Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on April 2nd, 2015
“For the first time in four years, I can say what I really think.”
It may have taken four years for fictional U.S. Vice President Selina Meyer to make her boldest political move yet, but Veep was finally able to achieve all-around greatness in just three. I know there are fans of HBO's caustic comedy series who would argue the show was already great, and I agree there have absolutely been many flashes of foul-mouthed brilliance throughout its run. But it wasn't until Veep had Selina Meyer try to outgrow the show's title in season 3 that the series itself ascended to another level.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on March 31st, 2015
Most movies are just not very good. Lots of money goes into turning out boring, repetitive garbage. You watch it and then dispose of it and make room for the next thing. There are some who do more, but the more you do, the greater the risk. Most filmmakers are not given the freedom to take really big risks, but someone who has been given the opportunity to take the big risk is Christopher Nolan. Interstellar is $165,000,000 gamble shooting for the moon. Actually Nolan is shooting for something way past the moon. He wants to take us to another galaxy. There is so much speculative science in this film that it is mind-boggling. The cutting edge of real science is, frankly, getting crazier and crazier. The average person really has no idea how crazy, but Interstellar is going to try to show us just how crazy. The true nature of some of the elements of the theory of relativity and other related theories is that they defy all logic.
One of the most important things in Interstellar is its attempts to deal with some of the properties of time. The laws of physics tell us time acts differently in different situations. In this movie time rules everything in people's lives, but the main character is given the power to do something with time that most of us don't even imagine. It's important to know some of these situations are described in actual scientific theory. In fact, real science is getting closer and closer to God all the time. Most people who don't believe in God don't expect science to contradict that way of thinking. Interstellar doesn't talk about God, but it comes close to doing something similar. It is science's contention to state statistically there are millions of planets with intelligent life out there. Some of those intelligence forces will seem like God to us. This is simple science, but people have such a wide range of beliefs that no one will ever agree on what is the truth. The reason we don't agree is because mankind is just not smart enough to have real answers.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 30th, 2015
“There's money flying all over Silicon Valley, but none of it ever seems to hit us.”
There's a lot to like about HBO's Silicon Valley, which debuted last year with a confident, clever freshman season that took merciless aim the tech capital of the U.S. My favorite thing about the show — besides hyper-specific jokes aimed at geeky targets like the many endings of “Mass Effect 3” — is that it portrays (and makes fun of) each aspect of the cutthroat tech industry, from the self-important, aggressively eccentric billionaires to the scrappy, proverbial guys in a garage.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2015
"Antarctica, an inhospitable wasteland, but even here, on the Earth's frozen bottom, we find life. And not just any life: penguins. Joyous, frolicking, waddling, cute and cuddly life. Look at them, tumbling onto their chubby bum bums. Who could take these frisky snow-clowns... seriously?"
This one has been a long time coming. I like the Madagascar movies and have been fairly positive about them in these pages. Each time I pointed out that the highlight of these films were the antics of those military-minded penguins and their grand schemes. The film's powers that be have also noticed this, as the penguin characters have been trending with more screen time as the franchise went along. Now those flightless maniacs have finally gotten a film of their own, and dare I say it, The Penguins Of Madagascar are flying higher than the source films with this frosty little tale.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 26th, 2015
I’m not really a big Beatles fan. That will shock, anger, and dismay many of you. Sure, I’ve got a couple of favorites, but nothing I feel the need to hear over and over again. Now, with that said, I am a fan of Paul McCartney. Of all the Beatles he has evolved the most. He has gone from a kid who was nothing really special, just in the right place at the right time, to a very accomplished musician. Few musicians today can match his performance skills on almost any instrument. While a lot of celebrities talk about compassionate subjects, I get the impression McCartney is more sincere than most. Perhaps it’s this sincerity that makes him such a good songwriter.
Paul McCartney is a great example of what Darwin meant by survival of the fittest. No one in the music business has learned to adapt and thrive like Paul McCartney. The term timeless has been applied so often to so many performers that it might have lost any meaning. Still, if anyone deserves that description, it is Paul McCartney. With The Beatles he helped define the 60’s and reinvent Rock and Roll. In the 1970’s and 80’s he continued the hits with Paul McCartney and Wings. When Wings finally disappeared into the midnight sky, McCartney was still at it as a solo artist. Certainly, McCartney albums are fewer and far longer between. Still, each new release is an exercise in quality. Even when I don’t care for a particular McCartney song, it’s easy to hear the work that went into each note.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 23rd, 2015
When it comes to the modern epic, director Ridley Scott is the go-to guy to pull off the sprawling and mega-budget storylines. From Gladiator to Kingdom of Heaven, Scott has constantly proven himself behind the camera in executing tales with lavish sets and battles involving hundreds to even thousands of extras. With the release of Exodus: Gods and Kings, a retelling of the Bible story where Moses frees the slaves of Egypt, Ridley Scott would seem the perfect choice for this film. Unfortunately, this is a Bible story that is sure to anger religious scholars and put some general audiences to sleep.
