Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 19th, 2010
Miley Cyrus is displaced from New York to spend the summer by the sea in Georgia with estranged father Greg Kinnear. While younger brother Bobby Coleman thinks the set-up is just keen (especially former composer dad's work restoring the stain glass windows of a burned church), Cyrus stomps around in full Resentful Teenage Girl mode, until two things make her begin to open up: the need to protect a nest of sea turtles, and the attentions of the impossibly hunky Liam Hemsworth. Since this is a Nicholas Sparks story, true love and happiness will have to run the gauntlet of class snobbery, Disturbing Revelations ™, and the inevitable Third Act Fatal Illness That Brings Out The Best In Everyone (also a registered trademark).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 11th, 2010
My relationship with romantic comedies has not been one of wedded bliss. More often than not, it is something I get forced into. Once you are forced into something, then you automatically have a pre-disposed attitude against the movie. Hence, I haven’t liked too many of these things. Thankfully in the last few years, if I see a romantic comedy it’s been mostly because it ends up in my review queue. This in turn has given me a softer approach to these movies but don’t think I’m going all sentimental just yet.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 28th, 2010
"Every town has a story... Tombstone has a legend."
When will Kevin Costner ever learn? He just doesn't strike that hero pose. He isn't even that good an actor unless he's playing a G-Man type as he did in The Untouchables and JFK. In just a little while Russell Crowe is fixing to school him on the proper stature of Robin Hood. In 1993 and 1994 another Russell, this time Kurt Russell, schooled him on the iconic lawman Wyatt Earp. Tombstone was released Christmas day in 1993. Exactly 6 months later on June 24th, 1994, Kevin Costner released his epic film called Wyatt Earp.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 27th, 2010
"This is the Earth at a time when dinosaurs roamed a lush and fertile planet. A piece of rock just six miles wide changed all of that. It hit with the force of 10,000 nuclear weapons. A trillion tons of dirt and rock hurtled into the atmosphere, creating a suffocating blanket of dust that the sun was powerless to penetrate for a thousand years. It happened before. It will happen again. It's just a question of when."
When was 1998 with the summertime blockbuster movie Armageddon. This film was the poster child for summer tent pole movies.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 26th, 2010
"Look at yourselves. Unplug from your chairs, get up and look in a mirror. What you see is how God made you. We're not meant to experience the world through a machine."
Since the time we were kids, we were warned that you can't tell a book by its cover. That has never been more true in our modern world of the internet. We play in chat rooms where almost no one is who they pretend to be. We lie about our age, looks, and even our gender, and rationalize it as harmless escapism or merely exaggeration. Everyone does it, or so we believe, so it's actually expected.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on January 7th, 2010
High school was a nightmare for me, I try to forget most of it. For me, there was no 10 year high school reunion and I was glad I never went. Speaking of ten & high school, this is the 10th year anniversary of 10 Things I Hate About You, a Gil Junger comedy that helped launch quite a few careers. As such, they made the leap to Blu-Ray with a well-done anniversary edition. But how does the movie hold up?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 9th, 2009
My history with romantic comedies is not a good one. Okay, I cried at the Notebook. *Looks nervously at the man card floating in his wallet*. So, what I cried at Rocky and Bloodsport too. I feel better now. But normally, I look at romantic comedies and want nothing to do with them. But every once in a while, along comes a romantic comedy with a decent cast and a somewhat different story. Even though I can see the ending coming a mile away, hopefully the journey there is interesting and thoughtful.