Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 19th, 2010
Miley Cyrus is displaced from New York to spend the summer by the sea in Georgia with estranged father Greg Kinnear. While younger brother Bobby Coleman thinks the set-up is just keen (especially former composer dad's work restoring the stain glass windows of a burned church), Cyrus stomps around in full Resentful Teenage Girl mode, until two things make her begin to open up: the need to protect a nest of sea turtles, and the attentions of the impossibly hunky Liam Hemsworth. Since this is a Nicholas Sparks story, true love and happiness will have to run the gauntlet of class snobbery, Disturbing Revelations ™, and the inevitable Third Act Fatal Illness That Brings Out The Best In Everyone (also a registered trademark).
Oh dear, am I waxing cynical? I suppose I am. Fans of Cyrus and Sparks will, of course, see this no matter what, and will probably get what they're hoping for. For everyone else, well, Kinnear does what he can, and should be congratulated for making his scenes as watchable as they are. But otherwise, we have a charmless lead, and a script so hamfisted, so filled with contrivances as predictable as they are overblown, that the film would be hilarious if it weren't so dull.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 18th, 2010
"I remember once going on a school trip to the top of the Empire State Building. When I looked down at the crowds of people on the street, they looked like ants. I pulled out a penny and some of us started talking about what would happen if I dropped it from up there and it landed on somebody's head. Of course, I never crossed that line and actually dropped the penny. I don't think Early Grayce even knew there was a line to cross."
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 18th, 2010
Some of you are aware of this but my favorite movie of all time is Escape from New York. To me, John Carpenter and Kurt Russell represent the perfect director/actor combination. The director knows how to play the actor’s strengths (and minimize weaknesses) and the actor knows how to bring out the best in the direction. It is my sincere pleasure to cover this film on its first trip to the Blu-ray format.
In the year 1988, it was reported that crime had increased by four hundred percent. Things got so bad that they decided to turn Manhattan Island into one giant maximum security prison. Only prisoners live on the island and there are no police. Furthermore, if you are sent to the island, you are there for life. Exit from the island is impossible due to mines on all major bridges and a large 50 foot wall.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 10th, 2010
After watching plenty of terrible horror movies in my life, I start to wonder if this is easiest thing in Hollywood to produce. Work with a small budget, come up with a scare and hire some shapely actors to play the ones in peril. Oh, and make sure you have plenty of fake blood. Our example today is Open House, a recent horror movie directed by Andrew Paquin.
We open to a couple being shown a house by Carl (played by Gabriel Olds). During the showing, a stranger comes into the house and then hides in the basement. When Carl leaves, he has a strange feeling that somebody is there. However after looking in the basement and garage, he doesn’t find anything. EXCEPT DEATH. Okay, not really just we know what’s coming. We are soon introduced to Alice (played by Rachel Blanchard) who owns the house.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 9th, 2010
A good thriller is something that has been absent from my recent viewing experience. One of my favorite thrillers of all time is a movie named Ninth Gate. This movie is directed by Roman Polanski. As luck would have it, Roman Polanski also directed the thriller I am bringing you today, The Ghost Writer. My fingers are crossed and I can only hope that this film is just as good.
When the movie opens, we learn that Ghost (real name never revealed) (played by Ewan McGregor) is made aware of a ghostwriting venture by his agent Rick Ricardelli (played by Jon Bernthal). It involves writing the memoirs of Adam Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan), the former British Prime Minister. Ghost also learns that his predecessor before him was unfortunately found dead, drowned aboard a local ferry.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 5th, 2010
For most of you who read my reviews, I can be rather harsh when reviewing movies of a Christian nature. One needs to look no further than my scathing review of Fireproof. More than often they tend to be too preachy with messages and heavy themes that suggest a way of life too strict for many people’s tastes. Naturally, I was a little skeptical when I received To Save a Life. But as the movie teaches us: one should not be judged on appearances alone.
Today is the funeral of Roger Dawson (played by Robert Bailey Jr) who committed suicide at the tender age of seventeen. We see many people in attendance including one other fellow high school student named Jake Taylor (played by Randy Wayne). As it turns out, we are treated to a flashback that shows Jake and Roger as best friends growing up.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 28th, 2010
Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen have done a lot of movies together in the last five years including Dragon Tiger Gate, Kill Zone, and Flashpoint. This duo has had a knack of combining strong stories with fantastic martial arts. In 2008, they decided to take on the story if Ip Man, the grandmaster of the martial art Wing Chun. Ip Man also had a few famous students including the legendary Bruce Lee. Can Wilson Yip and Donnie Yen produce another quality martial arts flic?
