Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2009
“I know I’m too old to love comics as much as I do. But, in comics, the villain can launch a missile at a superhero and the hero just keeps on coming. And then the villain can throw an atomic bomb, or an asteroid, or an entire planet at the hero, but that won’t stop them either, because a real superhero’s like a force of nature and when I read comics I get a faint glimpse of what it would be like to be not just stronger, or faster, or smarter than ordinary people, but what it would be like to be unstoppable”.
Who among us hasn’t felt that way at one time or another in our lives? We all have the desire to feel that in some way we are…Special.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 6th, 2009
If you can’t see where this thing is going after 10 minutes, check your forehead for lobotomy scars. I strongly suspect that everyone associated with this film, from the writer to the actors to the money people who thought this was a good idea, all have matching scars. The box art claims that someone from Bloody Disgusting calls this the best time travel movie of all time. What?! Either that guy was taking some serious medication at the time, or he was paid off, or his sister worked on the film in some capacity, or he’s actually managed to never see films like: Back To The Future,The Time Machine (both versions), Time After Time, Star Trek IV, Frequency, Somewhere In Time, or Jaws. Okay, so I made the last one up. It’s still a better time travel film than Timecrimes.
I can’t really even offer you much on the plot without destroying what mystery might exist for you, should you decide to ignore my warnings and give the movie a spin for yourself. Suffice it to say that the film thrives on paradox. The acting is simply horrible. There’s a limited cast, but you’d think they could find just three or four actors that could…you know….well….act. It makes some attempt at being a horror film, but even those aspects are quite laughable. And there’s the only chance you have of enjoying this film. Every now and again, I’ve had guys over for what we used to call Schlock – O – Rama. The idea is too laugh our behinds off at the absurdity of what we were watching. You pick up the lamest looking film you can find, and away you go. It’s like your own private Mystery Science Fiction Theater.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 16th, 2009
A “sexy” movie is more than a movie that just has two people performing the horizontal mambo with heavy breathing. There needs to be passion, there needs to be raw emotion and even sometimes there needs to be love. If there are words to be spoken between the two beings, they need to have strength and feeling. For me personally, I also need a good selection of lingerie. Seriously though, I wondered if those elements would be found in A Good Day to be Black & Sexy or if it would just be an excuse to stick a good looking black woman on the cover.
The movie is a collection of 5 short films (one with two parts) directed by Dennis Dortch. The short films have a range of “sexy” subjects. Reciprocity is the story of Tony (played by Brandon Valley Jones) who goes down on his girl, Jeanette (played by Kathryn Taylor). However, Jeanette does not want to return the favor. The second story is called Her Man. Helena (played by Chonte Harris) and D’Andre (played by Marcuis Harris) have just finished making love and he gets a phone call that he needs to go to work. Helena doesn’t want him to go which leads to a discussion about their “relationship”.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on March 2nd, 2009
Autism is commonly defined as a brain development disorder characterized by impaired social interaction and communication, and by restricted and repetitive behavior. Sometimes, due to that lack of social interaction and repetitive behavior, the people affected develop a special skill or heightened senses. The results can be amazing. However, in film, autism is rarely shown as what it truly is, a disorder. To find a film that not only embraces the special skill as well as show the difficulty it takes to exist and function normally is pretty rare.
Zin (played by Ammara Siripong) is involved with Yakuza Boss Masashi (played by Hiroshi Abe). There is just one problem with that. She was previously the girlfriend of a gangster simply known as No. 8 (played by Pongpat Wachirabunjong). No. 8 in his own jealous rage decided to shoot his own toe and forbid Zin from ever seeing Masashi again. She decides to flee and tells Masashi to not follow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 27th, 2009
I used to think that any movie that Robert De Niro attached his name to had to be good. And that used to be true. I was willing to take a chance on low budget or blockbuster films, knowing that De Niro wouldn’t lead me wrong. Then along came Stardust, and honestly, the man hasn’t been in a good film in some years now. Still, my loyalty remains, and What Just Happened looked to be interesting enough that my buddy, Bobby D couldn’t disappoint me again. So, what did just happen? He let me down.Films about filmmaking are always a hazard. We all think that we want to see inside the true Hollywood, don’t we? Gossip programs and internet sites would seem to indicate that we can’t get enough of the inside poop. So, the temptation to deliver accurate films that portray these inside aspects of Hollywood come along every once and awhile. We peek, because we think we want to know. The truth is that voyeurism gets boring pretty quickly. We all want to eavesdrop on other people’s private moments. I’ve done it both professionally as a private detective and even for fun with a scanner that allowed me to listen to cell phones back in the old analog days. You know what? People are boring. It was exciting at first and my friend Mike and I would sit and listen to stuff for hours. We would get together and talk about what interesting things we heard. Before long we both realized that most of it was so painfully mundane that we just sort of stopped doing it. That’s what these films remind us. No matter how exciting the world of movie stars, directors, and producers might look from the outside, 90% of it is pretty pedestrian stuff. Unfortunately this film doesn’t spend much time in the 10% that might be exciting. In the end, not even some good casting could save this picture from making me feel like I did listening to those cell phones.
