Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on March 27th, 2015
There's a mile-long list of Hollywood movies that have been re-titled in foreign countries to hilarious effect. I've personally had much less experience with foreign productions being re-branded for American audiences, but Diamond Heist seems like one of the more egregious examples you're likely to find. The DVD cover has professional tough guys/straight-to-DVD MVPs Michael Madsen and Vinnie Jones brandishing weapons while accompanied by a vague explosion and the wonderfully generic tagline, “Payday is only a bullet away.” In other words, there's nothing here that suggests this Hungarian import is actually an action/comedy about male strippers.
To be fair, when you read back the key parts of that last sentence — “Hungarian action/comedy about male strippers” — it's not hard to see why there was some re-tooling in order to maximize the film's prospects in the U.S. Diamond Heist was originally titled Magic Boys, even though the Chippendale's-style action is less Magic Mike titillating and more Full Monty slapstick.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2015
"Antarctica, an inhospitable wasteland, but even here, on the Earth's frozen bottom, we find life. And not just any life: penguins. Joyous, frolicking, waddling, cute and cuddly life. Look at them, tumbling onto their chubby bum bums. Who could take these frisky snow-clowns... seriously?"
This one has been a long time coming. I like the Madagascar movies and have been fairly positive about them in these pages. Each time I pointed out that the highlight of these films were the antics of those military-minded penguins and their grand schemes. The film's powers that be have also noticed this, as the penguin characters have been trending with more screen time as the franchise went along. Now those flightless maniacs have finally gotten a film of their own, and dare I say it, The Penguins Of Madagascar are flying higher than the source films with this frosty little tale.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2015
I’m not really a big Beatles fan. That will shock, anger, and dismay many of you. Sure, I’ve got a couple of favorites, but nothing I feel the need to hear over and over again. Now, with that said, I am a fan of Paul McCartney. Of all the Beatles he has evolved the most. He has gone from a kid who was nothing really special, just in the right place at the right time, to a very accomplished musician. Few musicians today can match his performance skills on almost any instrument. While a lot of celebrities talk about compassionate subjects, I get the impression McCartney is more sincere than most. Perhaps it’s this sincerity that makes him such a good songwriter.
Paul McCartney is a great example of what Darwin meant by survival of the fittest. No one in the music business has learned to adapt and thrive like Paul McCartney. The term timeless has been applied so often to so many performers that it might have lost any meaning. Still, if anyone deserves that description, it is Paul McCartney. With The Beatles he helped define the 60’s and reinvent Rock and Roll. In the 1970’s and 80’s he continued the hits with Paul McCartney and Wings. When Wings finally disappeared into the midnight sky, McCartney was still at it as a solo artist. Certainly, McCartney albums are fewer and far longer between. Still, each new release is an exercise in quality. Even when I don’t care for a particular McCartney song, it’s easy to hear the work that went into each note.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on March 25th, 2015
“The recent earthquakes in Los Angeles: facts of life or foreshadowing the big one?”
I'm not saying the makers of L.A. Apocalypse — a SyFy-level TV movie centered on catastrophic earthquakes in California — timed the release of their low-budget action flick so it premiered well ahead of San Andreas, the would-be summer blockbuster starring Dwayne Johnson about catastrophic earthquakes in California. It's just funny how things often work out that way. L.A. Apocalypse doesn't have The Rock (or anyone you've likely heard of) and is working with a very small fraction of San Andreas' budget. The result is as underwhelming as you'd expect.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 23rd, 2015
"Will you follow me, one last time?"
It's time to say goodbye to Middle Earth, at least from a cinematic perspective. The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies marks the last time we shall see Peter Jackson's version of Middle Earth. Sure, Ian McKellen has told us he wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of a return. I would. There is certainly enough work from Tolkien to support future adventures, but the rights to anything beyond these books belongs to the Tolkien estate. To say they are not very fond of Jackson, New Line, Warner, or the six films themselves would be an understatement. There is great animosity there, and no amount of money is going to change that.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 23rd, 2015
When it comes to the modern epic, director Ridley Scott is the go-to guy to pull off the sprawling and mega-budget storylines. From Gladiator to Kingdom of Heaven, Scott has constantly proven himself behind the camera in executing tales with lavish sets and battles involving hundreds to even thousands of extras. With the release of Exodus: Gods and Kings, a retelling of the Bible story where Moses frees the slaves of Egypt, Ridley Scott would seem the perfect choice for this film. Unfortunately, this is a Bible story that is sure to anger religious scholars and put some general audiences to sleep.
