Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 26th, 2008
Dorky romantic comedies have been around forever. Usually there is nothing I can't stand more than some movie telling me how people fall in love when it never happens like that. Like a street walker falling in love with a rich guy or the nerd getting the cheerleader or a dozen people having sex with some girl named Jenna. (well maybe on the last one) Love is mystical and special but it rarely has any set pattern that makes sense. So what would happen when I watched a dorky little New Zealand romantic comedy that featured two people in animal costumes? Hopefully not the norm.
Lily (played by Loren Horsley) is in love with Jarrod (played by Jemaine Clement). She works at a local burger joint (Meaty Boy) asc a cashier. Jarrod comes in everyday at lunch but Lily rarely gets to wait on him since he has a crush on another employee. Opportunity knocks when Jarrod gives Lily an invitation to go to an animal costume party. She decides to go as a shark. There at the party she participates in the "Fight Man" tournament which is a video that vaguely looks like Way of the Warrior (an old 3do fighting game) and Mortal Kombat. Somehow she makes it to the final where she faces Jarrod (dressed as an eagle) in the final challenge. However, she becomes lost in Jarrod's eyes and loses out to him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 26th, 2008
Guy Pierce fascinates me. He first broke on the scene in a big way in LA Confidential, which just happens to be one of my favorite films. Instead of taking the path of his co-star Russell Crow and chasing the big Hollywood dollar, however, Pierce chose to explore smaller, more interesting fringe films. Sometimes, this decision pays off for him, as was the case in the amazing Memento, or the recent The Proposition. Other times, however, the gamble falls flat, as was the case with The Hard Word. Pierce is consistently excellent, but the films he picks are hit and miss. That's the problem with interesting projects, they either turn into surprise hits, or predictable failures. So the big question is, is First Snow a hit or a miss?
First let's talk about the plot. Guy Pierce plays a salesman whose car breaks down in a remote part of the country, and while he is waiting for repairs, he visits a traveling fortune teller to pass the time. What starts out as a lark turns into a profound experience that alters the course of his life forever. The fortune teller informs him that his life will be over at the first snowfall of the season, and he slowly begins to believe him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2008
Well, since HD DVD has pretty much collapsed now, it only makes sense that we here at Upcomingdiscs clear off what’s left on the mantle, get the cobwebs out, and do our level best to take a look at this lame duck format if you will. I mean, there are movies on them after all, and Knocked Up was arguably a favorite of many in 2007, to the tune of over $150 million and helping to entrench Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen, those who were behind Superbad, as significant contributors to the world of motion picture comedy.
Knocked Up was written and directed by Apatow, who presumably translated his own life experience into this adaptation. Katherine Heigl (Grey’s Anatomy) plays Alison, a recently promoted network personality of the E! television network. To celebrate her promotion, her and her sister Debbie (Apatow’s better half, Leslie Mann of Big Daddy lore) go to a club, and Alison hooks up with Ben (Rogen), who seems to be her polar opposite. He’s unemployed, makes no money, and spends most of his time hanging out and smoking pot with his friends Jonah (Jonah Hill, Superbad), Jason (Jason Segel, How I Met Your Mother), Jay (Jay Baruchel, Million Dollar Baby) and Martin (Martin Starr, Stealing Harvard). So when Ben and Alison hook up, the result is predictable. I mean, look at the title!
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 25th, 2008
Written by Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice has been made into a film several times, with varying results. The novel itself is a classic, written by one of the most pioneering woman in literature history. This 2005 film version stars Keira Knightley (Atonement) as Elizabeth “Lizzie” Bennett, one in a family of five sisters, living in Hartfordshire, a small English country town. Lizzie is the second-oldest sister and should already be married, according to her overbearing mother (Brenda Blethyn, Beyond the Sea). However, much like Jane Austen herself, Lizzie wants to marry for love, and not just to please her parents (although her father (Donald Sutherland, JFK) just wants her to be happy). To add to her parents concern, once they die, the girls will have nowhere to live, as back in those days, property and money passed only to males, and in their case it goes to the girls’ cousin, Mr. Collins (Tom Hollander, A Good Year).
The family gets a reason for excitement when they find that the rich and single Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods, Rome) is coming to town. What they didn’t realize is that he has a few people with him—his sister, the stylish and snobby Caroline Bingley (Kelly Reilly, The Libertine), and Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfayden, Grindhouse), his best friend. The Bennett family meets the Bingley’s first at a ball, where Lizzie’s older sister, Jane (Rosamund Pike, Fracture), comes into contact with the handsome Mr. Bingley. They’re both smitten, but Jane is shy and doesn’t show her emotions readily. Lizzie finds Mr. Darcy to be quite rude, and clashes with him and his opinions of “country folk.” Before it seems as though Jane will be offered a marriage proposal from Mr. Bingley, he and his posse leave Hartfordshire, giving essentially no reason except to say that Mr. Darcy misses his sister. They do return, but before that, Mr. Collins comes and stays with the Bennetts, looking for a wife. He has his sights set on Lizzie and offers her marriage, something Lizzie wants nothing to do with.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2008
Just another working day in Los Angeles. Lexi (Mary McCormack) heads off for the commute, while hubby Brad (Rory Cochrane) stays home. His morning ablutions are interrupted by the news that a series of dirty bombs have just gone off in the city. Stymied in his attempts to reach his wife, Brad retreats home, where he acts on the instructions to seal up the house, as the bombs have released a deadly toxin. When Lexi does return, Brad cannot let her in, as she is contaminated. How's that for a strain on a relationship?
