Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 18th, 2016
In the late 1960's three musicians came together with an idea. It was a somewhat unconventional idea. Roy Wood and Bev Bevan were part of the band The Move when they met up with Jeff Lynne from The Idle Race. The three hit it off almost instantly. So much so that before long Lynne would also become a member of The Move so that he could work with Wood and Bevan. But that wasn't going to be the ultimate goal. The unconventional idea that the three had involved combining rock and roll with classical music. Of course, other bands had done orchestral arrangements, most notably the Beatles. But their idea was to fuse the concepts more integrally together. The idea was to have live violins and cellos as part of the actual band itself. Lynne would once describe the concept as picking up where the Beatles had left off. Together they invented a new way to rock "n" roll. That invention was the Electric Light Orchestra, or ELO to the fans.
The band started with a bang. The first album, while not a huge commercial success, received more than its share of attention. But band squabbles would almost doom this ambitious project before it got off the ground. Roy Wood left the band to form his own and took some members with him. It looked bleak for the struggling concept. But that might have been the best thing that could have happened. Jeff Lynne would become the controlling force, and the band would go on to enjoy commercial success to go along with those critical appreciations. The band's second album was called No Answer, but it wasn't really intended to carry the title. A secretary with the record company was assigned to contact Jeff Lynne to get the correct album title. He wasn't home. Naturally, the secretary made the notation "no answer". The notation was misinterpreted as the album title, and the mistake would be a permanent entry in the band's discology.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 13th, 2016
"We have known them only as shadows, gazing at us from a ghostly world of black and white. But now the American Civil War can at last be seen as those who lived and died experienced it...in vivid color."
It was the bloodiest conflict in American history. Maybe because Americans fought on both sides of the brutal conflict. It might have been because it was a deeply personal war, often between brothers. The cause was one that cut deeply in both the hearts and minds of the men fighting. A young nation was being torn apart, and war appeared the only path toward any kind of peace. The passions of that war still ring out today. The Confederate flag has become something of a symbol beyond what it once was intended to represent. It has become a symbol of hatred for some and is quickly disappearing from our nation's landscape. Stores are now refusing to sell any products that bear its image. Confederate soldiers are finding their memorials being erased and their names expunged from history. We must be careful that we do not expunge the memory of the war each side fought. It's the curse of history that to forget is to relive. Here's another chance to remember why and how so many Americans died.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 8th, 2016
“Look at where the world is because of solitary dudes going mental in the desert.”
Depressed, deplorable artist Tom heads to the Mojave Desert, where he unexpectedly meets his match in crazed, charismatic drifter Jack. The fact that their tense encounter results in a death is one of the least surprising things about Mojave. What initially appears to be a cat-and-mouse game set in the desert turns out to be an interesting, uneven meditation on perception vs. reality that spills over into the vapid world of Hollywood.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on April 7th, 2016
"There's always room for improvement."
Banshee is one of those improbable plots that finds a way to pull us into the action all the while ignoring how unlikely any of this might really be. Of course, we do that all the time. It's certainly unlikely we're going to face a zombie apocalypse or run into a super-powered hero. That's a different kind of unlikely. This kind of real-world fantastic is usually a bit harder to accept. Credit folks like Allan Ball for keeping us engaged with some of the most entertaining sleight of hand on television. Entering its third season, the series shows no signs of slowing down. You absolutely can't start with season three. There's too much "must-know" build up here. You can get caught up on the characters and first two seasons here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on April 3rd, 2016
Keanu Reeves is a guy who I don’t think anyone would be crazy enough to say is a “great actor”, but instead he’s a guy who has been in some pretty great films. For me he’s an actor I grew up with from his days doing the Bill and Ted movies and Point Break. (Seriously, how dare they attempt to remake that gem?) Between Speed and The Matrix, those are the two movies I’ve held onto for so long as his career took a more interesting turn; that is until John Wick came along and blew my mind with all the insane coolness that was up on the screen. Finally it seemed I was on track to getting the Keanu Reeves that I grew up watching. I know, so what’s the point of all this? Well, until now, none of the Reeves films that I’ve liked could I really say it was because of his performance, and Exposed is finally the film he’s needed where he can show he’s more than just a brooding action star.
Isabel (Ana De Armas) is a young woman who has done everything she can to be a good person. She’s filled with love and devotion to her husband and family, and when it comes to her job, working with children, there is no better-suited person to be tasked with watching your kid. Basically Isabel is as close to perfect a person can get through the eyes of her faith. When we see her walking alone late at night through a subway station, you just know this can’t possibly end well for her, though what follows is a bit of a head-turner as she encounters a strange albino man in a suit who has the ability to float above the tracks. Is it an angel that has come to her, or is there something more sinister at play? This is something that isn’t answered until things seem to get even stranger for her.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 30th, 2016
The name Quentin Tarantino carries the weight of legacy as such directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, and more recently Christopher Nolan. I’m not saying one is better than the other, but simply by name recognition alone Tarantino is in the company of directors that when you hear that his name is attached there will be a loyal fan base flocking to the theaters to see what they have to dazzle us with. This time around Tarantino returns to the cinema in his biggest release to date; in glorious 70mm we have The Hateful Eight. Tarantino returns to the Western genre, only this time he heads out west to Wyoming to thrust us into his most claustrophobic setting since Reservoir Dogs. Let me just come out of the gate and say that if you’re looking for the over-the-top fun you found in Django Unchained, you’re going to have to readjust those expectations; this time around we are given something much more intimate and all the more rich with dark humor.
