Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 11th, 2015
"Different, entirely."
I have been a fan of Sherlock Holmes since I was a kid. Mixed amidst those Universal horror films I watched with my Pop on weekend chiller shows was an occasional Universal Holmes film with Basil Rathbone as the master of deduction. Soon followed the Doyle books, and a new world was opened for me forever. Since those days we have seen every kind of incarnation of the character possible, or so I thought. I've seen Holmes as a child in Spielberg's Young Sherlock Holmes. There have been several comedies and even a musical or two. Robert Downey Jr. has turned him into an action hero, and Benedict Cumberbatch has brought him into the modern world.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2015
I don't think there has ever really been a great film about a great writer. We naturally compare their lives to works of great fiction. Great fiction tends to distill the tedium and awkwardness out of real life. Real life can be exhausting in the day-to-day disappointments that can sometimes be wrapped in small victories. David Foster Wallace was a great writer. This is almost universally acknowledged. David Foster Wallace no longer is because he hung himself in 2008 at age 46.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on October 28th, 2015
"Dark forces are rising. The frequency of possession is increasing all over the world."
Must be Global Warming...check that ,Climate Change. It seems the whole warming thing wasn't exactly working out for these guys. So like a business with a bad reputation you change the name and pretend that's what it's been like all along. There is an alarming increase in the frequency of movie possessions all over the world. But it's not Global Warming or Climate Change that's to blame. Hell, it isn't even Bush's fault. It's got to do with the color green.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 27th, 2015
Between Judgment Day, zombie apocalypses, and various other doomsday scenarios, we've gotten a pretty good look at what the end of the world is supposed to look like. One of the most striking things about Z for Zachariah — an otherwise straightforward and deliberate drama that takes its story from a 1974 novel of the same name by Robert C. O'Brien — is that, for the most part, the end of the world looks an awful lot like paradise.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 20th, 2015
“This is the beginning of something, not the end.”
There weren’t any Lost-style mysteries to be resolved here. And unlike The Sopranos or Breaking Bad, this particular series never really hinged on whether the lead character lived or died. (Although a moment in Ep. 5/“Lost Horizon” seems to nod toward fan speculation that Don Draper would take a tumble similar to the silhouette from the show’s iconic opening credits.) Instead, the final season of Mad Men — more than any other all-time great show I can remember — is directly about the end of things.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 16th, 2015
“People have short attention spans. And there’s always another murder.”
Barely a year after Gone Girl became a mid-range blockbuster, we're already getting our second big-screen adaptation of a Gillian Flynn novel. To be fair, both Gone Girl and Dark Places went into production around the same time in the fall of 2013. But that just means someone anticipated that a single shot of Flynn's twisted brand of Midwest murder/mystery mayhem wouldn't be enough to satisfy movie audiences.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 7th, 2015
“Man, they killed my brother…you think I’m gonna let that slide?”
Even if you haven’t sat through a ton of revenge-minded pulp, you won't be surprised to hear the answer to the above question is a resounding, “No!” The good(ish) news is that Chain of Command manages to stand out from a pretty crowded straight-to-DVD action pack. The disastrous news is that this laughably bad, shoddily-made debacle is likely to stick in your memory for all the wrong reasons.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on September 14th, 2015
“All these years you’ve lived, but you’ve never had a life.”
Every woman’s fantasy: to remain young and beautiful forever. That is the fantasy, if I am not mistaken, correct? Well, women will be treated to the cost of said fantasy in The Age of Adaline, which shows the other side of the coin of the coveted fantasy. In my experience there are two fantasies that are popular among young ladies. The one mentioned above, and the opportunity to love, marry, and grow old with someone who loves them unconditionally. The Age of Adaline shows the latter is not possible with the former.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on September 10th, 2015
American Heist is an independent action flick that eventually nods to Michael Mann's Heat and Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon. (Along with Ben Affleck's The Town, if you're interested in a 21st century doppelganger.) However, the movie's action-packed finale can't completely disguise the fact that this is actually a dour family tragedy masquerading as a heist film. But if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, at least the makers of American Heist know who to rip off flatter.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on August 27th, 2015
“I guess I could use some of that magical happiness you always seem to have.”
David DeSanctis, the novice performer with Down syndrome making his feature film debut here, is easily the best thing about Where Hope Grows. Both the actor and the character he plays radiate genuine warmth and irrepressible positivity. Those qualities help boost this well-meaning redemption drama, which suffers from one too many storylines and an unintentionally appalling ending.
