Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 12th, 2014
British badass Craig Fairbrass looks more like the henchman in an action movie than the hero. (To be fair, Fairbrass looks like the lead henchman who always gives the hero a little more trouble than you’d expect, but he looks like a henchman nonetheless.) The actor has worked steadily in England and Hollywood, including a role in Cliffhanger where he played one of John Lithgow’s (you guessed it) henchmen. With The Outsider, Fairbrass earns a story credit and the right to play the hero in this junky, bruising, low-budget cross between Taken and The Limey.
Fairbrass plays Lex Walker (strong name), an English mercenary who receives word that his estranged daughter Samantha has been found dead in Los Angeles. When he arrives to identify the body, he discovers the dead girl in the morgue is not Samantha. The good news is his daughter isn’t actually dead, but the bad news is she’s still missing. Lex goes on a brutish warpath through Los Angeles in search of Samantha. Along the way he enlists the help of her boyfriend Ricky (Johnny Messner) and Margo (Shannon Elizabeth), an opportunistic acquaintance of Samantha’s. Lex’s investigation puts him on a collision course with Schuuster (James Caan), Samantha’s shady former employer, and Det. Klein (Jason Patric), who is trying to solve the mystery behind Samantha’s non-murder.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 11th, 2014
When you are first getting into a relationship those first few weeks can be pretty awkward at times as the two of you get to know one another. The decision to go on a road trip early on in a relationship is simply one of those gambles that can go either way, but if the trip goes well, then of course the future of this budding romance is all the more promising. In Fear follows a couple that bravely decides to take a road trip together so they can see a concert; unfortunately for them, it’s the road trip from hell.
Tom (Iain De Caestecker) and Lucy (Alice Englert) are the young budding couple that have decided to take the scenic route to the concert after experiencing an off-screen confrontation inside a small town pub. Since the altercation is never seen and only hinted at by our leads, it doesn’t take long be submersed in the suspense that follows. Once the two decide on staying overnight at a hotel, it’s not long before they get turned around and lost along the backwoods roads.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 10th, 2014
Gone With The Wind is the most popular film of all time still to this day if you talk about adjusted dollars. The Birth of a Nation was the most popular film of all time for a considerable time prior to that. Both films could be said to have a benign view of slavery and white supremacy, although it would be easy to use much stronger language than that. In most circles, both films have been considerably discredited due to this myopic view. Both films almost completely ignore or disregard the incredible cruelty of using human beings as a commodity for commerce. Even that doesn't begin to address the evil. Slavery continues to subjugate and demean up to 30,000,000 people worldwide to this very day, but it was sanctioned by law in much of the United States until after the Civil War. The horror, indignity and monstrous unfairness of it all cannot be overstated. Those involved in the abolitionist movement prior to the Civil War were driven by a fanatical and fervent desire to expose the abominable hypocrisy that was prevalent. A small core of free men and women of all races risked their lives to fight the abomination.
12 Years a Slave was a book that was written as a true account of the blind evil of the time. It is now a movie by young director Steve McQueen (that's his real name; he is obviously not the dead actor). In Saratoga Springs, a young highly regarded musician has a beautiful family and home. His name is Solomon Northup, and he has a good life. He is intelligent, friendly and eager to make the most of his talents. He is persuaded to assist two entrepreneurs with a venture and travel to Washington, D.C. After much success and celebration he wakes up to find himself in chains, and so begins the 12 years. He is transported on a slave ship and changes hands among owners over those 12 years. He is, after all, property. He is now part of a “peculiar institution”.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on March 7th, 2014
Paul Walker built his career on playing tarnished golden boys (Varsity Blues, The Skulls) before breaking out with the Fast & Furious franchise. He wasn’t as decorated as fellow recently-departed colleagues like Philip Seymour Hoffman, Peter O’Toole, James Gandolfini and Harold Ramis, but Walker was unequivocally a Hollywood success. Hours is one of the last films the actor completed before his November death in a single-car accident. The film quickly loses its way after a promising start, but Walker is easily the best thing in it. His work here is a bittersweet glimpse at the sort of roles he might’ve taken on as he progressed through his 40’s.
