Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 13th, 2010
I get the impression that things didn't quite work out for Joe Pesci the way he might have originally intended. There's a heart of a serious actor buried somewhere deep under the makeup of a clown. Who can forget the dead-eyed killer Tommy from Goodfellas? Most of us have that restaurant scene engraved in our heads where Tommy asked the immortal question "Do I amuse you?" Well ... Joe, actually, you do. And putting aside his initial role of Joey in Raging Bull and the aforementioned Tommy with its carbon-copied Casino character, Pesci has made the most noise by amusing us. Whether it was playing the title character in the hilarious My Cousin Vinny or the reluctant police snitch Leo Getz in the Lethal Weapon films, as much as he scared the crap out of us in Goodfellas, we've spent a lot more time laughing when Joe Pesci was up on the big screen. Jimmy Hollywood is certainly not the best of these funny roles, but it merits honorable mention.
Jimmy (Pesci) is one of the thousands of actor hopefuls that have come to Hollywood in search of stardom. It's all he thinks about. He even takes out an ad on a bus stop bench, expecting Hollywood big shots to be ringing his phone off the hook with starring roles. The truth is that Jimmy is more than a little naive. He's memorized the order of the stars on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and he can sit mesmerized by old Hollywood documentaries. Still, he's not recognized for whatever talent he believes he possesses. The truth is that Jimmy really pines for a Hollywood that doesn't even exist anymore. He's looking for that Golden Era with the likes of Cagney and Robinson. He's looking for streets that glitter like gold. Instead, he finds the streets are infested with criminals. His girlfriend Lorraine is robbed at gunpoint on her way home from the beauty parlor where she works. When his car is broken into and his stereo stolen, he decides to take drastic action. If the cops can't stop the criminals, then he will. Along with his best friend and cameraman William, who is somewhat mentally only half there, he stakes out the streets waiting for the serial stereo thief to try for another stereo. They record the crook in the act, tape a confession complete with the address of his fence and tie the guy up and leave him, the stereos, and the tape at the steps of the police department. William signs the label-maker note SOS, and before long the police believe a major vigilante group is at work in Hollywood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 13th, 2010
When I was a kid in the 80’s, Predator was one of those films that you weren’t supposed to watch, but everybody did anyway. Over-the-top action, invincible heroes, cheesy one-liners and big, big explosions made this a film that was a favorite of pre-pubescent boys everywhere. Going into this disc, I found myself wondering if the film would stand up to the harsh tests of time and maturity.
The answer to that question is both “yes”, and “no”. In the “no” column, it is very apparent early on in the film…that there is very little here in the way of plot. Some soldiers are hired to go behind enemy lines to rescue an American politician who has been kidnapped by generic terrorists. Once the team arrives at their location, they discover that they have actually been sent on the mission for different reasons altogether, though those reasons are never really made clear. On their way back to the rendezvous point, they have multiple encounters with an evil and mysterious creature who tries to kill them (and occasionally succeeds). That’s about it. Beyond these basic plot outlines, dialog is basically reserved to screaming profanities and the aforementioned goofy one-liners.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 29th, 2010
"The Earth has immense power, and yet that's rarely mentioned in our history books. I'm here to change all that."
The BBC has a reputation of putting out some very high quality documentaries, particularly recently in the high-definition age. Planet Earth became an award winning series lauded all over the globe for its stunning photography and epic tales. Most recently I watched and reviewed their Life series. Once again the series was dominated by startling images, many never before captured on film, all in wonderful high definition. Now I have a chance to visit yet another recent BBC project: How The Earth Changed History.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on June 28th, 2010
Most people associate the book, War and Peace in the same respects as they do torture. A one thousand, two hundred and twenty five page book that is regarded as one of the most brilliant pieces of historical fiction is a nightmare to most advanced high school and college kids. However, perhaps more fascinating than any single piece of work by Leo Tolstoy is the life in which he lead. Last Station attempts to give us the last few years of the Count’s life in film form.
It is the last year of Leo Tolstoy (played by Christopher Plummer)’s long and prosperous life. He has developed principles that reject private property and advocates passive resistance. Those same principles have led to the birth of the Tolstoyan movement, championed by his disciple, Vladimir Chertkov (played by Paul Giamatti). Chertkov has unfortunately also been placed under house arrest and has no way to keep regular ties with Tolstoy who is in failing health.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 23rd, 2010
Whenever there is a disaster, there are always the inevitable questions that follow. Where did it all begin? Could it have been avoided? What can we learn from this? No, I'm not talking about the oil leak in the Gulf. Hollywood is no exception. You have your disaster movies like Earthquake, and you have your movies that are disasters like Waterworld. Of course there are even disaster movies that are also disasters like the recent 2012. Some disasters you never see coming. But, many such events could have been predicted and possibly avoided if only the right folks had been paying attention. This is the story of one such event: Showgirls.
