Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 27th, 2015
“That’s exactly what a zombie would say.”
It has been some time since I’ve been able to watch a parody film and speak about it fondly afterwards. If memory serves, the last time that occurred was A Haunted House. (The sequel was an obvious money grab.) Now, I wouldn’t quite put The Walking Deceased in the same caliber of that film, but it does manage to deliver enough crowd-pleasing hijinks to entertain.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Dan Holland on April 24th, 2015
When picking up a copy of Jonathan King’s Black Sheep, you know exactly what you are getting into: a lot of bloodthirsty sheep. For about 83 minutes, the film delivers exactly what is promised on the front cover. That being said, the film is definitely catered to a rather specific audience, consisting of people who would actually want to watch Black Sheep. However, hiding under the implied lunacy, is a rather intelligent pastiche of the genre tropes put forth by its many predecessors.
King’s directorial debut focuses on the Oldfield brothers, Henry (Nathan Meister) and Angus (Peter Feeney). Still traumatized by a childhood incident involving his pet lamb, Henry (now terrified by sheep) returns home to sell Angus his inheritance of the farmland, in hopes of leaving his trauma behind him. Unbeknownst to Henry, Angus has turned the once beautiful farm into a laboratory dedicated to genetically modifying the DNA of sheep.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on April 22nd, 2015
“A vigilante is simply somebody who violates the law in order to punish a criminal for what they believe is right, for what they believe is justice.”
It’s easy to understand the appeal of big screen vigilante justice. We’ve all gotten tangled up in red tape, which is why it’s so gratifying to watch somebody tear through it. (And often spray some red elsewhere.) John Doe: Vigilante ends up being as ludicrous as any of the 17 Death Wish movies, but it also goes beyond putting the entire blame on “the system.” There are some interesting ideas at play here, including the notion that there’s a little Vigilante in all of us.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 20th, 2015
Imagine the horror of being asleep and then suddenly you wake up, paralyzed. Your eyes flutter frantically about as you struggle to move, but nothing will budge. From the corner of your eye you see movement. You’re not alone, and the person who is in the room with you is ready to kill you. This is the hook Echoes attempts to use to suck the viewers in. As a psychological thriller about sleep paralysis, it’s unfortunate that the only suspense the film manages to deliver on is just when the film will finally come to its painfully boring conclusion.
Anna (Kate French) is a struggling writer working on getting her first screenplay sold. She’s eager to break into the industry and get her script shown to the big Hollywood players, but her agent/boyfriend has second thoughts. Paul (Steven Brand) decides to take Anna out to his desert retreat where the two can be alone together and where Anna plans to get more writing done. Only instead of worrying about her script, it’s her intense nightmares that lead to her restless nights.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on April 17th, 2015
This film did not hold my interest at all. I know, I know…kind of a crude way to start off a review. However, I just don’t see the point in sugarcoating my feelings about this film. I had envisioned a completely different movie in my head before popping the disc into the Blu-ray player, and the idea in my head and what was displayed did not match up in the slightest. Perhaps that is my fault; I know better than to go into a film with expectations. And on that front, I will accept my role in my displeasure with the overall product. However, Housekeeping did nothing to help its case, in my opinion.
The plausibility of the film was a major factor in my inability to connect with the story. A young medical student named Lucy (Adriana Solis) is forced to take on a crap job in order to support a brother in trouble. Okay sound premise, I can get behind this; I have seen many a tale of a responsible sibling being forced to do something they don’t want to do to bail out a sibling whose only talent is making the former’s life more difficult. It’s the delivery that I struggled with.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 14th, 2015
The longest-running crime dramas tend to be “case of the week” mysteries where the perp is comfortably caught within the hour. It’s a formula for sure, but it’s one that’s easy to replicate and works quite well if you have the right talent and personalities involved. In reality, of course, there are many cases when the crook isn’t captured before the end credits…or ever. The accompanying anger and uncertainty is much trickier (and messier) to convey dramatically. The Missing — a limited series from England that aired on Starz — isn’t the first show to tackle that territory, but it’s certainly a compelling recent example.
