Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on February 3rd, 2009
“Four cops down: two dead, two likely. An NYPD drug bust has gone horribly wrong.”
That’s how this gripping drama opens. Not since the likes of Al Pacino in Serpico has there been a movie anything at all like Pride And Glory. This film doesn’t pull punches, and it looks about as real as any police drama I’ve seen anywhere before. Filmed entirely on location in the seedy streets of New York City’s Washington Heights district, there is enough gritty realism to go around. Director Gavin O’Connor not only used these very dank and atmospheric streets, but he also employed his extras and some of the key cast members from the community. If nothing else, you can’t criticize this film for not taking us into the street and watching the action from street level.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 24th, 2009
“They’re longtime friends on separate life paths, but they share a horrific destination, where a seemingly innocent incident from their school days comes back to terrify them. Something, someone wants payback.”
If there was an award for cramming the most horror movie conventions into one film, Amusement should win it hands down. You’ve seen it all before: young couple stranded on a trip, that pesky rural shortcut, psycho truck driver, isolated house in the woods, spooky gothic looking hotel, ingenious little torture contraptions, a maze of traps and filthy bloody rooms, a demented clown, escaped psycho returning to the scene of his childhood to kill, and the usual assortment of sundry death scenes. In just a little under an hour and a half you get to see parts of Saw, Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th, Hostel, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, and even Killer Clowns From Outer Space. A pretty solid collection of hits, but ultimately Amusement is a jack of all trades and the master of none.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 9th, 2008
On paper, Rendition looked good. Damn good. It had Reese Witherspoon, hot off her best actress win as June Carter in Walk the Line. It had “it boy” Jake Gyllenhaal from Brokeback Mountain and Zodiac. It also had stalwarts in Alan Arkin and Meryl Streep rounding out the cast. It was directed by acclaimed Tsotsi director Gavin Hood. And it was about post 9/11 hot-button issues such as torture and imprisonment without due process.
The plot: when a bombing occurs in North Africa, Committee Chairman Corrine Whitman commands the CIA to abduct Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally) who is on his way back from a conference in South Africa. She has solid evidence that connects him to the bombing but Anwar maintains his innocence, even when he is tortured. American agent Douglass Freeman (Jake Gyllenhaal) is already burnt out, even at a young age, and looks on while Anwar is tortured by the officials of a North African country where the bombing took place. But will Douglass care enough to help Anwar, even as he comes to believe he’s innocent?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 30th, 2008
Teens seem to have a lot of angst. They like to have angst regarding what they wear or who they make friends or simply because their hair has a split end. In the middle of their angst, they form groups who share angst. These groups are more pseudo-families where they share experiences and care for each as if they resembled a sibling or a close relative. Enter Normal Adolescent Behavior: Havoc 2 where a group of 6 teenagers form a bond where only the 6 of them exists in each other's hearts. But would this bond step over the line and create a situation that one or more could not bear to take?
Wendy (played by Amber Tamblyn)is part of a group of six friends who have grown up together. They go to school together, they hang out together, and they sleep together. Yes, with each other. Any relations with other people outside of the circle are strictly forbidden. They kinda want to keep their cooties all to themselves, touching I think. Wendy and her brother Nathan (played by Daryl Sabara) meet a boy named Sean (played by Ashton Holmes). Wendy falls for the boy and the two do their best to keep it from the group. The group's un-official leader, Billie (played by Kelli Garner) finds out about the relationship and is not interested in losing her best friend or a valued member. True love is precious but hard to keep in perspective when 5 other people grow up beside and demand your utmost attention.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 16th, 2008
What we've got here is a nasty case of the Sequels. Rush Hour, the original Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker vehicle, was a fun action-comedy with an amusing twist on the buddy-cop genre. Rush Hour 2 was a re-hash, bigger but not better, but still worth a rent. Six years later, Rush Hour 3 proves the third time is definitely not the charm, with 121 minutes of recycled gags, bad acting and uninspiring action.