In the 1930’s, Foshan was the center of Chinese martial arts and had plenty of masters willing to teach anybody who was willing to learn. But the most skilled man of martial arts in all of Foshan is not on the front lines teaching students. He’s back in his mansion with his wife and child and goes by the name of Ip Man (played by Donnie Yen). Ip spends his days training and studying his art of Wing Chun much to his wife, Cheung Wing-sing’s (played by Lynn Xiong) dislike.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 28th, 2010
Woody Harrelson is Arthur Poppington, a child-like adult who fights crime by night in the guise of Defendor. His costume and weapons are DIY: a helmet that records his adventures on VHS, a duct tape “D” on his black turtleneck, a trench club, a slingshot, marbles, lime juice. He is obsessed with tracking down “Captain Industry,” a mythical figure whom he blames for the death of his drug-addicted mother. He runs afoul of corrupt cop Dooney (Elias Koteas at his scuzziest best), beating him and “rescuing” prostitute Kat (Kat Dennings), and the latter convinces him that the crime boss Dooney works for is, in fact, Captain Industry. Arthur sets out on his crusade, and the question is whether his naiveté will triumph, or get him killed.
A quirky, charming take on the super-hero genre, Defendor deftly mixes pathos and laughs. There is enormous fun in seeing Koteas taking one improbable beating after another, but there is also real sadness and drama in Arthur and Kat's stories. For all its “real world” patina, Defendor is ultimately no more realistic than The Dark Knight, but that in no way detracts from the deeply human, deeply moving, character-driven tale that unfolds. Quite the wonderful little movie.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2010
I get this terrible knot in the pit of my stomach whenever I discover that I have to review a Kevin Smith film. I know there are a core of solid fans out there who appear to get the inside joke. It's long been my belief that he must have the best blackmail file in the industry to keep getting studio deals to release films. It's not like any of his films have broken any box office records. Still, he keeps getting work. So, it was with that admitted prejudice and knot with which I approached my viewing of Cop Out. My shoulder had developed this nasty twitch as the disc menu took forever to load. Like a condemned man waiting for the chair generators to come on line, I watched the Warner logo and the FBI warnings slowly resolve themselves on my monitor. Then something totally unexpected happened. It was like that proverbial last-second call from the Governor. The knot disappeared, and the twitching miraculously ceased. I actually enjoyed the movie. It's a miracle of the highest degree. Somewhere some holy dead guy just put in his final miracle on his way to sainthood, because Kevin Smith released a pretty good movie.
Detectives Jimmy Monroe (Willis) and Paul Hodges (Morgan) have been partners for a long time. Nine years, in fact, which as Paul informs us is longer than the life of your average great dane. At times it appears miraculous that the duo has managed to last that long together. They bicker more than an old married couple on their way to Divorce Court on television. To an outsider it might appear they don't like each other at all. But when the chips are down and they get suspended for causing a little havoc on their latest undercover, they have each other's backs. The suspension couldn't have come at a worse time for Jimmy. His daughter wants a $48,000 wedding, and his ex-wife's rich husband is more than willing to foot the tab so that he can rub Jimmy's face in it. So Jimmy does what any father would do to save his pride. He decides to sell a mint baseball card that his late father cherished to pay for the wedding. A good plan. That is, until a couple of punk hoods decide on just that moment to rob the sports memorabilia store. They end up with Jimmy's baseball card. Jimmy and Paul finally catch up with one of the hoods only to discover that he sold the card to a big drug kingpin for a couple of bags of drugs. So, now it's off to confront Poh Boy (Diaz) to get the card back. Poh Boy offers to return the card if Jimmy can trace a car of his that was recently stolen. The car contains some valuable evidence that he wants back, including a witness ,Gabriela (de la Reguera) who has been locked in the trunk for two days. Now Jimmy and Paul need to protect the witness and bring down Poh Boy, with no badges and two of their own detectives trying to pin some recent murders on them. This should be a lot of fun, and it is.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 27th, 2010
I'm reminded of my innocent childhood days when Mr. Rogers would come on my black & white television to change his shoes and put on a sweater. I have to say that I always found the guy a little creepy. He would sing to us in a soft hypnotic voice: "It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day in the neighborhood. Could you be mine. Would you be my neighbor." Mr. Rogers had quite a fanciful neighborhood indeed. The place was mostly populated with puppets and strange creatures of all sizes. And while today he'd look and sound like a pedophile, Mr. Rogers welcomed everyone to his neighborhood. So, I can't help thinking how he'd feel about "The Girl".
"The Girl" is played by America Olivo, and while her name may sound like a country and a margarine substitute, she's actually pretty wickedly phenomenal in the new direct to video horror film Neighbor.
![Kalifornia (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/kalifornia-two-disc-blu-raydvd-co-large.jpg)
![To Save a Life [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/to-save-a-life-blu-ray-large.jpg)
![Ip Man (Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/ip-man-collectors-edition-blu-r-large.jpg)