“It’s no use going back to yesterday because I was a different person then.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 10th, 2015
"There's something I need to tell you. We're building a weapon. It's not like any weapon the world's ever seen. It draws its energy from a fast-neutron chain reaction. It releases the power of an ancient star. If it works, and it's going to work, it will be the more destructive than all the bombs dropped in all the wars in history put together. It'll bring armies to their knees. Cities will disappear in the blink of an eye. The world will be united in peace by the most just and noble country in the history of mankind or it will burn to the ground. Whoever builds it first, there's the endgame. So it has to be us, whatever it costs."
It's one of those dramatic stories where mankind is altered forever. If it weren't absolutely true, someone would have had to make it up. Every child in schools around the world knows about the atomic bombs that ended World War II. We've all seen the terrible destruction that exceeded even the expectations of the scientists and engineers who designed and built these bombs. We all live in the aftermath of these events. Yet little is known about the people who devoted their lives to making it a reality, not only those directly involved, but their families and the support network necessary to bring them all together. Enter WGN America, and the tale is finally told. Now the first season of Manhattan, spelled as Manh(a)ttan, is available on Blu-ray from Lionsgate.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 10th, 2015
“Finish that sentence…why do I have to walk a thousand miles?”
The answer to that question probably won’t satisfy everyone who watches Wild, which is based on Cheryl Strayed’s first-person chronicle of her 1,100-mile hike from the Mojave Desert to Oregon. To some, there simply isn’t a compelling enough excuse to ditch your responsibilities and go on an extended journey of self-discovery. The reason Wild works — besides career-best work from its Oscar-nominated star — is because the ultimate explanation is something simple that most people can relate to: Strayed walked more than 1,000 miles to prove she could do it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 9th, 2015
This is a movie that snuck up on me. I had seen the trailers, and it looked like goofy fun, but I really wasn’t prepared for how this film would linger in my mind and follow me around. First let me just say this film is not for everyone; this is one of the darkest comedies I’ve seen in quite some time, but on top of that this is one of the most tragic films as well. At first glance the trailer for The Voices has you thinking this is going to be American Psycho meets Dr. Dolittle (only one character can hear the animals talking), and for the most part that is this film. But as the final act kicked in, I realized this was really so much more.
The film starts off with a very surreal feeling as we meet Jerry (Ryan Reynolds), who works in the shipping area of a local business. He’s charming and just seems like a swell guy who finds himself in love with Fiona (Gemma Arterton), who is the office hottie from England. When he finally gets the courage to ask her out on a date, well, it unfortunately doesn’t go as planned.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 9th, 2015
There was a new cowboy in Dallas, and he wasn’t throwing touchdown passes. But Walker was almost gone before he could really get started. After just four episodes, the show’s production company suffered financial collapse, and the show was rescued at the last minute by CBS Productions, who would continue to run the show for its nearly decade-long run. For nine years Norris brought us the ultimate Texas Ranger in a formula cops-and-robbers show. The show often became a parody of itself, but maintained a solid viewership throughout. Hell, Norris even sings the theme song. Truthfully, what started as a one-man show (it was originally called Chuck Norris Is Walker, Texas Ranger) had become a good working ensemble that probably kept the train going for so long. Walker (Norris) is a tough-guy Texas Ranger. He is partnered with Sydney Cooke (Peebles) and Jimmy Trivetti (Gilyard) who’s an ex-jock with a brain. Walker had a love interest and eventual wife in the local assistant district attorney Alex Cahill (later Walker) Together they fight the evils that come to the high plains of Texas armed with their fists, six-shooters, and Stetsons.
Fans of Norris were never disappointed in what they got here. The requisite martial arts and tough-guy talk are present pretty much in every episode. There’s a popular T-shirt design that lauds their hero in epic fashion. One of my favorites is : “McGyver can build a plane out of gum and paper clips, but Chuck Norris can kill him and take the plane.” Another brags: “Some people wear Superman pajamas. Superman wears Chuck Norris pajamas”. And there’s the humorous: “Chuck Norris knows what Willis is talkin’ about”.