Hours has a potentially-gripping premise. Walker stars as Nolan Hayes, who arrives at a hospital with his pregnant wife Abigail (Genesis Rodriguez) during a stormy morning. Abigail has gone into labor five weeks early, and we watch a weary Nolan as he sits and waits to hear the fate of his wife and unborn child. Some of Walker’s very best work in this movie comes immediately after Nolan receives tragic news and goes into a state of shock/denial. Eventually, the storm outside knocks the power out in the hospital and forces Nolan to go to extraordinary lengths to keep a loved one alive. This is a good place to mention the film takes place in New Orleans. In 2005. Late August.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 5th, 2014
There’s a pretty good, southern gothic tale buried somewhere in Wicked Blood. Unfortunately, writer/director Mark Young isn’t quite able to extract it. Instead, we get a somewhat overqualified cast acting out Young’s down-and-dirty story of meth, chess and bikers that is exactly as messy, baffling and oddly intriguing as that description makes it sound. The film opens with a literal bang: we see the explosion of a shabby trailer. We don’t know who is inside, but we see a young girl stoically watching the flames from the outside.
Hannah (Abigail Breslin) is a teenage chess enthusiast and an orphan living with her older sister Amber (Alexa Vega) and her meth-addicted Uncle Donny (Lew Temple). The three of them live under the thumb of Uncle Frank (Sean Bean), a powerful local crime boss. (You can tell Uncle Frank is powerful because he barely gets out of his seat before the film’s final act; Bean projects menace by simply sitting behind a desk or a dining room table.) There’s also Uncle Frank’s unstable brother Bobby (Jake Busey), who seems to have an uncomfortable fondness for his niece, Amber.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 3rd, 2014
"His name is Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald."
Before November 22, 1963, that name was an obscure one, known only to a few people in the intelligence community who had him under surveillance for his communist leanings. But by a little after noon on that date in Dallas, Lee Harvey Oswald was suddenly one of the most infamous names in American history. He would share the stage with the likes of John Wilkes Booth. This last November saw the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination, and it passed with surprisingly less hype than I expected there would be. We weren't inundated with documentaries and History Channel specials on the many conspiracy theories surrounding the event. There were some, certainly, but the date passed in the more solemn manner appropriate to the event.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 3rd, 2014
“The Sistine Chapel. The masterpiece of a sculptor who did not want to paint.”
Remember when Michael Jordan quit basketball, tried his hand at baseball, and then returned to the NBA less than two years later? Well, imagine if Jordan had actually made it to the majors with the Chicago White Sox and put up a .375/50 HR/50 SB mark on his way to winning the American League Rookie of the Year/MVP awards, along with a World Series ring. The artistic equivalent of that was Michelangelo — one of the most significant figures of the Italian Renaissance, but a sculptor by trade — painting the frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 3rd, 2014
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Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on February 27th, 2014
At first glance, Legit simply looks like an amalgamation of every successful (non-animated) comedy on FX. It’s got the bro-humor of The League along with the willingness to push the boundaries of good taste of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and it’s all centered around a comic playing a loosely-fictionalized version of himself (like Louie). So what does comedian Jim Jefferies bring to the table that’s new? I’d say it’s a refreshing amount of sloppy, unshowy heart. The show is nominally about the Aussie comic trying to make it big in Los Angeles, but it’s really about Jefferies and his inner circle becoming “legit” human beings.
“I just have a fondness for prostitutes and disabled people.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on February 27th, 2014
They say you can't choose your family, but apparently that well-known phrase never made its way to France. At the very least, no one bothered to tell Paul de Marseul, the legacy-obsessed vineyard owner at the center of You Will Be My Son (Tu Seras Mon Fils.) Cohen Media Group gave this tasty 2011 French offering a theatrical release last year, and now the film — which alternates between being a picturesque delight, a tense family drama, and a thriller — arrives on Blu-ray.
Niels Arestrup stars as Paul, who has a great nose (and palette) for winemaking. His adult son Martin (Lorant Deutsch) is a hard worker, but he didn't inherit his father's natural abilities. (Much to Martin's chagrin, Paul never misses a chance to cruelly remind his son of this fact.) Since the vineyard's longtime manager Francois (Patrick Chesnais) is terminally ill, Martin is eager to become a bigger part of the family business. Enter Francois's son Philippe (Nicolas Bridet), a charismatic, successful California winemaker who returns home to be with his ailing father. After Paul enlists Philippe's help with the upcoming harvest, he realizes he'd rather hand the family business over to someone else's son rather than his own flesh and blood.
