Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on May 7th, 2014
Following the live performance of Madea’s Neighbors From Hell captured on this DVD, Tyler Perry joins his fellow cast members on stage after they’ve all taken their bows. Perry has ditched his Madea drag and takes to the microphone to thank his fervent, loyal fans for their support. You probably know Perry because of the phenomenal success he has enjoyed in TV and movies. (And because he puts his name on practically everything he does.) However, Perry is quick to remind his audience that it all started on the stage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 5th, 2014
When it comes to the feud between Marvel and DC film adaptions, I think we can all agree Marvel at this point may be winning the battles on the big screen, but when it comes to the animated films DC has been delivering hit after hit. Perhaps it’s because the landscape in animation is virtually unlimited and comes with a significantly smaller price tag to deliver.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 5th, 2014
“I do wish I could be content, but...”
“You cannot.”
There's a reason “Great Expectations” continues to be adapted for the stage and screen more than 150 years after its publication. Charles Dickens wrote — and set — his novel during Britain's Victorian era, but the classic coming-of-age story is thick with ideas about social status and all-consuming ambition that easily transcend its original time and place. So how does this new version, first released in the U.K. in 2012, stack up?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 1st, 2014
It’s easy to envision the elevator pitch for Devil’s Due. You only need five words: “Rosemary’s Baby meets Paranormal Activity.” The upside is obvious. The idea of a demonic pregnancy has terrified and unsettled expectant mothers since Ira Levin published Rosemary’s Baby in 1967 and Roman Polanski adapted it for the big screen the following year. Meanwhile, the Paranormal Activity films made low-budget/found-footage domestic horror hugely profitable. The downside? You’re probably not topping Rosemary’s Baby, and horror audiences seem to be suffering from an acute case of found-footage fatigue.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on April 29th, 2014
There have been complaints that there are not enough films that have decent lead roles for women. There are those that say that Hollywood does not make enough movies for women. Then when they do, critics tend to dismiss them as “Lifetime” movies (a term that is dismissive because of the cable channel that churns out generic movies for women). It seems far easier to accept excessive violence or male-oriented films with sexual content. If a movie tries to legitimately capture real situations from a woman's point of view, it can be patronizingly categorized as pap and schmaltz.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 28th, 2014
It’s movies like Big Bad Wolves that keep me excited about cinema. After all, who would guess that Israel would produce this savagely dark fairy tale revenge film that is also one of the darkest comedies I’ve seen in some time with a visual aesthetic you’d expect from a Coen brothers film, but the violence and humor you’d expect from a film by Tarantino. My first time viewing this film was via On Demand a few months ago; more and more I feel the cable companies are onto something by acquiring these little films and releasing them pay-per-view so that those not in New York and Los Angeles can experience these films before having to wait months longer for their DVD or Blu-ray release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 24th, 2014
“I used to be thin when I was 6.”
Jim Gaffigan has long been fixated on food. Need proof? The comedian’s 2013 memoir is called “Dad Is Fat”, and his most famous routine is about Hot Pockets. So it wasn’t exactly a shocker to find that Gaffigan spends most of Obsessed — his fourth Comedy Central stand-up special — talking about his dietary likes and dislikes. (Hint: kale is not on his list of favorites.) This is astoundingly straightforward and inoffensive material that nonetheless had me consistently laughing out loud.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 21st, 2014
“Have you done anything noteworthy or mentionable?”
It’s the sort of question that can easily apply to either your workday or your life as a whole. It’s also the question actor/producer/director Ben Stiller chose as the basis of his inspirational adaptation of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The original short story by James Thurber is less than five pages long, so a filmmaker has the option of going to any number of fascinating places in bringing Thurber’s tale to the big screen. Stiller, in essence, decided to take the scenic route.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on April 21st, 2014
“Bad things happen in the woods, especially to pretty girls like you.”
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a smallish group of friends head to a remote location for what they think will be a sex-and-booze-fueled romp. Instead, they find themselves getting picked off by a mysterious killer. If you’ve ever seen a slasher movie, you’re painfully familiar with this scenario. Thankfully, it seems like the people who made the low-budget Death Do Us Part are also well-acquainted with the way this sort of movie is supposed to work. And they’ve decided to have some fun with it.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 17th, 2014
“I’d have loved to be a spy, but it’s a dangerous game and it pays s---.”
For a lot of moviegoers, the word “spy” evokes tuxedos, gadgets, and exotic accents. Möbius — a French/Russian production from French filmmaker Eric Rochant — only employs the last of those tropes while falling in line with more low-key espionage adventures like Three Days of the Condor and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. So I shouldn’t have been surprised that this film gets up to some subterfuge of its own; Möbius is a love story posing as a spy thriller.
