Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 11th, 2018
“I'm not saying women are better...I'm saying we deserve some respect.”
Battle of the Sexes chronicles a watershed moment for the women's liberation movement. And given the very bad behavior by very powerful men in Hollywood and other high-profile industries that has come to light in recent months, the movie suddenly feels particularly timely despite being set 45 years ago. But even if that weren't the case, this film — which dramatizes the 1973 exhibition match between top-ranked female player Billie Jean King and former male champion Bobby Riggs — would still be a funny, heartfelt winner.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by John Delia on January 9th, 2018
The crime drama Brawl in Cell Block 99 makes its way onto Blu-ray, DVD and 4K. The film tops the charts as one the most excruciatingly brutal movies to be released this year. If you are not offended by extreme violence and don’t get queasy from the sight of blood and cruelty, then this film may be your cup of java. That said, the crime story does have some vindication behind all the willful chaos. Getting laid off from his job at a towing company, Bradley (Vince Vaughn) cleans out his locker and heads home. When he gets there things start getting worse when he finds out that his wife Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter) has been seeing someone. Taking it out on her car by tearing it apart with brute force starts a rage within him. Trying to figure it all out, he tries to come to grips with the lack of income and works out a chance to bring his wife back into his life by running drugs for Gil (Marc Blucas), an old friend.
Quickly getting rich and with Lauren pregnant, he realizes it’s the bump he needed to get his life back. One night Gil introduces Bradley to Eleasar (Dion Muciacito), a crystal meth runner who will provide a large payoff to pick up his shipment. Gil asks Bradley to go along and make sure the pickup goes as planned. When the job goes bad, Bradley gets arrested and finds himself behind bars.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Dan Holland on January 3rd, 2018
“Backslidin’, how do you do? These slippery people gonna see you through.”
It has been a long while since I have witnessed a pop song’s lyrics fit so poetically into a feature film. “Slippery People” is a track off the groundbreaking Talking Heads album, Speaking in Tongues, released in 1983. Not only does this song fit the plot of American Made within its lyrics (hints of backsliding with a lot of slippery people), but it also represents a specific aesthetic for one of the many years shown throughout the film. Which, by and large, is what American Made does very well: appreciates the nostalgia of the 70’s and 80’s without exaggerating to extremes. More often than not, the “nostalgia aesthetic” very quickly becomes a parody of itself. However, what director Doug Liman offers audiences is bold moves in film form, lightly garnished with relevant nostalgia.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 3rd, 2018
The classic American Westerns of the 1940s and '50s directed by the likes of John Ford and Howard Hawks famously inspired filmmakers like Sergio Leone to put their own stylish and revisionist spin on the genre. But while Spaghetti Westerns — genre films produced and written by Italians — are the most famous foreign example, plenty of other countries started making their own horse operas in the 1960s. That includes Mexico and filmmaker Arturo Ripstein, who made an outstanding feature film debut with 1966's Time to Die/Tiempo de Morir.
“It's no good getting out of jail only to enter a cemetery.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 3rd, 2018
When it comes to ranking the top 10 cool movies of the past five years, Kingsman:The Secret Service would easily make the list. From the opening sequence to the final credits, the movie was simply a fun ride with so many kick-ass moments. I mean, the fight in the church alone is worth the price of admission. The moment I heard Matthew Vaughn was returning to helm the sequel, I instantly got giddy with excitement. Heck, ever since his first film Layer Cake, the guy has managed to produce a stream of cool films that I’ve enjoyed. It’s when the trailer for the sequel first dropped that something didn’t feel right; it still looked like a fun movie, but it just didn’t suck me in like the previous film’s trailer did. I ignored my doubts, because after all, Vaughn has proven himself again and again, so when it came time to see the screening for the film, I had forgotten about my doubts, and I was just ready to have a good time.
Now that we know how the Kingsman organization works, the film wastes no time throwing Eggsy (Taron Egerton) into the heat of action. We watch Eggsy engage in a fight/car chase as Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” plays in the back of a cab. It’s a fun and flashy fight with the camera moving around in impossible angles as the fight literally does some off-the-wall stuff. It’s great for an intro, but this is what we get hit with again and again as the film goes on, and it quickly loses its flair.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 2nd, 2018
Detroit is a period crime drama focusing primarily on the Algiers Motel incident during the 12th Street riots in obviously, the city of Detroit. The night of July 25, law enforcement, including the local department, Michigan State Police, and Michigan Army National Guard responded to the hotel to investigate reports of a sniper. During the confrontation, three men were killed and another nine, including two white females, were allegedly beaten and humiliated by the first responders. A trial was held for three of the officers involved and a private security guard, with the deaths being declared justifiable homicide. To many, it is considered one of the biggest miscarriages of justice. Coming off her successful depiction of the manhunt for Osama Bin Laden (Zero Dark Thirty), Kathryn Bigelow reteams with writer Mark Boal to bring this story to life.
