Disc Reviews

“Have you ever thought for maybe a second that -- that this is it? I mean people that sit at the same desk every day for eight to ten hours a day and then they sleep for nine hours day, and then they truly live their life for maybe I don’t know, five hours at the most. I bet those people would love being here.”

This movie caught me off guard like a right hook to the face, which coincidently is something the main character experiences himself. A directorial debut for Ryan O’Nan (he also wrote and starred), Brooklyn Brothers is an indie film that I had reservations about the moment I picked it up, and yet there was still something that intrigued me about it. Could have been that I recognized Ryan O’Nan from his stint of the short lived television series The Unusuals, or maybe it was his costar Michael Weston gleefully smiling on DVD cover art, holding a crate full of toy instruments. Either way I took a chance with this movie, and I am so glad that I did.

“I like to remind you all what this competition is about. It is about excellence in butter.”

It’s trophy wife vs. Little Orphan Annie in this dysfunctional dark comedy about America’s leading cause of high cholesterol. Equipped with an impressive cast of Hollywood’s elite, Butter does it’s best to entertain; however, the collaborative efforts of Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Wilde, and Ty Burrell may not be enough to boost a lot of the more subtle comedy of the film; I know it wasn’t enough for me.

Baby here again. Yeah, I'm that German Shepherd Chow who runs security here at Upcomingdiscs. We call it Baby On-Board Security, and that spells O U C H if you're snoopin' around this place. That goes for you Fed Ex/UPS guys. This nose knows how to spot trouble. And, speaking of trouble you should see the cool art I made with the toilet paper roll the other day. Of course, no one around here appreciates a true artist in their own time, and I got in trouble again. That meant I had to watch this latest dog movie in the living room instead of the theater. Something about a 25-to-life ban, whatever that means. I don't wanna talk about that right now.

The truth is I don't wanna talk about the latest movie either, but I can't get out of this one. If it weren't for the whole art project thing I might have been able to skip this one, but I didn't wanna push my luck, if you know what I mean. Thanks to me you won't have to go through what I did. No, I'm not talking about the toilet paper incident, as it's come to be known around here. I'm talking about The Adventures Of Bailey: Christmas Hero. Trust me, I'm gonna be your real Christmas Hero when I keep you from wasting about 80 minutes of your life on this one. Hey, that's like months in dog years.

Back in 1964 a film was released about a reporter who wanted to know what it was like to be black in the deep south during the civil rights movement.  When I first heard this my initial reaction had me picturing some white guy in black face strolling the streets and then subsequently being beaten by both sides of the race coin.  It turns out this thankfully wasn’t the case, and the reporter, John Howard Griffin, underwent medical treatments, as well as hours under a sunlamp, to change the hue of his skin.  From the procedure on, the film explores a dark time in America seen through the eyes of both a white and a black man at the same time.

James Whitmore (The Shawshank Redemption and Them) plays the role of the reporter, whose name has been changed to John Horton for the film.  When we see him as a black man for the first time it is on a bus, sitting in the colored section, and standing next to his seat is a middle-aged white woman.  He looks up to her and wants to do the gentlemanly thing and offer her his seat, but her response is nothing but repulsion from this “negro” who dares to even look at her.  John can’t understand this reaction; after all it was her comfort he was concerned about, but this is only a glimpse into the bigot-filled world John has now opened himself up to, and things are only going to get worse.

The idea of traveling out into the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and with no running water or toilet around, is not my idea of a nice vacation.  In fact, being a former Eagle Scout, just hearing about camping is enough to recall nights of sleeping on the hard ground, in the cold with rocks and sticks being stabbed into my back while trying to sleep.  It’s not that I hate the outdoors; I’ve simply grown to appreciate the niceties of life, and if getting in touch with nature means mosquito bites, I’ll stick with the motel 8 and enjoy the view from my room.  This being said, when I see a film like The Frozen where a couple from the city decides to go camping, in the middle of nowhere and in the snow no less, I already suspect this cannot possibly end well.

When we first meet Emma (Brit Morgan), she’s locked away in the bathroom waiting for the results of a pregnancy test to come through.  At this point when she discovers she is pregnant, she should have put a stop to this insane trip; with one responsible decision she could have prevented the entire horrible mess that awaits her, but alas, had she been wise, we never would have had much of a film to watch.  Her long time boyfriend, Mike (Seth David Mitchell), has been planning this special trip for some time and has picked this frozen tundra over the warm sun, where Emma had hoped their vacation would be.  But Emma knows how much this trip means to Mike, so she swallows all common sense, and the two set out for their adventure.