Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 22nd, 2013
And you thought Thanksgiving dinner with your family was tense. For most of us, it doesn’t get much worse than critical parents, competitive siblings or that weird side dish no one really wants to try. (There always seems to be about a gallon of that stuff too.) Consider yourself lucky: unlike the poor souls in Deadfall, you’ve probably never been chained to the dinner table — not literally, at least — nor had a psychotic Eric Bana point a gun at your face.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jonathan Foster on February 22nd, 2013
Dumbo. Babar. Horton. Everyone loves elephants. These gentle giants of Africa and India have been lauded in both story and song. They’re also an integral part of any circus worth going to. With all this love for elephants, it would seem any movie about the oversize beasts would be a slam-dunk, right?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2013
"Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that sort of thing anymore."
It was 1962, and Ursula Andress emerged from the tropical island surf sporting a provocative swimsuit, and a tradition was born. The seductive scene would become the first iconic image in a line that has lasted a half a century and counting. Fifty years; 23 movies makes it the longest-running film franchise in motion picture history. He had many faces over those 50 years: Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, George Lazenby, and even David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen in a 1967 spoof. For the last three films he's been played by Daniel Craig.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 20th, 2013
Back around the time I was born, when Tom Cruise had an ounce of sanity, a little movie called Top Gun swept across the globe, raking in over $350,000,000 worldwide, as well as sparking an interest in the US Navy and everything Tomcat, Skyhawk, and MiG related. Ever since its original release Top Gun has kept a hold on its audience, being played almost weekly, and now it makes its way into the world of high definition with its release on Blu-ray 3D.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 20th, 2013
Matlock began life as a television movie from Dean Hargrove, who brought us Columbo. Hargrove would later work the same magic with Dick Van Dyke in Diagnosis Murder. In fact, the two shows could easily have been companion pieces. Both featured sit-com stars from the 1950’s and 60’s who had become somewhat iconic characters. Both would don the role of professionals. Both shows would subscribe to the “formula” mode of storytelling. Diary Of A Perfect Murder would set up the Matlock formula. It’s simple, really. Matlock was a lawyer in Atlanta.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on February 20th, 2013
“We never found a single body. Now they’re just missing girls that nobody missed.”
Fictional serial killers have to work extra hard these days if they want to stand out or shock us. Network shows like Criminal Minds bring us a different sicko every week, and a certain popular pay cable hit actually has viewers rooting for the killer. So the best thing I can say about The Factory is that it gives us an exceptionally sick premise. Unfortunately, the straight-to-DVD thriller is ultimately derailed by a sloppy screenplay and a truly preposterous final act.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 19th, 2013
“There’s a king in every corner now.”
Game of Thrones is definitely one of the best shows on TV right now, and it might be the most ambitious television series ever produced. Ambition and quality don’t always go hand in hand. (See, Cloud Atlas. No, seriously…watch it. I’m one of the people who really enjoyed that convoluted mess.) The second season of Game of Thrones — a massive undertaking that took its cast to Iceland and Croatia, in addition to its Belfast base — performed a minor miracle. It deepened, expanded and improved upon an already excellent show.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Jeremy Butler on February 19th, 2013
Never underestimate the power of the internet and the sociopathic tendency of college kids; the truest statement I can make about horror flick Smiley. Only college kids would hear a story about a would-be killer who could be summoned by repeating a certain phrase three times (I will not say the phrase simply due to that fact that I am a bit superstitious). Now, what if you knew that cost of summoning this murder was that the person you directed the phrase to would be killed; would you summon him? Well, I’m sure you already know the answer to the question.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Brent Lorentson on February 19th, 2013
From the opening title card, Mafia does its best to fit in with the blaxploitation films of the 70’s, and even with Pam Grier in one of the key roles the film just doesn’t hold up. It seems a lot of filmmakers and fans have on rose-colored glasses to the exploitation era (I’ll lump myself in with this group as well), but the filmmakers who attempt these films forget a lot of these films of the past had a strong political or sociological message they were trying to send. Just making a film set in the 70s and throwing on some filters doesn’t mean you made an exploitation film; it simply means you captured the cheap low quality of the pictures they made back then.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2013
Gossip Girl ran six years on the CW and is based on a series of books written by Cecily Von Ziegesar. It is about the very rich and young of the upper east side of New York City. The gossip girl of the title has remained secret throughout the series but is revealed in the final episode. I won't be revealing the secret. The series is best described as glossy fun. It is a soap opera in the extreme with a heavy emphasis on fashion and all of the expensive toys of the ridiculously rich. It also deals primarily with teenagers who are “maturing” while trying to deal with the difficulties of a life that has no boundaries.
