Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on June 24th, 2011
Most film-goers could identify a Michael Bay film just by the techniques he uses — quick edits, sun drenched color palette, and lots of action. This usually means that Bay is suited more for low-brow action movies as opposed to high-concept films. In Pearl Harbor, Bay proved that he couldn’t handle anything that didn’t explode — resulting in a lopsided film. The first hour was a tedious love story; the last 90 minutes were better — including an excellent recreation of the surprise attack.
The same is true in The Island. Bay can’t wait to make things explode, and once they do — Bay is very much at home. Though while the explosions are very well choreographed, The Island becomes another action movie that would have worked better had the concept been given more thought.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 24th, 2011
The second version of Cornell Woolrich’s novel “Waltz Into Darkness” (previously filmed as François Truffaut’s Mississippi Mermaid), this is a decidedly steamier version, especially here, in its unrated form.
Cuban plantation owner Antonio Banderas advertises for a wife, and the woman who answers his ad is, he believes, plain but pure. Who shows up, however, is the beautiful but duplicitous Angelina Jolie, who has larceny rather than matrimony on her mind. Her scam runs smoothly at first … but she hasn’t counted on the depth of Banderas’ obsession with her.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2011
"There was a time in baseball when there were only eight teams in each major league. They played an orderly balanced schedule visiting each city four times. A trip out West meant St. Louis or Chicago. There was a comfortable rhythm to the season... That time is gone now."
I might be from the last generation who understands exactly what that means. Some of the best memories of my life were of the lazy afternoons I spent with my grandfather at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Philadelphia. Over the course of a decade or so we must have attended a hundred games. Mike Schmidt became my idol, outside of my grandfather, of course, who made it all possible. In those days players didn't get into a ton of legal troubles. It would have shocked my young life to hear that one of my Philly players had been arrested for beating his wife or carrying a gun into a nightclub. Players didn't argue about contracts, at least not publicly. It was the 1970's, perhaps the end of that era when baseball really was a game. I treasure those memories. My grandfather is gone now, but he gave me something that will always be a part of who I am. And while this HBO series deals with the years before 1970, I can relate to those earlier generations who felt the same way about their sport and their heroes. Obviously, my grandfather was a part of those generations. And now HBO brings to high-definition Blu-ray a safe place to store those memories.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 20th, 2011
"In America we give our lives to our jobs. It's time to take them back."
It was only a matter of time before the current economic situation made its way into our theaters and finally our homes with a movie like The Company Men. Certainly the economy has influenced many films in the last five years. There have even been other movies to explore many of the current issues. But it's this film that makes those issues, particularly corporate raiding and downsizing, its sole reason for being.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 16th, 2011
On first glance it might seem like a rather odd choice to have the likes of Billy Crystal direct a movie about the 1961 drive to beat Babe Ruth's sacred homerun record by teammates and friends Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. When the film first aired on HBO,,I recall doing a bit of a double take myself. But, once you've seen the man talk about his memories of the game and the absolute reverence and respect he has for its history you begin to understand why he was the perfect choice to direct 61*
The film begins in more recent times. We are placed in the heat of the 1998 baseball season when Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were engaged in an eerily similar race to break Maris's 61 homerun mark. McGuire was the first to do it, coincidentally in a game against Sosa's Chicago team. Of course, at the time we didn't know that McGuire was juicing up and Sosa had a thing for corked bats. The Maris family was there to watch the record be broken, at least his children were. His widow had to watch from a hospital bed after having a health episode that very day. The family was gracious, and of course, it brought back memories of the 1961 season. It is here where the real story begins. The film recounts the friendship between Mantle and Maris, known as the M&M boys, and the film carries us through one of baseball's most tumultuous season.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on June 13th, 2011
Jean-Hugues Anglade plays Zorg (yup, that's his name), a handyman living in a beach-front house, scribbling away quietly in his spare time. Not so quiet is his tempestuous affair with Betty (Béatrice Dalle in her debut), whose passions overwhelm both of them. First, she moves in on him with no warning. Then, when she discovers his writing, she decides they must move to Paris so he can have a career as a writer. To make sure Zorg complies, she burns his house to the ground. Once in Paris, her plans for him fall apart, and so, bit by bit, does she.