The first act of Right at Your Door is a propulsive exercise in panic. There is a genuinely alarming realism to the depiction of LA under terrorist attack, accomplished through a judicious and restrained use of FX and convincingly freaked-out radio news reports. This section of the film will not only conjure unpleasant memories of 9/11, but will generate a deeply distrubing you-are-there sensation for viewers. Once Lexi returns, the film becomes less about the attack then about the individual responses to it, and the action shifts to the emotional domain. After the frenzy of the first half hour, the second act inevitably feels a bit slower, and one has the impression of the plot marking time until the conclusion can begin. Said conclusion is dark and twisty, and very much in keeping with the bleak zeitgeist the film is tapping into.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 22nd, 2008
World War II has just ended, and the recently discharged Robert De Niro hits New York on the prowl for sex. He runs up against WAC Liza Minnelli, and the more she resists his advances, the more determined he becomes. There is more: he is a saxophonist, and she (of course) is a singer). So begins a tempestuous relationship between two artists whose enormous talents and equally enormous personalities mean they can neither live with nor without each other.
The idea of Martin Scorsese taking on the form of the classic musical is so bizarre that it had to happen, and here it is. Scorsese’s conceit is ingenious: all the conventions are there (the meet cute, the songs, the artificial sets and colours), but they collide with the naturalism of the performances and the emotions. A perfect case in point: wandering the streets at night, De Niro sees a sailor and his girl perform a dance together. It is a classic musical moment, but the only sound is that of a train passing. It is a scene of extraordinary beauty, grit, and cinematic truth. And it belongs in an extraordinary film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 22nd, 2008
Traditionally, I love spoofs. I spent many of my younger days watching movies like Spaceballs, Robin Hood: Men in Tights or Young Frankenstein. More recently, I have actually (for the most part) enjoyed every Scary Movie. So whenever I see a new spoof, I am at least somewhat interested in the movie and have aspirations to see it on disc. Epic Movie scares me a bit because it comes from the same people who did Date Movie. I found Date Movie to be okay at best, but I had a small hope that this would turn out better. Jello shots & Nyquil could not save me from this disaster.
The movie starts out with Lucy (played by Jayma Mays), Edward (played by Kal Penn), Susan (played by Faune Chambers) and Peter (played by Adam Campbell) who find golden tickets inside Willy chocolate bars. Their scenes emulate DaVinci Code, Nacho Libre, Snakes on a Plane, & X-Men. They get to the chocolate factory where they meet Willy (played by Crispin Glover) who shows them inside. He then explains how the four lucky winners are to become parts of his candy. So they start running.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 20th, 2008
Turok is a property that seems to come and go. In the 1950's, it was introduced to lure kids away from the television sets because it had dinosaurs and intriguing stories. It was later updated when it got inserted in the Valiant comic world and rose to sell nearly 2 million copies with its first issue for the universe. In more recent times, Turok has become a series of video games by Acclaim. So it was only natural that an animated dvd would also hit the mix. However, would the character be more representative of its roots or perhaps take on a more futuristic feel akin to the current property portrayed in the video game?
The movie opens up with three native american teenagers are playing in a stream when Catori loses her hair clip. The two male men, Turok and Nashoba decide to go after it and come upon a nasty group of warriors who want to keep the clip and cause harm to the three kids. Turok goes on a berzerker rage, killing all of the warriors and injuring his comrade Nashoba. Afterwards, it is determined that Turok should be exiled from the tribe because he is too dangerous.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on February 19th, 2008
When MI-5 first hit American shores, Alias was in full swing, and the comparisons were inevitable. After all, both were sy shows set in a post September 11 world, and both were slick, fun thrillers. Fast forward to 2006, however, and the landscape has changed dramatically. Alias is now off the air, having crashed in spectacular fashion, yet MI-5 is still going strong. In fact, the show just seems to keep getting better and better.
I had my concerns when all the key members of the original cast departed one by one, but as the show goes on, I am realizing that the story lines here are much bigger than any one cast can handle. High pressure jobs such as these virtually demand a high rate of turnover, and the actors who come in to play these new characters are always first-rate. While early seasons dealt with your typical spy stories, more recent efforts are starting to tackle much larger issues of governance, such as terrorism and the delicate balance of power that holds a democracy together.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on February 16th, 2008
The neurotic Shannyn Sossamon goes to Paris to visit sister Alecia Moore (aka Pink). The outgoing Moore cajoles her mopey sister to attend a party in the city’s catacombs, where the bones of some six million people are stacked. It doesn’t take long before Sossamon becomes separated from her friends, and is pursued by a maniac through the maze of tunnels.
Other reviewers have commented on the film’s overuse of shaky camerawork, ADD editing and strobe lights. I won’t belabour the point here other than to note that they are absolutely right. That the film is not actually shot in Paris is painfully obvious thanks to the awful French accents of the Romanian extras. The leads are strong enough in their roles, but Sossamon’s character is such a bringdown that she’s hard to sympathize with. The ending manages to be simultaneously idiotic and clever. One senses a great deal of effort to transcend a limited budget, but this is ultimately another case of reach exceeding grasp.
![Pride & Prejudice [HD DVD] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/pride-prejudice-hd-dvd-large.jpg)
