Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 24th, 2013
I see an Oscar nominee, an Emmy nominee, an actor who has carried two successful TV shows, and the bad guy from the highest-grossing movie of all time. In other words, I see more talent than you would ordinarily expect from a straight-to-DVD drama. Then again, I also see Soulja Boy, but he’s not the problem. Instead, Officer Down squanders a few fine performances and a solid premise due to some seriously (and unnecessarily) muddled storytelling.
Det. David Callahan (Stephen Dorff) may as well have “Dirty” in front of his name, but it’s not because he tears through bureaucratic red tape in his pursuit of justice; it’s because “Cal” always looks like he desperately needs a shower. Callahan is a former crooked cop/drug addict/philanderer who changed his bad boy ways after narrowly surviving a gun shot wound during a drug bust gone wrong. Cal never knew the identity of the man who saved his life until the Good Samaritan comes forward one year later.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 23rd, 2013
Anytime a horror film is released with a religious element, I can’t help but be a little interested. The film that first won me over for this sub-genre was, of course, The Exorcist, and ever since seeing that film I keep hoping that one day a film will hold up to it in quality, but it seems I’ll be waiting a while. That’s not to say there haven’t been some good films to come out along the way. The Possession is one of those valiant attempts that brings something fresh to the genre but never quite reaches its full potential. Before going into this film I was familiar with the “true story” surrounding the Dibbuk box, and I’ve always felt if there was ever a story to rival The Exorcist or The Omen, it would revolve around this box. I don’t want to get into the history of the box because most of the story has little to do with the movie, and in my opinion that is part of the reason this film falls short of what could have been.
The film opens as an elderly woman approaches the cursed box to destroy it. Unfortunately for her the box knows what she is up to and punishes her for it. She is violently tossed around her living room as though she were nothing more than a rag doll; outside her son stands unaware of the punishment she is taking. It’s clear this unseen force is powerful, but what is it?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on January 23rd, 2013
When I first received Love Me, I thought it was going to be just another angsty teen drama. (Something along the lines of Dawson’s Creek.) That notion was quickly disabused, however, when a young girl is stalked and attacked in the opening scene. From there, the film jumps ahead three months, with the town still reeling from her disappearance. While discussing how eerie the case is with her friends, Sylvia Potter (Lindsay Shaw, TV’s Pretty Little Liars) quite literally bumps into rich pretty boy Lucas Green (Jamie Johnston, TV’s Degrassi: The Next Generation) and falls for him instantly.
Fortunately for Sylvia, the feeling is mutual and, despite her friend’s many protests, Sylvia begins dating Lucas. As their relationship deepens, Sylvia discovers some unsettling things about Lucas, including the fact that he was dating the missing girl at the time of her disappearance and police consider him the prime suspect. As the pressure mounts and new evidence comes to light, Sylvia must decide what — and, more importantly, who — she believes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 20th, 2013
If Compliance weren’t based on true events, the film’s plot would immediately be dismissed as implausible and insulting of its audience’s intelligence. (Same with Argo.) As the story of an incredibly committed prank caller and his unwitting prey progresses, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll repeatedly roll your eyes. There’s an even better chance the eye rolling will be followed by a feeling of outrage — definitely toward the caller, but maybe even toward the gullible victims — when you remember this stuff actually happened.
Sandra (Ann Dowd) is a stressed-out manager at ChickWich, a fictional fast food restaurant. During a busy Friday shift, she receives a call from a man identifying himself as “Officer Daniels” (Pat Healy), who claims one of Sandra’s employees stole money from a customer. Officer Daniels convinces Sandra to interrogate teenage cashier Becky (Dreama Walker) in the restaurant’s back room. What follows is a slow and steady stream of humiliations for Becky as Sandra instructs her employees — and eventually her fiancé, Van (Bill Camp) — to follow the officer’s increasingly bizarre instructions.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on January 17th, 2013
Shout Factory this week releases a Jackie Chan double feature that I can actually stand behind and say, “Yes, buy this.” Chan has been churning out movies since the early 60’s, and with a rumored retirement looming, soon we’ll only have his vast catalog of films to gush and cringe over. Though I think it is safe to say his body could use a break; after all, how many broken bones has this man sacrificed all in the name of cinema?