Let me jump ahead and say I’m an unapologetic fan of Ridley Scott; this is my favorite working director. From his early work like Alien, Blade Runner and Legend on into his later films like Gladiator, Matchstick Men, Black Hawk Down and Prometheus, he has entertained me for years. But lately I feel he’s been swinging for hits but missing more than he has delivered. Last year’s release of The Counselor was a misstep that should have been a knockout hit but instead just was a disappointment in many ways, which brings us to Exodus: Gods and Kings and its frustrating retelling.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 23rd, 2015
"Baby, if you've ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me. I'm living on the air in Cincinnati,
Cincinnati, WKRP. "
It almost sounds like a take on Harry Chapin's WOLD, and in many ways it is. The song was hot for a while on radio stations. It seems that DJ's couldn't resist songs about DJ's. Who saw that coming? Of course, the song is the opening theme to WKRP In Cincinnati. The show is back on DVD thanks to the folks at Shout Factory. If that's not big news, this absolutely is. It's back with most of the original music intact including the opening and closing themes. For fans of the show, it's the news we've been waiting for for decades now.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 23rd, 2015
The Norwegian oil boom of the early 1980s isn’t the most obvious setting for a thriller, but director Erik Skjoldbjærg manages to squeeze plenty of intrigue out of what seems like a pretty dry subject. Of course, Pioneer could never be described as “dry” in the literal sense since the film follows a group of commercial divers in Norway as they try to establish the country’s first petroleum pipeline 500 meters underwater.
Petter (Aksel Hennie) is a brash professional diver obsessed with reaching the bottom of the Norwegian Sea. Norway has partnered with American company Deep Sea Diving to lay the country’s first oil pipeline. (Avatar’s Stephen Lang plays an American supervisor.) Petter and his more family-oriented brother Knut (Andre Eriksen) are part of the group of divers, which also includes a jealous American rival (Wes Bentley). The movie opens with a hallucinatory training exercise that sets the film’s hazy tone.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 22nd, 2015
What if monsters were not just a thing of our imagination, that all the movies we’ve seen and books we’ve read were not just creatures that entertained and horrified us, but actually existed beyond the woods and in the darkness? That is the jumping off point for director Adam Green’s new project Digging Up the Marrow. Only this time his film takes a very Meta approach and is done as a documentary. What instantly came to mind was Blair Witch Project in the execution of the film. Sure, there have been many copycat films since the release, and it has spawned an entire genre of filmmaking with found footage, but how does Digging Up the Marrow measure up? Does it hold its own in a genre that seems to be played out?
First I’d like to say if you already plan on checking out the film, do yourself a favor and just watch it. Avoid the trailers or any talkbacks; this is a film that should be experienced with as little exposure to the plot as possible. Even with writing this review I’m trying to censor myself more than usual simply because this isn’t so much a film you watch over and over because of how great it is, it’s a film you instead go into for the experience of what the hell will happen next. Once the twists have been revealed, though, it’s still a fun viewing experience; it’s still just not the same thing. So here is your last chance to click away from the screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 20th, 2015
From the moment Son of a Gun opens up taking you behind bars as JR (Brenton Thwaites) is being processed into an Australian prison, it is the start of a journey that throws everything at its audience till the final credits roll. I have a hard time figuring out just how to classify Son of a Gun; it is everything from being a film about self-discovery, a guys-behind-bars film, to being a heist film and so much more. The title refers to JR as he goes about serving his time behind bars and captures the attention of an infamous thief Brendan (Ewan McGregor). Brendan takes in the young man and protects him from would-be attackers, but of course the protection comes at a price. JR makes up for it by helping spring Brendan from prison in a clever prison break that somewhat reminded me of the prison escape in Superman 2 (you know, when Lex Luthor is rescued via helicopter), same thing only slicker.
It’s when Brendan makes his escape that we see the bond continue to develop with JR, and he teaches him the ropes of being a good thief as well as teaching him a few life lessons along the way. It’s a formula we’ve seen before, but it is a formula that works, and in this film writer/director Julius Avery knows how to deliver the action beats stringing the viewer along for this intriguing yet recycled plot. By the time we get to the gold heist I was sucked in, because the performances are just that good, that they manage to make this rehash seem fresh and even exciting at points.
