at some grisly photographs of burn victims along with a picture of a suspect. At the bosses office, he talks to Comisar Sef (played by Vasile Muraru) about the case which actually doesn't belong to him. The case belongs to another cop named Radu who happens to be away on a vacation.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 17th, 2022
1982. I was seven years old, and my mother, who loved horror movies, wanted to take me to see Poltergeist. Unfortunately, around this time, my dad was usually on the road, and so there was no one really there to say maybe we shouldn't. Honestly, even if my father was there and did say no, I doubt my mom would have listened. It was PG; how bad could it be? In the next two hours, I was treated to something that resonates with me to this very day. From the moment I heard "They're Here", I knew I would never see static on televisions the same way.
Please note that parts of this review are borrowed (story, critique, special features) from the 2007 DVD review I did 15 years ago. However, where possible I am enhancing what I wrote, as I think I write better these days. Maybe I have lost a touch of my creativity, but that's a story for another day.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 13th, 2022
Nelson Mandela once said, “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Most people, even in today's society, think of prisoners as lower than the ground they walk upon. Prison abuse is as old as Greek and Roman times. Heck, true prison reform didn't start in the United States until the 1960's. But what about other countries? In Caged Birds, we explore the Switzerland of the 1980's and how one lawyer named Barbara Hug tried to change that very system.
1980's Switzerland: a protest and all sorts of commotion in the streets. One of the signs reads, "Put the State on a Dinner Plate." However, this protest has turned violent. There are cops beating women, and a man is tortured by a female officer. Meanwhile, a young lawyer named Barbara Hugs (played by Marie Leuenberger) stands by and watches as she lights up a smoke. Elsewhere, a car is hot-wired by an escaped prisoner named Walter Strum (played by Joel Basman) who has just escaped a jail for the seventh time.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 25th, 2022
The original heist movie is often credited to The Asphalt Jungle, directed by John Huston. A criminal mastermind, a million-dollar jewel heist, a band of outlaws, and the dame in a seamy and gritty underworld. It had all the qualities that would set up that genre for decades to come. Today's offering is another film that is often listed on top-twenty lists for the genre, Ad ogni costo, better known by its English title as Grand Slam. In it, a retiring school professor recruits four criminal masterminds to steal ten million in diamonds. We'll have to see if it makes the grade or is doomed to be held back for another year.
Rio de Janeiro. Kids are shouting and singing as people board a plane to go to America. In particular, these kids are wishing their former professor, James Anders (played by Edward G. Robinson) safe travels, as he happens to be going to New York. Music is played, and a hearty goodbye is felt as we roll the credits.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 11th, 2022
Most people want to do the right thing. It's usually far easier in your private life to do the right thing than it is, say, in a job environment where you have people constantly breathing down your neck. They are far more interested in the company's pocketbook or their image to society than what is right and wrong. Therefore, it often leads to a lot of decisions (especially those in places of power) that from a surface appear questionable. It's even worse when that company or organization is in the public eye every moment of the day. Today, we look at a film where an ex-cop has retreated to the mountains in search of a simpler life away from the grey choices of the police force. All based on trying to do the right thing. Let's take a look.
Charlie Waldo (played by Charlie Hunnam) stretches in the woods and sits in silence meditating on his life. Meanwhile we get some ecological narration about the future state of the planet and how awful the United States is at preserving it. (Trust me, kids, China is much, much worse.) After a brief morning, Charlie goes right back to meditating. He also washes his clothes the old fashioned way. All of the sudden he is greeted by a beeping horn of a car.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on April 4th, 2022
The power of the media is indeed one of the most powerful forces on Earth. They have the ability to manipulate regardless of where the truth actually lies. This exists on all sides of the political spectrum regardless of country, creed, or faith. It is truly sad that such fabrication actually exists and even more unfortunate that people will take it in hook, line, and sinker. Our film today, Armageddon, takes place in France, but plays havoc with manipulating those all over Western Europe by using the media to instill fear. Fear of mortality, fear of losing life, a fear that makes the strongest person into a blithering child. Let us take a look.
A SOS car stops, and a repairman by the name of Louis Carrier (played by Jean Yanne) steps out. He yells at his friend, Einstein (played by Renato Salvatori) who is picking up trash that he just inherited 250,000 bucks. It seems that his brother died and left behind a life insurance policy. Furthermore, it is his lucky break, and he is saying goodbye to his dear friend. Einstein asks him what he is going to do, and Louis replies, "Make the headlines." Let's roll those credits.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 28th, 2021
On December 15th, 1967 the Silver Bridge which connected Point Pleasant, West Virginia to Gallipolis, Ohio collapsed under the stress of rush hour traffic and killed forty six people. Later on, it was determined that the collapse was due to a small defect only .1 inches in a single eyebar in one of the suspension chains along with poor maintenance. However, sightings of the Mothman during that time period had citizens attribute this disaster to a far more sinister cause. That led to a book in 1975 by John Keel. Twenty seven years later, the film The Mothman Prophecies would be released based on these events. Let's take a look at the Imprint #39 release arriving on blu-ray.
John Klein (played by Richard Gere) is a reporter for the Washington Post. Despite urging from his office, he won't be attending the Christmas party. Instead he has a date with his wife, Mary (played by Debra Messing). He makes the call to his wife who is busy taking a shower and leaves a message. It appears that the happy couple is on their way to buying a house together.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 14th, 2021
Road films are something of a passion when it comes to movies for me. It could be a movie on a ten-lane highway guaranteed to have multiple car crashes, a two-lane cross country expedition, or a one-lane dirt road going into darkness where the passengers might never return. Nothing gets me going more than films like The Hitcher, Road Games, Two-Lane Blacktop, or The Duel. It is the idea of not knowing exactly where the next turn is going to take you or what lies beyond the next hill. Characters, environments, situations all can change once you get to the next town or cross another state line. Today's road film is the 1997 thriller, Breakdown, with Kurt Russell and J.T. Walsh, where we explore what a man must do in order to find his missing wife. As one might guess, it is one of my favorites, as it delivers one nail-biting scene after another. Let's take a look.
A hot Utah desert, a long winding road, and a moving (possibly speeding) red Jeep. Jeff Taylor (played by Kurt Russell) and his wife, Amy (played by Kathleen Quinlan) are taking a trip from Boston to San Diego where Jeff has a new job waiting for him. The road seems monotonous as the driver reaches behind him to grab something. All of the sudden, an old dirty Ford F-150 truck pulls out in front of him and nearly causes an accident, but Jeff is able to swerve away from the accident just in time.
