Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 20th, 2013
Any discussion of the greatest living rock stars has to have Paul McCartney at or near the top of the list. Obviously, “greatest” is a totally subjective descriptor, but even if you’re more of a Stones person you can’t argue with McCartney’s staggering success. He has sold more records than anyone else, wrote the most covered song of all time (“Yesterday”) and owns a handful of other Guinness World Records. The recipe for his singular greatness is a mixture of artistic brilliance, versatility and longevity. It’s what has allowed him to remain relevant more than 40 years after the dissolution of the best-selling band of all time. And a key part of that staying power was Wings.
The first Wings album, “Wild Life”, was released in 1971, just one year after the formal break-up of The Beatles. Wings released nine albums in the 1970s — seven studio albums, the “Wings Greatest” compilation, and the live “Wings Over America” album — scoring five straight chart-toppers in the United States. The band was arguably at the peak of its powers in 1976 and featured its most celebrated lineup — Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney (keyboards), Denny Laine (guitar), Jimmy McCulloch (guitar) and Joe English (drums) — when it set off on a massive world tour that covered ten countries and brought music to more than two million people. That tour turned into the 1976 “Wings Over America” triple album and was also captured cinematically with 1980’s Rockshow. I know patience is a virtue, but 33 years still seems like an overly long time to wait for such an excellent concert to get a proper home video release.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 19th, 2013
“Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum, ask not whence the thunder come. For between heaven and earth it’s a perilous place, home to a fearsome giant race. Who hunger to conquer the mortals below, waiting for the seeds of revenge to grow…”
Jack the Giant Slayer is the mash-up adaptation of two classic fairy tales; Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Killer. Now adaptations are big business in today’s industry, but is combining two different source materials wise, or a recipe for disaster? To answer that question, let’s examine the recipe of this film: two popular children’s stories, Bryan Singer at the helm, top-shelf actors Nicolas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, and Stanley Tucci. Well, considering that the resulting brew is an entertaining, family-friendly fantasy film, my answer is going to be coming up on the positive side.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 18th, 2013
Enigma: something hard to explain or understand: well, that about sums up Charlie Zone. The story itself is mildly interesting but takes its time building traction. I was expecting to be introduced to a film about underground fighting and instead was introduced to a film about two people who were dealt a bad hand and are thrust into a life-or-death situation. At odds at first, the two must work together in order to survive. Does this plot theme sound familiar to anyone else?
Paul Avery (Glen Gould, Cashing In) was once an up-and-coming boxer from the Indian Reservation. He was thought to have a real chance at a pro career until he got caught up in a smuggling racket and served four years in prison. After losing his boxing license as well as four years of his life, Paul now struggles to make ends meet and has turned to participating in recorded internet street fighting for extra cash.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 18th, 2013
"Now, this game has 12 rounds. You win more than you lose, I turn myself in. You don't, a lot of people die including you. If you refuse to cooperate, people die. If you make any attempt to contact the police, people die."
I'm usually pretty skeptical when it comes to movies that are made by any of the various fighting federations out there. W?? usually stands for "What The F***". I get it. There are a lot of tough guys out there who would like to follow in the footsteps of guys like The Rock. But for every successful transition to acting there are a hundred stories of mindless muttering substituting for actual... I don't know.... words. The idea is if enough guys beat up enough other guys we'll take the necessary testosterone injections to come along for the ride. Did I mention I hate needles? Still, I actually quite enjoyed John Cena in the original 12 Rounds and gave it a pretty respectable 3.5 in my review back in 2009. It's taken someone four years to figure out that the title has yet to be mined for another outing. Take away John Cena, director Renny Harlin and a guest cast that included the likes of Ashley Scott, and I found myself wishing that whomever that certain "someone" was would have contracted a serious case of amnesia.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 17th, 2013
Earlier this year, Warm Bodies become a solid box office hit by giving its zombie hero a heart. The Amazing Adventures of the Living Corpse seeks to carve its own uniquely bloody path by saddling its undead protagonist with a soul. It’s a clever way to go considering there’s not much new territory to cover in zombie fiction 45 years after George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead shambled into pop culture immortality. I just wish this provocative promise had yielded a better movie.