Writer/director Jean-Jacques Beineix has both audience and characters sweltering from the get-go, setting the tone for another French tale of amour fou. Angalde and Dalle inhabit their characters perfectly (though one might be forgive for wondering what exactly Zorg sees in Betty, beyond the physically obvious). The film is stylish and dramatic, and if, at 185 minutes, it outstays its welcomd, it doesn't do so by much.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 10th, 2011
"My father said the army makes all men one, but you never know which one."
There have been a lot of movies about Vietnam over the years. Some are quite political, while others try to capture the sheer horror of war...any war. It's been long enough now that there are even lighter works about the conflict. But this might just be the smartest film about the war ever made, because it never actually goes to Vietnam.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 8th, 2011
"People scare better when they're dyin'"
Mention the name Sergio Leone and you immediately think of Clint Eastwood and their Man With No Name trilogy. The truth is that Leone was the master of the spaghetti western and largely responsible for making Clint what he is today. When the Italian director decided to try his hand at Hollywood, he was welcomed with open arms, except they weren't interested in anything but an American copy of a spaghetti western. Leone had something else in mind. He had a "been there, done that" attitude about the westerns and wanted to do an epic called Once Upon A Time In America. But Hollywood was hearing none of that. So they compromised. If Leone delivered a stylistic western, the studio would spring for the epic he wanted to make. The result of that parlay turned out to be Once Upon A Time In The West.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 8th, 2011
"Since the birth of time, humanity has endeavored to restrict evil men in prisons. But since Cain fled the murder of his brother, evil men have fled the walls of punishment. So it doesn't matter if you're a badass mother on the run because you think you're better than everyone else and somehow entitled to do what you gotta do. No, because you see, badass mothers are never fast enough. In the end, they will be accounted for."
People have been breaking out of Hell since the days of Dante. In recent years we've had two very good television shows on the subject. Brimstone suffered an early death but was a wonderful character piece with John Glover as the Devil and Peter Horton as a cop and resident of Hell he uses to track down his escapees. Reaper took a more comedic route and had Ray Wise as Satan utilizing the efforts of Jack Black clone Tyler Labine helping out damned soul Bret Harrison to bring in the escaped. Enter Nicolas Cage in the underachieving action film Drive Angry.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 8th, 2011
One of the best signs that a film is a disaster is when the movie's own star can't seem to stop telling the world just how terrible it really is. Mickey Rourke at first had nice things to say about the film and particularly Megan Fox, calling her the best young actress he knew. Later he backtracked and qualified the statement about Fox. But his rantings about the film Passion Play have not been softened at all. He calls the film "Terrible" and a "Train wreck" while trying to assure us that he still loves director Mitch Glazer. We'd ask Mickey himself to write the review for the film here at Upcomingdiscs, but we tend to try and remain family friendly, and he's not above dropping a few F bombs to make his point. I guess the job of evaluating this rather strange film falls to me, %$@(&.
Okay, I guess we'll start with one of the most ridiculous stories I've ever seen made into a movie. Meet Nate (Rourke). He's a washed-up trumpet player who used to be pretty well known. Now he plays in nightclubs owned by mobsters for small change, small change he likely as not turns into booze. Unfortunately, Nate couldn't help but sleep with the boss's wife. Now Happy (Murray) wants him dead. A couple of his thugs take him out to the middle of the desert for an old-school hit. Nate is miraculously saved by a strange group of white ninjas. He wanders the desert and stumbles into a sideshow where he sees Lily (Fox), a woman with bird's wings. When he finds out they're real, he breaks her out of the control of the abusive carnie and falls in love with her. But not before he sells her out to Happy in an attempt to trade her for his own life. Of course, he regrets the decision and wants to save Lily from Happy's clutches, but she doesn't necessarily want his help. You know, because of the whole betrayal thing. The ending leaves a few questions, but I'm not sure the answers are worth thinking much about. Mickey's right. This is a train wreck. Couldn't have said it better myself.
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