Robert De Niro is Ben, a big time producer and power broker in Hollywood. He’s dealing with two films at the moment. One is already shot and stars Sean Penn. The film’s director, Jeremy Brunell (Wincott), is a temperamental pill addict. When the advance screening doesn’t go so well, he’s told he has to redo an ending that shows a dog get blasted dead by the film’s bad guys. He doesn’t want to compromise his artistic integrity, but the studio boss, Lou Tarnow (Keener) will pull the plug on his Cannes premier if he doesn’t play ball. Ben’s upcoming film stars Bruce Willis, who shows up for his fitting appointment overweight and sporting a “Grizzly Adams” beard, which he refuses to shave. The studio bosses insist they’ll shut the film down and sue everybody involved if Willis won’t shave the beard and work out to lose weight. Willis’s agent is a crazy hypochondriac who is deathly afraid of his client, so Ben can’t get him to lay down the law. The agent is played wonderfully by quirky character actor John Turturro. Ben needs both pictures to work out because he’s supporting two ex-wives who are used to fancy living at his expense. The film is mostly told from Ben’s point of view, often through De Niro’s narration, as he attempts to save both pictures and deal with the more recent of his ex-wives. They’re actually in therapy to learn how to live without each other.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 28th, 2009
Humboldt County, the new independent comedy-drama from writers/directors Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs, sneaks on to shelves this month with a quietude as serene as its iZLER-composed musical score. Despite apt writing and direction, this slice-of-life piece simply fails to assert itself and leaves viewers with an indifference to the material.That’s not to say Humboldt County lacks competence. There isn’t a bad performance in the film. Two performances, in fact, are absolute dynamite. The always dependable Brad Dourif does what he does best, playing the crazy eccentric type, but this time he has a very human twist that endears him to the audience like never before. And Madison Davenport, a stunningly talented child actress, marks her debut with a strong performance that captures every scene she’s in.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 5th, 2007
Dan Chupong plays a young warrior, armed with rockets and martial arts skills, who roams the Thai countryside in the 19th Century, searching for the man who killed his parents. His only clues are that he trades in buffalo and is a unique tattoo on his chest. He finds the man he believes is his target, but this trader, who possesses magical powers, is also in the sights of an evil local aristocrat who is trying to get rid of the local buffalo population in order to drive up sales for his tractor franchise. Said ne’er-do-well sets up our hero to do his dirty work.
The first fifteen minutes or so are a bit confusing as the plot gets all its ducks lined up, but once everything is in motion, the storyline clears up. The action, a mix of traditional stunt work and wire work, is not on the same level as Ong-Bak, but it is still exciting, and there’s plenty of it. If the lead-in to act 3 drags a bit, with an excessive use of flashbacks filling in events the audience has already figure out, the payoff makes it all worthwhile.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 29th, 2007
In 1997, Hal Hartley put out a film called Henry Fool. It was the story of an introvertish garbage man Simon who makes friends with Henry Fool, a witty but talent-less novelist. Simon ascends to be a great poet while Henry finds the bottomless pit of alcoholic brew. However, the plot turns around and Simon helps Henry to flee the country since he has a criminal past. The movie did seem to hint at a sequel but didn't see one until 10 years later. Fay Grim tries to pick up where Henry Fool left off. It includes many of the same cast of characters.
Parker Posey returns as Fay Grim, the wife of Henry Fool (she took back her maiden name after his death). She becomes the focus for this movie. Donning a leather coat with fake pockets, she goes around Europe and the Middle East in search of Henry's missing notebooks. These notebooks apparently contain some government secrets that lead to a game of deadly espionage. Back at home, Simon Grim (played by James Urbaniak) is serving a prison term for keeping his mouth shut regarding Henry Fool's escape from the country. Ned (played by Liam Aiken)(Fay's 14 year old son) and Angus James (played by Chuck Montgomery)(Simon's publisher) also return as important characters for the sequel. However, new characters are on foot here too. The most important is the role of Agent Fulbright (played by Jeff Goldblum). Jeff as Fulbright does an excellent job of being the main opposition of the film as he is trying to investigate the notebooks and seeing if he can convince Fay to do his dirty work for him.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 15th, 2007
Synopsis
Try to wrap your mind around this one. Take the guy who was the center of attention and played the role in Being John Malkovich, and have him play a role as a guy who impersonates the film auteur Stanley Kubrick, of 2001 fame in a story that may or may not be true.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on May 13th, 2007
Synopsis
It's fairly common to bring ideas from other cultures and bring them into American television shows. We have done it with gameshows (Lingo) and we have done it with movies (Ring). However, sometimes we simply wish to recreate shows in our image. Rarely, we just go ahead and use the same show and edit it to suit our tastes. Enter Most Extreme Elimination or MXC. This show (part of SpikeTV's late night lineup) is simply the Japanese show; Takeshi's Castle peace me...led together with new commentary and a different focus. (I'll explain more later in the extras).
