Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 14th, 2015
“This may very well be our last mission, Ethan...make it count.”
You wouldn't know it from looking at him, but Tom Cruise is now 53 years old. So it's only natural to wonder how many more Missions the indomitable superstar has left in him. Well if Rogue Nation is any indication, the above quote is meant to be more winking than prophetic. Just like its tireless star, the fifth installment of the 19-year-old Mission: Impossible film franchise is sprier, tighter, and more energetic than its age might suggest.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 9th, 2015
“Why are the Romantics relevant today?”
Some Kind of Beautiful shamelessly embraces every rom-com cliché in the book. The utterly nonsensical title, the main characters’ impossibly-posh digs, and the film’s exceedingly contrived and predictable plotting are probably enough to send jaded moviegoers running to the airport exit. So why am I not kicking this film to the curb? Well it helps that this particular group of attractive stars shares a relaxed, mature chemistry that carries the story through its more outlandish shenanigans.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 4th, 2015
“I don't care about winning. I just like to play, I really do.”
In Mississippi Grind, a pair of damaged gamblers hustle their way through the American South so they can buy into a high-stakes card game in New Orleans. That's technically the “plot” of the movie, but it's not really the point...nor is it where the film's true charms lie. Instead, this well-made, low-key character dramedy feels like a welcome throwback to the sort of buddy/road films that have mostly been pushed out of multiplexes.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 25th, 2015
I'm going to start by listing a number of names that make up a kind of extended family. The names don't have a lot in common at first, and it seems like a hodgepodge. I'm sure I'm going to leave someone out, but let's start with Kevin Kline, Johnathan Demme, Diablo Cody, Sebastian Stan, Mamie Gummer, Audra McDonald, Joe Vitale, Rick Springfield, Bill Erwin, Bernie Worrell, Rick Rosas, and Charlotte Rae. I'm forgetting someone. Oh yeah, Meryl Streep. It's that kind of a movie which is being sold as a star vehicle for the most praised and beloved actress of the modern era, but is really an ensemble piece. We can debate who is as beloved as Meryl Streep in the history of cinema, but let's not, because Ricki and the Flash is not that kind of movie. It really isn't about the star turn by Meryl, but a collective, communal experience by all involved. All the names I mentioned are part of this experience, more so than in most movies. It's about the connections we try to make and the ones we fail at. It's about reaching for things and not getting them but doing it anyway. It's about failure and celebration, often within a breath of each other. It's about moving on but not forgetting the past. It's about loving someone when they are far from perfect. It's about forgiving and accepting.
I'm going to start with Rick Rosas. He died before the film was released and plays the bassist in Ricki's band, the Flash. In real life, he played in three bands with Neil Young (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Crazy Horse, and Buffalo Springfield) as well as with Joe Walsh, Ron Wood, Etta James, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Johnny Rivers. Bernie Worrell, who plays the keyboardist, was a founding member of Funkadelic and Parliament as well as playing with The Talking Heads. Joe Vitale is the drummer; he has played with The Eagles, Joe Walsh, Ted Nugent, Dan Fogelberg, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and many others. Ricki and her band play to a few die-hard faithfuls in Tarzana every night, as well as doing her day job as a cashier at Whole Foods. I should mention that her frazzled boyfriend and lead guitarist is Rick Springfield. I should also mention Streep is 66 years old and is singing Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 18th, 2015
Its spy vs. spy in Man from U.N.C.L.E., or at least it starts out that way. Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer play Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin respectively in this reimaging of the popular television series from the 60’s. Guy Ritchie is at the helm of the spy flick, which should give everyone high hopes that this will become the first film in a franchise. Though a bit dry at times, Man from U.N.C.L.E. proves to be a clever and engaging movie that stays true to the era it is set in. There is enough action, espionage, and beautiful women to capture the attention of the male audience, and the female audience is likely to be sated just being able to stare at Cavill and Hammer as a suave, well-educated, gentleman and a terse, committed, albeit volatile patriot. I’ll leave it to the ladies to determine which is which.
The film takes place after World War I; Napoleon Solo is a reformed criminal working off his sentence as the C.I.A.’s most effective operative. Solo ventures into Soviet territory in order to make contact with and extract Gaby Teller (Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina), the daughter of a nuclear scientist believed kidnapped to exploit his expertise. While carrying out his mission, Solo crosses paths with KGB’s top operative Kuryakin, whose mission it is to stop him. At odds, the two battle wits as well as weapons in an exchange Solo ultimately wins.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Jeremy Butler on November 12th, 2015
“A straight line…you just go, and you never…look…back.”
