Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 8th, 2012
An infant chimp is taken out of his natural environment to be raised like a human by a family of curious, rich folk. Upon learning that this chimp, now named Nim, is capable of learning sign language, this family turns to professional educators to research and experiment with this concept further.
I promise to give praise to the filmmakers handling adept handling of their craft later in my review, but I cannot discuss the contents of this film without injecting my own personal opinion because this film, much to it's credit, stirred a very visceral reaction from me. The family that first adopted (adopted being an extremely delicate term, as many could easily argue that “nabbed” or “stole” would suite their actions better) Nim were a wealthy family, said wealth stemming partly from the father's success as a poet. They named him Nim Chimpsky (as a parody of Noam Chomsky, who theorized that language is inherit only in humans, and Nim was their attempt to disprove said thesis). This family dressed Nim in children's clothes and eventually tried communicating with it on a person to person level using American sign language. This experiment, albeit spurred some interesting results once true experts from Columbia University became involved, was born out of ignorance and arrogance. This family did what they did because they had the financial means to offer themselves the opportunity, without considering the unnaturalness of it. By unnatural I don't mean that their antithesis to Chomsky's idea is wrong or implausible. What I mean is the manner by which this animal was taken out of its mother (granted, not born in the wild but a facility) and treated like a human.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on March 8th, 2012
A group of high school girls heads off into the woods to make a movie for their film club. What only the two organizers know is that they are heading for the site of a previous film club’s massacre. Their shoot descended into madness, with a participant in a deigan mask killing all the others, and the whole thing was recorded on tape. It isn’t long after the girls arrive that things start to go wrong, and it seems that history might be repeating itself.
I do like the footage we see of the earlier film – it has a genuinely disturbing quality, and when it arrives, it raises one’s hopes that the perhaps the terminally pedestrian set-up is going to give way to something livelier. No such luck. Much in the way of squabbling, wandering around on one’s own, and off-screen murders transpires. The characters are caricatures when they can be distinguished at all, the cinematography is dishwater dull, and the plot, by the end, makes little sense, though it is very unlikely that most viewers will care one way or the other by then.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on March 7th, 2012
Oh for the love of waffles. Here we go with another simple disc review. This time for a movie called Bounty Hunters. The fact that it has Trish Stratus in it, is just asking for awfulness. I was kinda of surprised that Michael didn't take this one seeing as it has a female wrestler in it. But hell, this ought to be easy right? Then I put in the DVD, and I am started with some very awful previews (this is not looking good). Somehow, I think those will end up in my husband's review pile. Hopefully, not mine. Well the load screen is here, let's jump in shall we?!
Movie starts out with a gun to Jules' (Trish Stratus) head. In a school girl costume?! Seriously? Dude, who we later learn is Mario Antonio (Enrico DiFede), tries to take a bag full of money. Whoops, we don’t wanna start there! 10 hours earlier! Jules and Chase (Boomer Phillips) are working out in a gym. She is in FULL makeup. Shenanigans. Chase sounds like he is trying to be Ryan Reynolds and Dane Cook meshed together, but is failing hardcore style. They tell a guy working out in the gym that they are going to take him in. He says “no” and here starts a fight. Jules starts beating him up. Finally, after a while, she gets him down.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by M. W. Phillips on March 5th, 2012
“Exactly, you're a kid. So go and be a kid... go and, I don't know, go ahead and steal me something.”
The Tribe is a New Zealand/British post-apocalyptic, young adult soap opera, beloved around the world. So I had to put on my young adult glasses and watch it through those. In the near future, an unknown virus wiped out all the adults on Earth. Left to raise themselves, the kids form tribes in a Lord of the Flies type society. Now, being that the average viewer is probably between 12 – 17 years old, it is a very mild Lord of the Flies society.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by M. W. Phillips on March 5th, 2012
“You should have listened to me. As long as she’s in the picture, you will never come first.”
