Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 7th, 2011
A good friend of mine and I have had long-standing difference of opinion about Black Sabbath. He has no interest in anything post-Ozzy. I continued to buy Sabbath albums though all the band’s different incarnations, and while some releases did, I confess, require a greater degree of loyalty than others, the Ronnie James Dio studio albums (Heaven & Hell, Mob Rules, Dehumanizer) have always been favorites of mine. So the events of the last few years were something of a roller coaster ride for fans of my ilk, the joy of a new album (The Devil You Know, with this configuration of the band rechristened Heaven & Hell), followed by the shock and sadness following Dio’s untimely death. This release, a record of a 2007 concert, is a fitting valediction to a great band.
The fifteen songs are a fine selection. Doubtless, each of us will miss one favorite or another. I’m sorry that “Turn Up the Night” and “Buried Alive” were left off the playlist. But I can’t complain about any of the songs that are included. All three albums are well represented, and the absolutely necessary pieces – “Mob Rules,” “Children of the Sea,” “Die Young,” “Heaven and Hell,” “Neon Knights” – are all present and correct. Also performed are two songs – “The Devil Cried,” “Shadow of the Wind” – that were (along with “Ear in the Wall”) included on the Dio Years collection and heralded the band’s return to active songwriting.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 7th, 2011
A high school football team has a longstanding tradition of bringing their team good luck by sleeping with virgins and then crossing their names off of a secret list. Three girls on said list figure out the football player's plan and decide to strike back with pranks and some feminist rebellion that is supposed to be inspired by Lysistrata.
First and foremost, let me immediately address any connections to Lysistrata this film claims to have. While Lysistrata is about women withholding sex from men because of they have gone to war (to put it in simple terms), Wild Cherry is more about the girls seeking revenge over a sense of humiliation that their boyfriends may not like them as much as they'd hoped. Lysistrata empowered its female characters while the three protagonists of this film are ultimately still just trying to be liked by the popular boys. The rebellion they stage builds to nothing more than a couple juvenile pranks and a lame speech made at a the most sparsely attended football match in cinematic history.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 6th, 2011
World War II has just ended, and the recently discharged Robert De Niro hits New York on the prowl for sex. He runs up against WAC Liza Minnelli, and the more she resists his advances, the more determined he becomes. There is more: he is a saxophonist, and she (of course) is a singer). So begins a tempestuous relationship between two artists whose enormous talents and equally enormous personalities mean they can neither live with nor without each other.
The idea of Martin Scorsese taking on the form of the classic musical is so bizarre that it had to happen, and here it is. Scorsese’s conceit is ingenious: all the conventions are there (the meet cute, the songs, the artificial sets and colors), but they collide with the naturalism of the performances and the emotions. A perfect case in point: wandering the streets at night, De Niro sees a sailor and his girl perform a dance together. It is a classic musical moment, but the only sound is that of a train passing. It is a scene of extraordinary beauty, grit, and cinematic truth. And it belongs in an extraordinary film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 6th, 2011
Happythankyoumoreplease is centered on a group of twenty something New Yorkers at various levels of transition: love, career, and growing up. The film is written, directed, and also stars Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother). Radnor’s directorial debut showcases a colorful side of New York and a variety of colorful characters. The group of young actors all put together solid performances which is essential for an ensemble cast. This is another festival friendly film with a solid group of actors that is definitely worth a look.
All too frequently independent films are stymied by previous failures and clichés. It’s refreshing when a film utilizes prior missteps to shape its story. The multiple narrative is difficult to pull off if the characters are flat. The integral part is that the characters need to be interesting. I found myself drawn to Sam Wexler (Josh Radnor) he’s an aspiring writer that finds himself taking care of a foster child. Sam is the lead of the ensemble cast as well as the character experiences the most development. Radnor’s performance is more than just a guffaw or two. He actually demonstrates some range with his ability to show compassion as well as have some comedic timing. He is undeniably charismatic and had some chemistry with Mississippi (Kate Mara). I found Annie (Malin Akerman) to be the weakest of the cast. Throughout the film, I found myself having to get through her scenes to the more interesting storylines. Most people would chalk that disinterest up to writing. However, I feel like good actors will command the viewer’s attention whenever they are on camera and she just does not do it. As an up and coming actress, she just needs to be better.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 6th, 2011
Liam Neeson has always been somewhat of a versatile actor. From Oskar Schindler in Spielberg's moving Schindler's List to a Jedi master in the rebirth of Star Wars, there don't appear to be very many types of films he hadn't tried. Taken introduced us to a tough-guy character that we hadn't really seen before, even in the film reboot of The A-Team. There he played an intelligence officer trying to rescue his kidnapped daughter. It was a rather powerful performance, so I can't say I was very surprised to see him play the one-man army role once again in Unknown. It's another very fine performance by Neeson, but this time the film itself doesn't quite hold up to the previous outing.
Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson) is a scientist attending a conference in Germany with his wife Elizabeth (Jones). On his way to the hotel he is in a serious car crash that sends his taxi into the water, and the good doctor Harris clinically dead for a short time. He wakes up in a hospital where no one knows who he is. His troubles are about to get worse when the hotel employees do not remember him and his wife denies knowing him. In fact another man is now claiming to be Dr. Harris, and has been accepted by everyone as the real guy. With the help of the cab driver Gina (Kruger) and an old cold war operative (Ganz), he attempts to find out what happened. Of course, there appear to be some folks out there who want him dead. The only man who seems to have any real answers is his old friend Rodney Cole (Langella). But Harris might not like the answers he gets.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 6th, 2011
Monster mash-ups have been with us for almost as long as there have been monster movies. Universal gave us Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. The Japanese delivered Godzilla vs. King Kong. Dracula's taken on Jesse James, and Universal brought the whole band together for two House Of movies and an Abbott And Costello romp. In recent years we've been treated or subjected to, depending on your own point of view, Freddy vs. Jason and Alien vs. Predator and its rematch. Lately, SyFy has been attempting to create an entire subgenre out of the monster mash-up idea. One of those movies happens to be Mega Python vs. Gatoroid.
This one takes advantage of several themes. The movie serves as a vehicle for two 1980's teen singing idols who were just barely bigger than one-hit wonders. Debbie Gibson went from Tiger Beat in the 80's to Playboy Magazine in 2005. Her career hits a new low with this camp disaster. Tiffany was so cool she figured she just needed one name. Her big hit was I Think We're Alone Now; if only.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 6th, 2011
A pair of serial “gawkers” are getting into awkward spots in their marriages until their wives offer them a 6-day “Hall Pass” that grants them freedom to act as single men for that time. As each couple go their separate ways, each do battle with the temptation to act on their freedom, versus learn some sort of lesson about the virtues of domestic monogamy.
Each scene has the actors standing in such a staged manner that nothing feels natural about this film. Not that the token R-rated language and lowbrow gags didn't already give that effect, but there is something to be said about actors being able to deliver their lines without cheating their bodies towards the audience, as if this were a theatre production. If only this were some magical new form of performing where a camera is able to show the audience angles of a performer we cannot see from stage, without the actor having to move at all! My goodness, what a marvel that would be! Alas, the Farrely bros have forgotten what century we live in and let each scene look the first off-book day for amateurs in an Intro to Comedy Acting course.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 6th, 2011
There is hardly any differentiation between the Jackass series and its films, aside from a few more celebrity cameos and bigger budget stunts as the years have gone by. A testament to this is the “.5” editions of each film, which are literally cobbled together using rejected sketches and stunts from the original release. Unlike when such films as X-Men or Spiderman put out a DVD called 1.5 or some such, this is not simply an expanded version of the original release, but a whole new film. Saying that the Jackass series has X amount of seasons on TV or X amount of movies is relatively useless because that would suggested there is a more defined time line in their history, and we'd have to exclude the copy-cats and offshoots such as Viva La Bam and Wildboyz in the canon. These boys have been filming for over a decade and whenever they get 3 hours worth of usable footage, they put out two movies (one to theatres, one straight-to video), that's the basic gist of it.
There is honestly not that can be criticized because, at this point, audiences know exactly what they're in for when it comes to Jackass. Mind you, those that are fans will notice that the stunts have become tamer. In some backwards way, some of the older stunts had either a way of being entertaining for being clever or cute in perfectly harmless ways, or even slightly educational when it came to becoming human guinea pigs for tazers, rubber bullets or other devices that are being used to harm humans on purpose. The stars of Jackass have become just that: “stars.” They have invested many injuries and humiliations to get to where they are today, and are not as willing to take chances these days. There was an interesting bit about paranoia and just how miserable being on a Jackass set can be because pranks can happen at any point. Perhaps some of the stars' hesitation comes from being exhausted of being victimized whenever they turn their backs or attempt to nap.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on July 5th, 2011
Dear John centers around a soldier, John Tyree (Channing Tatum) who falls in love with a college student, Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) while he is back home on leave. This film is adapted from the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name and directed by the melodramatic romance aficionado Lasse Hallstrom. If you are looking for a romance tale that offers very little surprises, look no further.
Hallstrom and Sparks seems to be a match made in heaven. For the better part of a decade, Hallstrom has entirely dedicated himself to romantic films: Chocolat, The Shipping News and Casanova. These films do not really demonstrate a form of versatility. Usually, I am fascinated with directors or writers that stay in their proverbial lane. They are not interested in writing or directing anything other than the genre that has garnered them any form of success. Sparks churns out the same romance novels because there is an appetite for them. Hallstrom provides the same service with romance films. Therefore, from a studio’s perspective, why wouldn’t you want to make film with these two?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on July 4th, 2011
The story begins with the immediate validation of superstition. Anesi Gebara is the head of an illegal lottery and so numbers are crucially linked to his life, both in his work and in the aforementioned superstitions that haunt his life.
The first episode features Gebara's dearest son, Anesinho, killing himself, and the rest of the series follows his remaining 3 sons as they vie to take Anesinho's respected place. As seems to be customary with the majority of HBO programs, dark secrets about each character's past come to light before our eyes. Said secrets often involving lurid sex and death (again, staples in the HBO realm).