John “The Hangman” Ruth (Kurt Russell) is a bounty hunter on his way to turn in his prisoner, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to hang. It’s along their stagecoach ride they come across another bounty hunter, Major Warren (Samuel L Jackson) who is looking to collect on a bounty of his own, only his prisoners are already dead. As we’ve seen in previous Tarantino films, he chooses to tell his story in chapter form, and for the first chapter of the film we spend it getting to know this trio of unsavory characters. If you were hoping chapter two would pick things up in the action department, I’m sorry to say instead it is spent with a new passenger hopping aboard to avoid the oncoming blizzard. The new passenger is Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins); he’s the newly appointed Sheriff in the town Ruth plans on taking his prisoner to hang in, and it’s with this new addition the dialog only continues to flow.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 30th, 2016
“It was as if all the pieces of the puzzle were falling into place since what was being discussed here was a matter of creating something unique: a cuisine based exclusively on raw Nordic ingredients.”
That pull quote, which appears at the start of Noma: My Perfect Storm, accidentally serves as a microcosm for the film as a whole. The excitement that builds at the prospect of witnessing something special quickly gives way to a chilly, undercooked experience.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 29th, 2016
"A long time ago in a galaxy far far away..."
It sure does seem like it was a long time ago since Star Wars was actually very good. It doesn't matter if you thought Empire or Jedi was the last good film; few people that I've encountered mentioned the more recent trilogy in the same sacred breath as those original films. Star Wars gave us swashbuckler adventure in the spirit of the early serials. Then it was about a mythical epic story that swept a generation into its colorful universe. What George Lucas created in the late 1970's will never die. But before long it became more about the creator and less about engaging the fans. The attitude turned into "this is my franchise and I'll do whatever the heck I want to do with it." First he changed elements of the first films, most notably the "who shot first" controversy over Han Solo and Greedo. It was as if Lucas was truly feeling like God now. Lucas giveth, and Lucas taketh away. The prequel trilogy was all about getting theaters to change to digital and presenting films that shouted wildly, "Look at me". Many scenes were so crowded with visuals that it wasn't even possible to take it all in. The technology began to overshadow the story. And it was always made worse that Lucas didn't seem to care at all what we thought. Star Wars no longer belonged to us.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 27th, 2016
When Vikings Season 1 first arrived a couple of years ago, I have to admit I was pretty excited. I was particularly eager to see footage from their very first game. Fran Tarkenton came off the bench, and the Vikings went on to become the first expansion team ever to win their very first game. OK, as Baby, our shepherd/chow mix dog film reviewer would say: I made that last part up. You'd have to have been living under a pretty isolated rock to have missed all of the buzz over the History Channel's drama series Vikings. Now season 3 is out on Blu-ray, and it's certainly a season to remember.
This is quite a step up for the History Channel folks. They've certainly produced a great number of historical dramatizations and documentaries, but nothing they've ever done before compares with this series. We used to review a ton of their stuff here for years, so you know I've liked a lot of the things they've done. But Vikings puts them in a totally new stratosphere. This is historical drama that you've only seen before in the likes of Rome or The Tudors. Of course, there's a very good reason for that. Michael Hirst created the series and is the creative force behind it. He served the same positions on The Tudors. That puts expectations here very high, and the show has met or exceeded them all.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on March 23rd, 2016
It’s the one that fans have been waiting for. The conclusion of the only adaptation series to rival the star power of Twilight in my opinion (Divergent comes close, but the popularity is clearly with this Jennifer Lawrence-led series). Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 is the culmination of all the action set up in the first film. It’s time to finally take the fight to President Snow, and this film delivers in every aspect. Action sequences are tier-one as well as being character-driven, all the while staying faithful to the source material. Accomplishing all these tasks is always difficult; however, this film appears to do it with ease.
I think the number one thing loyal fans of the book were looking for was for the film to maintain the faithfulness to the original material. The series has always done a very good job of this, but I think it was best done here. As someone who has read the trilogy, I was very happy with how closely the two mirrored one another. The setting of certain scenes changed naturally (which was to be expected), but much of the dialog was the original text. I love to see a film maintain that level of commitment, because much of the fan base is made of people who fell in love with the books and wanted to see that same story illuminated on the silver screen. I don’t imagine that anyone will be disappointed in that regard.