Well, I hope you’re ready to have everything you know about the Terminator franchise turned on its head. As a franchise known for his alternative timelines where the things we come to know are often turned around, my previous statement may sound like the usual bread and butter to you. However, I must say that I feel like the latest incarnation of the franchise, Terminator Genisys, has really outdone itself this time. As far as reboots go, this may be one of the best that I have seen in quite some time as we are introduced to a completely new cast (well, almost completely new cast) portraying characters already near and dear to our hearts. Terminator Genisys was an action-packed experience sure to leave the audience entertained.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 11th, 2015
I don't think there has ever really been a great film about a great writer. We naturally compare their lives to works of great fiction. Great fiction tends to distill the tedium and awkwardness out of real life. Real life can be exhausting in the day-to-day disappointments that can sometimes be wrapped in small victories. David Foster Wallace was a great writer. This is almost universally acknowledged. David Foster Wallace no longer is because he hung himself in 2008 at age 46. Many people who were in his life are now very protective of him and his privacy. They are angry at the idea of a movie being made about his life. Authors like J.D. Salinger and Thomas Pynchon have spent their lifetimes being reclusive, but the fact that they had published and provoked our thought means we are entitled to explore their lives. The problem always will be rising to the occasion and doing justice to the thoughts they provoked.
The End of the Tour is about five days a reporter for Rolling Stone spent with Wallace. The journalist was David Lipsky, who had written a novel of his own and was clearly in the grips of some hero worship. The hero he met was self-conscious to a nearly painful degree. He also seems to be struggling to be an average guy. I don't think the movie is a good indication of what Wallace was really like. But then, let's just look at this as a movie first. As I said, I don't think the author should be protected and hidden from us because he had faults and deficiencies. I think we should keep an open mind as to what the truth really is. I have listened to interviews done with Wallace, and he always comes off as reflective, thoughtful, truthful, intelligent, profound, and open-minded. I think the intention of this movie was to reveal a more unvarnished view of the writer.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by BABY on November 2nd, 2015
"Dogs have been used by the military since World War I. Over 3000 dogs have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. 26 dogs and 25 handlers have been killed in the service of their country since 2003. This story is dedicated to their memory."
Baby here. Usually this is where I tell you that I'm the Shepherd/Chow mix who runs security here at Upcomingdiscs. Looks like I really did make that part up. No, I'm still in charge of security. Just ask AJ from Fed Ex. It's the Shepherd/Chow part. I took a test the other day and Gino didn't give me any time to bone up on it. OK, he did give me a bone, but it was all about something called a DNA test. I don't know what that spells, but it turns out that I'm also something called an Alaskan Malamute. Now, Gino's been asking me to go mute for years. Now I finally understand what that means. So while it looks like I didn't know who I really was, I do know something about the latest dog film Max. You see, Max is a hero, kinda like me. And just when I finally get to review a dog movie about a fellow German Shepherd, I find out about this Malamute thing. OK, I did make that last part up. Max is something called a Belgian Malinois but looks a lot like a German Shepherd, and that spells B A B Y. Looks like I just can't win. But what about Max?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 27th, 2015
Between Judgment Day, zombie apocalypses, and various other doomsday scenarios, we've gotten a pretty good look at what the end of the world is supposed to look like. One of the most striking things about Z for Zachariah — an otherwise straightforward and deliberate drama that takes its story from a 1974 novel of the same name by Robert C. O'Brien — is that, for the most part, the end of the world looks an awful lot like paradise.
In fact, the biggest visual clues that this is even a post-apocalyptic story occur within the first 10 minutes or so. That's when we're introduced to a slight, shapeless figure in a makeshift decontamination suit pushing a cart through a barren, abandoned town. We eventually find out her name is Ann Burden (Margot Robbie), and she is presumably the only survivor of an unspecified disaster that has wiped out most of civilization. Ann survives on her family's farmland, which is uniquely (and miraculously) located in a place that shields her from radiation. She also has plenty of fresh water at her disposal. One day, Ann is shocked to find another survivor in a radiation suit.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on October 21st, 2015
“Whatever happened to good old-fashioned, run-of-the-mill sex?”
On its surface, The Little Death looks and sounds like the glossy, crowd-pleasing romantic comedies Nora Ephron (Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail) used to make. But it becomes apparent rather quickly that no one in this funny, insightful, uneven Australian comedy is having “run-of-the-mill sex.” The movie’s jazzy, jukebox-y score also made me occasionally think of Woody Allen films, which is fitting because Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) easily could’ve been an alternate title for The Little Death.