Crime Story The first on this double bill is the Hong Kong action flick Crime Story. It opens up with a gang of thugs going through a test run for a kidnapping they plan to do. The plan is to take their hostage while on the streets, in the open where anything and everything can go wrong. The test run alone, which ends in a collision, shows the risk the gang is willing to take. The target happens to be a billionaire, Wong (Law Hang Kang) who already suspects there are men out to kill him, thus introducing Inspector Eddie Chan (Jackie Chan).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on January 17th, 2013
Do you realize how much you’re affected by advertising? Branded attempts to answer this question while showing us where our world is headed if the trend continues. Mishka Galkin (Ed Stoppard, The Pianist) is Russia’s advertising whiz kid. When Mishka meets Abby (Leelee Sobieski, 88 Minutes, The Wicker Man), they immediately become friends, despite the fact that she is the niece of Bob Gibbons (Jeffrey Tambor, TVs Arrested Development, the Hellboy movies), Mishka’s boss. Even though Bob warns him to stay away from Abby, Mishka enters into a personal and professional relationship with her, developing an Extreme Makeover-type show in Russia together. Unfortunately, the show tanks when the woman getting the makeover falls into a coma following her cosmetic surgery.
In the public outcry that follows, Mishka is jailed and Abby is deported. When he gets out after being incarcerated for a few days, Mishka angrily confronts his boss, claiming that Bob used his former CIA contacts to orchestrate the show’s failure so that Abby would leave Russia (and Mishka). During this argument, Bob has a heart attack and dies. Believing his marketing ability is “a curse” harming those around him, Mishka decides to leave the advertising business behind and become a hermit. (The idea that Mishka’s ability is a curse comes from the film’s narrator, who sounds like GLaDOS, the evil computer from Portal.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 15th, 2013
“The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.”
We’re now 40 years removed from Bruce Lee’s shocking death, and the martial arts superstar has unequivocally achieved pop culture immortality. I Am Bruce Lee examines the icon’s cultural and cinematic impact, as well as the many ways he has influenced current sports and music stars. The film already bills itself as “the best Bruce Lee documentary ever,” so I’m not really sure what you need me (or any other critic) for. I decided to go ahead and watch it anyway.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 14th, 2013
"Space... The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. No, this is not a Charles Dickens review. It very accurately describes the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The first season went over much better than anyone really expected. The Trek faithful embraced the series and the new characters. It was now time for the show to find its own feet with a second season. Unfortunately, several things went wrong. The Writers’ Guild went out on strike, and that meant no new scripts. Paramount was even talking about getting rid of the series. That was until someone remembered that this was not the first attempt to resurrect Star Trek for the television screen. In the late 1970's Paramount was preparing to launch its "4th" network. The anchor was to be a return of Star Trek, commonly referred to as Star Trek: Phase Two. All of the original cast would return with the notable exception of Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock. The show would basically continue that crew's voyages. Then Star Wars lit the box office on fire. Combined with the scrapping of the network, until later, the television series became Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Spock returned along with two new characters. You might recognize Riker in Decker and, of course, Troi in the Deltan Ilea. The series was no more, but several scripts had been written and shelved. With some tweaking, Star Trek: Phase Two's scripts became Star Trek: The Next Generation's foundation for season two.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on January 13th, 2013
What do you do when you have to choose between the law and what is morally right? Lieutenant Danny Sefton (Seth Gabel, TV’s Dirty Sexy Money and Fringe) faces that very problem in Allegiance. Having lost the respect of the men in his command by transferring to a recruiting position right before they are to deploy to Iraq, Sefton faces a crisis of conscience when one of those men — Specialist Chris Reyes (Shad “Bow Wow” Moss, Like Mike, Roll Bounce) — has his non-deployment waiver revoked.
Reyes’ son is sick. However, due to conflicting diagnoses — one says Stage 4 lung cancer; the other chronic asthma — and the fact that he’s the best medic in the company (and they don’t have a replacement), Lieutenant Colonel Owens (Aidan Quinn, Jonah Hex, TV’s Elementary) decides to deploy Reyes. Having exhausted all his options, Reyes tells Sefton he intends to go AWOL and asks for Sefton’s help.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on January 10th, 2013
“Our enemy here is Al-Qaeda. It’s no secret they are not afraid to die. Neither are we. Tonight we know why we are here. We know who we are. Tonight we fight for something truly greater than ourselves. Tonight we ride.”
“It’s a good day to be a SEAL, good day to be an American.” Yes, I am aware that I’ve already opened with a film quote, but truthfully this film has quite a few good ones. Seal Team Six is the telling of Operation Geronimo, the successful mission that lead to the assassination of Al-Qaeda leader and engineer of the September 11th attack, Osama Bin Laden. I’m sure there are many that are thinking “why would a made-for-television film be made when on January 11, Zero Dark Thirty will premiere worldwide?” They may view the making of this film as a waste of money. They would be absolutely wrong.