Granted, although I had heard about this incident during my history class, I will confess a significant ignorance regarding the specific details. With the knowledge that some liberties were taken in regard to how the circumstances came about, I have to classify this film as a real eye-opener. The events of that evening are told from the multiple perspectives of a cast of established actors and rising stars, which includes John Boyega (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Anthony Mackie (Avengers), Will Poulter (Maze Runner), Algee Smith (Saints and Sinners), Jason Mitchell (Mudblood), John Krasinski, and Jack Reynor (Transformers: Age of Extinction).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 29th, 2017
“Have you ever heard the legend behind the legend of Ninjago?”
Even though I loved the first two Lego movies, I was completely unfamiliar with the toy company's Ninjago line before I sat down to watch this latest entry in the madcap cartoon franchise. (I wasn't even sure how to pronounce “Ninjago”...and the answer isn't as simple as it seems.) But my unfamiliarity with the source material isn't the reason why I feel The Lego Ninjago movie is the weakest entry in the series so far.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 28th, 2017
“Based on real events...mostly.”
Queen Victoria sure knew how to create a frenzy in court. The monarch's close relationship with Scottish servant John Brown following her husband's death caused an uproar in the royal household and inspired the 1997 film Mrs. Brown, starring Judi Dench. Turns out, Victoria and Dench were just getting warmed up! Twenty years later, the actress reprises her regal role in Victoria & Abdul, which chronicles another unique, unconventional, and even more scandalous relationship between royal and commoner.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 28th, 2017
Honestly, looking back at my life I can't say I really have acquired any heirlooms from my father. I do have a picture from when I was a young boy in a railroad hat with my dad holding me that I always keep in plain sight, but that's very different from what most people know as a heirloom. I certainly don't have a special watch (though I imagine I will inherit a grandfather clock when my father passes on), especially one with an inscription. However, if I did have one like Tzanko Petrov did in our movie, Glory, I certainly can imagine the emotional toll that would take on a man.
08 hours, 29 minutes, 10 seconds.
08 hours, 29 minutes, 20 seconds.
08 hours, 29 minutes, 30 seconds, a watch is winded by Tzanko Petrov (played by Stefan Denolyubov). He eats a small meal while listening to the local news. He then proceeds to get ready for work which includes carrying a very large wrench. After completing these tasks, he turns off the television and heads out the door.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on December 22nd, 2017
Most movies are just not very good. Lots of money goes into turning out boring, repetitive garbage. You watch it and then dispose of it and make room for the next thing. There are some who do more, but the more you do, the greater the risk. Most filmmakers are not given the freedom to take really big risks, but someone who has been given the opportunity to take the big risk is Christopher Nolan. Interstellar is $165,000,000 gamble shooting for the moon. Actually Nolan is shooting for something way past the moon. He wants to take us to another galaxy. There is so much speculative science in this film that it is mind-boggling. The cutting edge of real science is, frankly, getting crazier and crazier. The average person really has no idea how crazy, but Interstellar is going to try to show us just how crazy. The true nature of some of the elements of the theory of relativity and other related theories is that they defy all logic.
One of the most important things in Interstellar is its attempts to deal with some of the properties of time. The laws of physics tell us time acts differently in different situations. In this movie time rules everything in people's lives, but the main character is given the power to do something with time that most of us don't even imagine. It's important to know some of these situations are described in actual scientific theory. In fact, real science is getting closer and closer to God all the time. Most people who don't believe in God don't expect science to contradict that way of thinking. Interstellar doesn't talk about God, but it comes close to doing something similar. It is science's contention to state statistically there are millions of planets with intelligent life out there. Some of those intelligence forces will seem like God to us. This is simple science, but people have such a wide range of beliefs that no one will ever agree on what is the truth. The reason we don't agree is because mankind is just not smart enough to have real answers.