I guess you could say that it all started with Basic Instinct. The film was directed by Paul Verhoeven and scripted by Joe Eszterhas. You remember the movie. It starred an as yet unknown Sharon Stone as the girl who dared Michael Douglas to arrest her for smoking in the interrogation room. There were ice picks, torrid sex scenes, and a few gender- bender moments. The film was a small affair with a budget under $50 million. It took the world by storm and raked in almost $400 million in the worldwide box office. It became that film that everyone talks about. Water cooler conversations were dominated by the thing. It quickly invaded the pop culture, and even if you'd never seen the movie you knew the common references. So, three years later when the same director and writer team decided to take on the Vegas showgirl world, expectations were high indeed. If Basic Instinct got them talking, Showgirls is going to have them screaming, and so it did ... only not quite in the way everyone had expected. The end result? A mere $20 million at the box office. In less than a few weeks Showgirls had become one of the most disappointing movies in the history of the industry.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 14th, 2010
I'd like to think that the concepts of what makes a good children's movie is somewhat international. While cultures may vary, kids all over the world are pretty much the same. They look for the same kinds of characteristics in their heroes. While the martial arts film is somewhat cultural, there have been more than enough child-friendly martial arts films for me to conclude that these kinds of acrobatics and old fashioned good kicking-evil's-butt themes work for kids of any nationality. The recent Jackie Chan The Spy Next Door outing is one good example of the genre-crossing martial arts children's movie. I suspect these are the feelings that director Rachata Krissanapong must have had when he took on the Thai project 5 Huajai Hero or Power Kids and when Magnolia Home Entertainment packaged the film for American kids in this Blu-ray release.
At first the plot is rather difficult to follow. Blame it on the English translation or a little unfamiliarity with the culture. We get the general idea, however. We have this group of children living with their uncle, who happens to run a martial arts school. Of course, they are well trained and display impressive skills as the film throws somewhat light-hearted moments into the mix to establish the team's skill level. We eventually learn that the youngest is very sick. He has a severe heart condition and is close to death, unless he can get a heart transplant. The film attempts to build emotion and sympathy by showing the kids working together to buy the boy his favorite RC race car. But when he attempts to take it to the public track, he's bullied, and the stress brings on an attack that nearly kills him. The boy is rushed to the hospital, where it is discovered a heart has been found just in time to save his life. Unfortunately, an American diplomat has checked into the cross-town hospital where the heart is located. A group of rebel terrorists have taken over the hospital to make their vague point, and nothing is getting in or out of the building, including a certain necessary heart. Our Power Kids spring into action. They go to the hospital under siege, and inspired by the Die Hard-style films they've seen out of America, find a way into the hospital. Of course, they must locate the heart and get it out, while kicking some terrorist butt along the way.
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.
Beth (played by Kristen Bell) is a successful art curator for the Guggenheim. After a great art show, she is talking to her friends and mentions how she hates her ex-boyfriend: Brady Sacks’ guts (played by Lee Pace). Of course, he’s standing right behind her. They talk for a while and it appears that Brady is bitter over the fact that he got dumped at Applebees (he probably wasn’t allowed to get the Riblets, I hear they are divine). Brady then mentions he is engaged.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 11th, 2010
"At the top of the world, there's a job only a few would dare. Last season the dash for the cash was fought on the smooth playing field of Canada's Arctic ice. This season, two old pros join four of America's bravest truckers to tackle the continent's deadliest ice passage. Just when you thought extreme trucking couldn't get more dangerous, Ice Road Truckers takes on Alaska."
It was the peak of the 1970's and CW McCall was teaching ordinary people like us about Cabover Petes with reefers on and getting by those smokeys. The man practically started a new genre of music with the hit song Convoy. The song was so popular that the back-up band used their cut to start a little project of their own. They became Manheim Steamroller and used the cash to cut their own music. The movies started giving us things like Smokey And The Bandit. Truckin' was in fashion, and a good time was had by all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on June 7th, 2010
"I try to believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast. Count them, Alice. One, there are drinks that make you shrink. Two, there are foods that make you grow. Three, animals can talk. Four, cats can disappear. Five, there is a place called Underland. Six, I can slay the Jabberwocky."
To be perfectly honest with you, I have never read either of the two Lewis Carroll books on which this film has been based. Under ordinary circumstances, that would put me at a decided disadvantage in both watching the film and certainly in providing an insightful review of the movie. But these are not ordinary circumstances. The characters and their stories, originally told in both Alice's Adventures In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There, have become an indelible part of our culture. One need not have read a word to be intimately familiar with Alice and her fanciful friends and rivals from Underland, which Alice herself interprets for us as Wonderland. There have been animated features as well as other live action attempts. The characters have become iconic and have appeared in advertising campaigns and even an episode of Star Trek. The surprise isn't that I feel like I know this story without having read the source material. The real surprise would be if there was anyone out in the civilized world who wasn't familiar with these characters.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 24th, 2010
Mel Brooks has often been called the Master of Comedy. The moniker might be a bit too grandiose, but he was certainly the master of the parody. In recent years that has become more evident than ever. Too often I've been forced to sit through something called a comedy. Not only can I do so without ever actually laughing, but there are far too many titles of late that don't even give me the chance to crack a smile. It's not that I've seen so much that it's hard to find anything original. I can still laugh like crazy when I watch a Sanford and Son episode I've seen at least 50 times or an Abbott & Costello routine that was old before they even got their hands on the material. There is a famous quote that states, "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard." Then why does Mel Brooks make it look so dang easy?
While we're on the subject of masters, you really can't avoid the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Perhaps no one understood his audience more than Hitch did. He's influenced a great many of today's filmmaking geniuses. He's been admired by almost anyone who has ever really studied film. Mel Brooks can be counted among his students. On more than one occasion I have seen an interview where Brooks can't say enough flattering things about Alfred Hitchcock. It would have only been a matter of time before Brooks turned his creative mind to one of his own idols. The result is enough to give anyone High Anxiety.
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