Snow White: A Deadly Summer really should have been called Marcia Brady: Serial Stepmom. At least that would have been a more honest title than this Snow White trend rip off. This is bottom of the barrel, abominable direct to DVD crap at its worst. The only positive thing about it is that Maureen McCormick, Marcia Brady herself, plays the wicked step mother. The legendarily bad Eric Roberts plays Snow’s dad, proving there is no role too low for him to sink to. Sometimes movies can be so bad they are good, crossing into camp treasures. These are the some of the slowest and most painful 85 minutes you will ever lose.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on March 5th, 2012
Isn't it odd how movies with similar story lines tend to get released around the same time? For example, no one has gotten the urge to release another major motion picture with a volcano as its main antagonist since the Dante's Peak/Volcano Battle of 1997. (Though that might have more to do with the fact that, my slight soft spot for Dante's Peak notwithstanding, both those movies are terrible.) We've been treated to the Great Deep Impact/Armageddon Debate, dueling Truman Capote biopics and the upcoming Snow White Smackdown of 2012. In that same spirit, I'd like to unofficially — and belatedly — declare 2011 as the Year of Has Anyone Seen My Keys?
I'm assuming you've, at least, heard of Best Picture nominees Hugo — where the young protagonist needs a heart-shaped key to finish a project he and his late father started — and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which pulls somewhat of a reverse-Hugo by giving its young protagonist a key, courtesy of his own late father, but no lock. I'm also assuming, unless you have kids, you probably haven't heard of Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 4th, 2012
Most people that regularly read my work can probably see my love for the Transformers. We are not talking about the movies either (the first one was decent, the rest were abominations), but instead it is the cartoons that I enjoy so much. Generation One, Beast Wars, Cybertron all hold a special place in my heart. So, when my webmaster mentioned he had season one of Transformers Prime on Blu-ray for me, I think I literally jumped through the ceiling in anticipation. Let us take a look.
Before we begin, I must make mention that this Limited Edition Set includes a full length graphic novel (in digest size) that acts as a prequel to the show. It centers around two main Autobot characters, Arcee and Cliffjumper who start out on the planet of Cybertron but find their way to a strange planet thanks to Spacebridge technology. The main antagonist is Starscream and the story is actually really good. Recommended reading before one even throws in the first disc.
Posted in: The Reel World by M. W. Phillips on March 2nd, 2012
“This party is gonna change everything for us.”
Somewhere a chimp hugs his VHS copy of 1987’s Project X and cries in outrage that this wasn’t a remake ala Rise of the Planet of the Apes (this movie’s age demographic won’t even get that reference). Even feral monkeys would be outraged by the wild behavior exhibited in 2012’s Project X, and that is kind of the point. Brought to us by Producer Todd Phillips (The Hangover) and shot as found footage by first time director Nima Nourizadeh, Project X celebrates excess and debauchery in a fashion that would bring a smile to Caligula’s lips… and it does all with underage kids!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2012
"Even today there are organizations that have America as their prime target. They would destroy the safety and happiness of every individual and thrust us into a condition of lawlessness and immorality that passes the imagination."
The phrase could very easily describe the world we face today. The above quote could very well have come from a post-9/11 narration, but it didn't. It was spoken nearly a century ago by the long-time director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 2nd, 2012
"Your mission, should you decide to accept it..."
Those words have certainly been a part of the American pop culture for almost 50 years. It all started with the Desilu television series that hit the airwaves in 1966. That first year is probably unfamiliar to most of us. It was in black & white and starred Steven Hill as the leader of the Impossible Mission Force. A year later the show jumped to color and Peter Graves took over the team as the indomitable Jim Phelps. The show lasted a good seven seasons. The Impossible Mission Force was a black-ops team that worked under the "secretary" who would disavow their mission should any of the team be caught or killed. The show had a pretty good run before ending in 1973. Gone, but never forgotten.