Based on the Dynamite Publishing comic series “The Living Corpse: Exhumed”, the film introduces us to John Romero, who rises from his grave and promptly snacks on his own wife and daughter. As a horde of the undead prepares to eat his son Taylor, John realizes what he’s done and saves his only surviving family member. Confused as to why he’s the only zombie with a conscience, he ventures to the underworld, where he is counseled by Asteroth Guide of the Wretched and Worthless Merk (the movie’s source of "comic relief"). Meanwhile, a traumatized Taylor is taken to a sinister boarding school filled with other misfit orphans and inconveniently located next to a cemetery.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on June 17th, 2013
Hank Williams, Sr. was arguably one the most influential country artists of all time. During his short life (he died at the young age of 29) he had more than 30 #1 singles. His music has been covered by not just country artists, but has also crossed over into the pop, gospel and blues genres. With The Last Ride, this music legend joins Johnny Cash and Loretta Lyn in having their lives put on film.
When a stranger with a brand new Cadillac comes into his garage, young Silas (Jesse James, As Good as It Gets) takes notice. After Silas overhears the stranger asking for a driver, he immediately offers his services. He is hired and finds out his job is to get “Mr. Wells” (Henry Thomas, E.T. the Extraterrestrial) to West Virginia in two days, and to get him there sober. If Wells arrives drunk or hungover, Silas won’t get paid. Fighting the weather and sometimes each other, the two embark on what ended up being the last trip Hank Williams ever took.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 13th, 2013
"Me and my boy here, we're gonna put a whuppin' on ya!"
In case you haven't been paying attention, 2013 is turning out to be the year of the returning action stars. The Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed up with Korean action director Jee-woon Kim to deliver a very entertaining ride in The Last Stand. Sly Stallone teamed up with action icon Walter Hill to bring us the not-so-entertaining Bullet To The Head. Of course, perhaps the most eagerly awaited return was Bruce Willis back in the role that made him an action star in the first place. This is less Willis's return and more a potential swansong for cowboy cop John McLane. It's the fifth entry in the Die Hard franchise and the first sequel written originally as a Die Hard film and not something adapted to the character. With the disappointing Live Free Or Die Hard still fresh in my memory, all bets were off when I entered the cinema for a sneak peak of A Good Day To Die Hard.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 13th, 2013
For a significant part of the last century, the Western was the dominant form of entertainment, ruling the Hollywood roost on both the big and small screen. Some of moviedom’s most iconic sounds — galloping horses, trusty six shooters, Ennio Morricone’s best work, “In this world, there’s two kinds of people: those with loaded guns and those who dig” — have come from the genre. And it all started In Old Arizona.
The 1929 Fox film was one of the most groundbreaking and innovative motion pictures of its time. In Old Arizona was the first major Western to use the new sound technology, as well as the first “talkie” to be filmed outside the confines of a cozy studio lot. (Filming took place in Utah, California, but, ironically, not Arizona.) Star Warner Baxter won an Oscar for his portrayal of the charismatic Cisco Kid, a performance that served as an early prototype for the singing cowboy on film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on June 12th, 2013
Hansel and Gretel, everyone has heard of this fairy tale, right? The Brothers Grimm tale about a brother and sister lost in the woods who come across a house made of candy. They go inside and are soon captured by a witch who goes about stuffing them with candy to fatten them up to be slaughtered. Somehow the cunning pair manages to escape their shackles, and while the witch is distracted with the oven, they push her into the oven and destroy her. We have all heard the tale, but what happened afterwards? Did they go back home, or did they live out their days in the witch’s house? Clearly I’m not the only one to wonder what happen to this pair of siblings, and now thanks to Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, and the folks at the Paramount and MGM, we have our answer.
Fast forward many years later (as the film doesn’t give a specific number of years that have gone by), Hansel and Gretel have grown up to become famous and equally dangerous witch hunters. When the town of Augsburg is plagued by witches who have been abducting the town’s children; the incompetent Sheriff Berringer (Peter Stormare, Prison Break) and a mob of townspeople are in the process of condemning a local woman to be burned at the stake without any evidence of guilt. The mayor in an attempt to calm the panic of the townspeople has brought in Hansel (Jeremy Renner, The Avengers) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, Prince of Persia).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on June 12th, 2013
“In the old days, we did the news well. You know how? We just decided to.”
Sounds simple enough, so what’s keeping everyone from doing the news well? Well, other than a country that feels more politically polarized than ever and a population that mostly seems interested in cherry picking the “facts” they’d rather hear, I can’t think of a single thing. In fact, HBO’s The Newsroom pointedly compares the idea of putting on a quality news broadcast that educates the electorate and earns great ratings to Don Quixote embarking on one of his foolish quests.