This two-disc release may be a top-notch DVD, but I certainly hope you don't get suckered by a nice transfer, good audio and a whole whack of extras. No matter how well you dress it up, this film's a walking, talking turd.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 9th, 2008
Back in the summer of '89, a popular action flick was calling my name from the shelves of the local video rental store. It was Young Guns, and I'd heard it was wild, gun-toting ride from start to finish. Problem was, I was eight years old and there was no way my folks were going let me see such a violent movie, for fear two hours with Billy the Kid would make me a career criminal.
Boy, have times changed. Granted, Young Guns wasn't the baddest film on the block 18 years ago, but it was reflective of the then-current action standards. In 2007, we've got stuff like Shoot 'Em Up, a film so over-the-top violent that the tables have turned — I wouldn't let my parents anywhere near it, for fear they'd have simultaneous, massive myocardial infarctions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
A remake of writer/director John Waters' 1988 cult hit, Hairspray is an exhuberant movie musical that builds off the smash-hit Broadway production to recreate the excitement on film for a new generation. Whether it's bigger and better than previous iterations, I can't say, because this DVD release marks my first Hairspray experience. What I can say is if Waters' original and the Broadway show are even half as good, they're definitely worth your time.
If that doesn't convince you, this Hairspray also presents John Travolta as an obese, middle-aged woman — a transformation that required plenty of make-up and, more importantly, allowed Travolta to finally reveal his true self for all to see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 21st, 2007
A remake of writer/director John Waters' 1988 cult hit, Hairspray is an exhuberant movie musical that builds off the smash-hit Broadway production to recreate the excitement on film for a new generation. Whether it's bigger and better than previous iterations, I can't say, because this DVD release marks my first Hairspray experience. What I can say is if Waters' original and the Broadway show are even half as good, they're definitely worth your time.
If that doesn't convince you, this Hairspray also presents John Travolta as an obese, middle-aged woman — a transformation that required plenty of make-up and, more importantly, allowed Travolta to finally reveal his true self for all to see.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 5th, 2007
The main quote on this disc's cover reads, "if you liked Bend it Like Beckham, you'll love Gracie." Baloney. OK! Magazine's Karen Berg got me all excited with this raving tidbit, because I did like Bend it. A lot. Unfortunately for me and anyone else who pays attention to such quotes, Bergie either never watched Gracie or just doesn't know movies and why people like them.
Here's my new quote for the DVD case: "If you still like after-school specials, you'll be delighted with Gracie, a half-baked TV movie in the guise of something more."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 31st, 2007
Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins, The Silence of the Lambs) is a successful engineer who recently discovers his wife’s infidelity. He becomes aware that she has been sleeping with a police detective, which pushes Ted to the point of shooting his wife. Initially he confesses to the crime, and it looks to be an easy win for rising star district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling, The Notebook). This is of course until Ted redacts his confession and engages in a battle of wits with Beachum. After enticing the arresting officer and adulterer into attacking him in the courtroom Ted’s case begins to look optimistic. Eventually he is acquitted of his charges and Beachum becomes obsessed with the case knowing that Ted is guilty. He literally puts his career on the line to find out what happened and even tries speaking with Ted’s comatose wife.
Fracture is one of those movies that I really wanted to like, but I couldn’t. The story wasn’t very intriguing and it just seemed to drag on and on with no real closure. As well, for a movie claiming to be suspenseful I can’t even recall one time where I was holding my breath. But despite the film having what I thought was a pretty weak script, the acting all around was quite impressive. In each performance he makes Ryan Gosling gets better and better, I think this Canadian native has quite a bright future ahead. I don’t think I need to mention that Anthony Hopkins played a terrific role as well, and they really paired up nicely. But great acting couldn’t save Fracture which was ultimately to stale. Not to say it was a complete waste of time either, this movie is worth checking out once but I couldn’t recommend it being worth a purchase.
