Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 2nd, 2014
When Stephen Chow came out with Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle he delivered martial arts in a way like we never had seen before. It’s not just that he blended humor with his action but it was that he was able to manage to make his characters function as you would imagine cartoon characters would in the real world. The road runneresque chase scenes from Kung Fu Hustle are the first visuals that come to mind any time I think of the name Stephen Chow. Now that he has Journey to the West making its way to Blu-ray, does he still have what it takes to make a hit or has he simply returned to the well already?
The film starts off strong as a father is attacked by some unseen monster while his daughter looks on from a dock. As panic strikes the village a “demon hunter” captures a giant sting ray that he believes is the culprit behind the fisherman’s death. Sanzang (Zhang Wen) seems to believe that there is yet another demon responsible for the death, yet to the village refuses to take Sanzangs advice and it is a mistake that will result in the loss of more lives and destruction. This opening goes on perhaps a bit long but it sure is fun and is filled with some beautifully choreographed stunt work as well as some inventive camera work.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on June 2nd, 2014
The tagline for Beyond the Trophy definitively states that “Power is the only thing that matters.” Well, having watched this low-budget cops and kingpins crime drama, I humbly disagree. The film strives to tell a story about the violent perils of all-consuming power. Unfortunately, Beyond the Trophy forgot to include some of the stuff that matters to movie-watchers: things like “focused storytelling”, “coherent action sequences”, and “fresh characters.”
The film opens “somewhere in the Caribbean” where a hitman catches up to lounging, unsuspecting Danny (Michael Masini). The action then flashes back seven months to show us how Danny ended up with a gun pointed at him on a tropical beach.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 2nd, 2014
With the clock ticking till the release of Batman vs. Superman, Warner Bros needs to do all it can to get the fans on board for the arrival of the the Justice League. When it comes to the handling of the DC universe, though fans may be divided on the films, it seems just about everyone will agree the animation is about as good as it gets when it comes to comic adaptations. In the case of the Justice League perhaps the only way to get it right is through animation, considering there seems to always be something massive going on that it would seem nearly impossible to translate in a live-action setting.
The Legion of Doom, headed by Lex Luthor, has managed to reach the Arctic Circle, where Lex sets in motion one of his most fiendish plans, to absorb water from around the globe, increasing the shorelines to which he has previously purchased the land. The Justice League arrives just in time, and in the process of their fight, Lex is trapped in a block of ice where he is thought to have perished.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 29th, 2014
I have to admit when I first went into this film I went in with some rather low expectations. I turned out to be more than a little surprised by this little underdog story that has a lot of heart as well as plenty of knuckle-crunching fights. Sure, this follows in the footsteps of Rocky and The Karate Kid, as we follow a young fighter who overcomes great odds to achieve victory, and we’ve seen it before. What helps this film stand alone is that it’s also a tale about revenge set in the world of small-time cage fighting.
Ever since witnessing the murder of his parents in a carjacking gone wrong, Michael Shaw (Cody Hackman) has been a bit of a reckless youth. Constantly in and out of trouble with the law and poor grades in school, Michael is given one last chance as he is forced into doing community service at a local dojo. The dojo is run by Reggie (Michael Biehn), a Karate instructor who at one time knew Michael’s father. Stuck with janitor duties, Michael watches from the sidelines as Reggie trains his students, and this sparks Michael’s interest in taking up martial arts again.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 28th, 2014
On the surface, The Color of Lies resembles many other murder mysteries set in a close-knit community. The 1999 film, however, is a late-career effort from Claude Chabrol, the French New Wave director who first gained acclaim alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut in the late 1950s. So it’s not surprising to learn The Color of Lies is really a subtle, stylish exploration of the various ways people deceive each other.
The body of a 10-year-old girl is found near the home of struggling artist Rene Sterne (Jacques Gamblin) and his wife Vivianne (Sandrine Bonnaire). Rene was the girl’s art teacher and quickly becomes the prime suspect in an investigation conducted by Inspector Lesage (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the town’s new police chief. Despite the fact that Inspector Lesage has zero hard evidence connecting Rene to the crime, he becomes a pariah in his small Breton village and gradually loses the rest of his art students. And if things weren’t bad enough for Rene, he also has to contend with vain local celebrity Germain-Roland Desmot (Antoine de Caunes), who is aggressively pursuing Rene’s wife. (It doesn’t help that Vivianne isn’t exactly rebuffing Desmot’s advances.)
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 27th, 2014
Just when you think you'd heard about everything there was to hear about World War II, the Smithsonian Channel offers some insight into a few "lesser-known” events of the war. Mix in a little conspiracy theory that's become all the rage since Dan Brown's novels hit the best seller list. What you end up with is a DVD like Secrets Of The Third Reich. The release cobbles together four episodes each telling a unique story that may or may not be completely true. With the use of reenactments, historical footage and interviews with survivors and their kin, the episodes attempt to explain some of these stories in a somewhat new light. The results are decidedly mixed, and no conclusive answers are really provided.
You get the following episodes:
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2014
by Eric Mitchell
G.W. McLintock (John Wayne, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn) made most of his money by being a cattle baron. He made so much money, in fact, that the film’s fictional town was named after him. How cool is that? But all is not milk and honey in McLintock’s life. He has an estranged wife who does not live with him (Quiet Man co star Maureen O’Hara), and now wants a divorce.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 26th, 2014
Christian Slater has managed to make a decent career lately by simply appearing in numerous direct-to-DVD productions for several years now. It seems as though every month the former 80s-90s heartthrob is slumming his way through productions as though he never once looked at the script and instead was just adding another lackluster credit to his IMDB profile. As a longtime fan of the actor from the days of Heathers, True Romance, and Pump Up the Volume, I can’t help but hope the guy will make a resurgence (though appearing in Lars Von Triers Nymphomaniac is a good start to that career revival).
As for Slater’s new release Way of the Wicked, he somewhat takes the back seat on this film despite appearing on the Blu-ray box art. Henry (Slater) is a priest who seems to have an obsession with a young boy who is held responsible for the murder of a classmate even though there was no physical evidence to show for it. Several years later Robbie (Jake Croker) returns to the small town, and as he returns to school he immediately seems to embrace the role of outcast.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on May 26th, 2014
By Zach Abati
“America is under attack on the fourth of July.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on May 26th, 2014
I'm as excited as you are to (finally!) have a three-day weekend. But between scarfing down hot dogs or hopping from one pool party to the next, it can't hurt to take a few moments to acknowledge why we observe Memorial Day in the first place. You probably know the annual holiday pays tribute to the men and women who have died while serving in the U.S Armed Forces. What you may not know is that Memorial Day originated shortly after the U.S. Civil War. This three-part documentary miniseries strives to examine “America's Bloodiest War” from every angle.
“The legacy of the war survives in the objects left behind.”