Let me jump ahead and say I’m an unapologetic fan of Ridley Scott; this is my favorite working director. From his early work like Alien, Blade Runner and Legend on into his later films like Gladiator, Matchstick Men, Black Hawk Down and Prometheus, he has entertained me for years. But lately I feel he’s been swinging for hits but missing more than he has delivered. Last year’s release of The Counselor was a misstep that should have been a knockout hit but instead just was a disappointment in many ways, which brings us to Exodus: Gods and Kings and its frustrating retelling.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on March 23rd, 2015
The Norwegian oil boom of the early 1980s isn’t the most obvious setting for a thriller, but director Erik Skjoldbjærg manages to squeeze plenty of intrigue out of what seems like a pretty dry subject. Of course, Pioneer could never be described as “dry” in the literal sense since the film follows a group of commercial divers in Norway as they try to establish the country’s first petroleum pipeline 500 meters underwater.
Petter (Aksel Hennie) is a brash professional diver obsessed with reaching the bottom of the Norwegian Sea. Norway has partnered with American company Deep Sea Diving to lay the country’s first oil pipeline. (Avatar’s Stephen Lang plays an American supervisor.) Petter and his more family-oriented brother Knut (Andre Eriksen) are part of the group of divers, which also includes a jealous American rival (Wes Bentley). The movie opens with a hallucinatory training exercise that sets the film’s hazy tone.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 20th, 2015
From the moment Son of a Gun opens up taking you behind bars as JR (Brenton Thwaites) is being processed into an Australian prison, it is the start of a journey that throws everything at its audience till the final credits roll. I have a hard time figuring out just how to classify Son of a Gun; it is everything from being a film about self-discovery, a guys-behind-bars film, to being a heist film and so much more. The title refers to JR as he goes about serving his time behind bars and captures the attention of an infamous thief Brendan (Ewan McGregor). Brendan takes in the young man and protects him from would-be attackers, but of course the protection comes at a price. JR makes up for it by helping spring Brendan from prison in a clever prison break that somewhat reminded me of the prison escape in Superman 2 (you know, when Lex Luthor is rescued via helicopter), same thing only slicker.
It’s when Brendan makes his escape that we see the bond continue to develop with JR, and he teaches him the ropes of being a good thief as well as teaching him a few life lessons along the way. It’s a formula we’ve seen before, but it is a formula that works, and in this film writer/director Julius Avery knows how to deliver the action beats stringing the viewer along for this intriguing yet recycled plot. By the time we get to the gold heist I was sucked in, because the performances are just that good, that they manage to make this rehash seem fresh and even exciting at points.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 19th, 2015
Anyone who has ever played an instrument or sung understands the therapeutic powers of music. In England they have been using that idea to help physically disadvantaged children with music at the Nordoff-RobbinsMusicCenter in London's KentishTown. The institute was founded by American composer Paul Nordoff and British teacher Clive Robbins. They have thousands of success stories. We're talking children who had closed themselves off from the world around them, many who had stopped speaking or communicating at all. The children come from all over the world. In the late 1980's the Center was looking at the need to expand their facilities. To build a state-of-the-art facility would take a lot of money, so they naturally turned to the professional musical artists whom they had honored yearly with their own Silver Clef Award. We're talking the likes of Elton John, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney, heavy hitters, to be sure. Every one of them who were available immediately agreed to put on a super-concert to raise money for the new facility. The event was so successful that a second beneficiary was added because of the funds the show made available. The BritSchool Of Performing Arts was the added charity. It all came together for 11 hours on June 30th 1990 at a place called Knebworth.
The concert was billed as The Best All British Rock Show Ever Staged, and it very well might have been. The crowd was a living sea of rock 'n' roll fans. But it wasn't really strictly a British affair. The crowd can be seen waving flags from many nations, the United States and Canada quite prominent. It was obvious that fans came from around the globe to see the historic gathering. It doesn't look like they were disappointed in the least.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on March 18th, 2015
What if there was a place where you can act out your wildest fantasy, whether it be murder, theft, or sex, and at the end of the day you could go home as though nothing happened? That is the tease Vice offers its audience in a sci-fi action film that blends bits of Blade Runner, Stange Days and Westworld into one tight little package. For fans of the sci-fi genre, the movies I reference are staples in the genre, but let me be clear; at no time does Vice measure up to these films. When we meet Kelly (newcomer Ambyr Childers), she is an android leading a life behind the walls of VICE where she is programmed to live the same day over day after day. For all androids within the walls of VICE, they all are living out a Groundhog Day life, only what changes are the outsiders that pay to do some pretty horrible things. I feel a little horrible saying this, but I wish we got to see more of these horrible activities take place, and in a weird way I think that’s the most obvious plot hole of the film. Why is there not constant mayhem occurring behind these walls? In a world where it is a free for all to kill and maim these androids; instead filling the background are well-to-do folks just minding their own business and sipping martinis. This is still Kelly’s life, and early on we see her in a violent encounter that leaves her and her friend dead.
Being dead means very little to an android who has their memory wiped every day, so after Kelly is patched up she is ready to function for another day and face whatever violent act awaits her. That is till she starts having flashbacks from her previous memory swipes, and we get to see she has been a part of some pretty cruel activities.
