Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on June 2nd, 2014
When Stephen Chow came out with Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle he delivered martial arts in a way like we never had seen before. It’s not just that he blended humor with his action but it was that he was able to manage to make his characters function as you would imagine cartoon characters would in the real world. The road runneresque chase scenes from Kung Fu Hustle are the first visuals that come to mind any time I think of the name Stephen Chow. Now that he has Journey to the West making its way to Blu-ray, does he still have what it takes to make a hit or has he simply returned to the well already?
The film starts off strong as a father is attacked by some unseen monster while his daughter looks on from a dock. As panic strikes the village a “demon hunter” captures a giant sting ray that he believes is the culprit behind the fisherman’s death. Sanzang (Zhang Wen) seems to believe that there is yet another demon responsible for the death, yet to the village refuses to take Sanzangs advice and it is a mistake that will result in the loss of more lives and destruction. This opening goes on perhaps a bit long but it sure is fun and is filled with some beautifully choreographed stunt work as well as some inventive camera work.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 28th, 2014
On the surface, The Color of Lies resembles many other murder mysteries set in a close-knit community. The 1999 film, however, is a late-career effort from Claude Chabrol, the French New Wave director who first gained acclaim alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut in the late 1950s. So it’s not surprising to learn The Color of Lies is really a subtle, stylish exploration of the various ways people deceive each other.
The body of a 10-year-old girl is found near the home of struggling artist Rene Sterne (Jacques Gamblin) and his wife Vivianne (Sandrine Bonnaire). Rene was the girl’s art teacher and quickly becomes the prime suspect in an investigation conducted by Inspector Lesage (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), the town’s new police chief. Despite the fact that Inspector Lesage has zero hard evidence connecting Rene to the crime, he becomes a pariah in his small Breton village and gradually loses the rest of his art students. And if things weren’t bad enough for Rene, he also has to contend with vain local celebrity Germain-Roland Desmot (Antoine de Caunes), who is aggressively pursuing Rene’s wife. (It doesn’t help that Vivianne isn’t exactly rebuffing Desmot’s advances.)
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 27th, 2014
by Eric Mitchell
G.W. McLintock (John Wayne, True Grit, Rooster Cogburn) made most of his money by being a cattle baron. He made so much money, in fact, that the film’s fictional town was named after him. How cool is that? But all is not milk and honey in McLintock’s life. He has an estranged wife who does not live with him (Quiet Man co star Maureen O’Hara), and now wants a divorce.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 26th, 2014
Christian Slater has managed to make a decent career lately by simply appearing in numerous direct-to-DVD productions for several years now. It seems as though every month the former 80s-90s heartthrob is slumming his way through productions as though he never once looked at the script and instead was just adding another lackluster credit to his IMDB profile. As a longtime fan of the actor from the days of Heathers, True Romance, and Pump Up the Volume, I can’t help but hope the guy will make a resurgence (though appearing in Lars Von Triers Nymphomaniac is a good start to that career revival).
As for Slater’s new release Way of the Wicked, he somewhat takes the back seat on this film despite appearing on the Blu-ray box art. Henry (Slater) is a priest who seems to have an obsession with a young boy who is held responsible for the murder of a classmate even though there was no physical evidence to show for it. Several years later Robbie (Jake Croker) returns to the small town, and as he returns to school he immediately seems to embrace the role of outcast.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Brent Lorentson on May 21st, 2014
Ever since Elijah Wood completed filming Lord of the Rings, it would seem that he has done everything in his power to not be locked down with the label of simply being Frodo. From playing a mute psychopath in Sin City, to voice work in Happy Feet, a suicidal pot-head that is best friends with a talking dog in Wilfred, and even the killer role in Maniac, it’s clear that he’s an actor that likes to challenge himself. With Grand Piano Wood delivers his most dynamic performance as the brilliant concert pianist Tom Selznick who suffers from stage fright. It’s a film that didn’t see much of a theatrical release but shone in the film festivals it did play at, most notably Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. But it’s not just the performance that sells me on this film; instead, it’s the beautifully shot and constructed thriller that seizes its grip from the opening moments of the film and doesn’t release until the end of its 90-minute-plus running time.
It’s been five years since Tom has performed for the public, ever since his meltdown while trying to perform a piece written by his mentor Patrick Godureaux. The piece titled, “La Cinquette” is believed to be an unplayable piece and is considered to be Godureaux’s master work. But it’s on this one night, an event organized by Tom’s wife Emma (Kerry Bishe), a Hollywood socialite who has bloomed into superstardom during Toms retirement; the event has been put together to help Tom recover from his disastrous performance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on May 21st, 2014
Most action pictures have an aura of super-seriousness, or they are filmed as comedies and everything is meant to be ridiculous. It definitely is a difficult task to mix the two effectively. On some level most action pictures are ridiculous, since most of us will never experience the close proximity to death and danger that is depicted on the screen. Also, life and death are often cheapened with high body counts but little consequence for our hero. In 3 Days To Kill, all sorts of elements are brought to bear in order to reinforce the average everyday family experience and not the lone killer. Early on, a different sort of danger affects our hero. It's not bullets and bombs but a rare disease that is likely to kill him in the very near future. As a spy, he has always neglected family to the extent that his teenage daughter barely knows him. Ethan Renner (Kevin Costner) is intent on changing that.
The film is directed by McG and written by Luc Besson, both filmmakers with impressive credentials, but I'll get back to that later. The real focus is Kevin Costner as an aging and battle-weary veteran CIA agent who is always counted on to take out whatever targets are assigned him. During a particularly explosive encounter in a Serbian hotel, he begins to get dizzy after chasing one surviving member of a gang. He is subsequently hospitalized and told he has maybe six months to live, and thanks for his service. He leaves the hospital determined to reconnect to his wife, Christine (Connie Neilsen), and daughter Zoey (Hailee Steinfeld).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 20th, 2014
The line between romance and stalking is much blurrier at the movies. Behavior that routinely leads to restraining orders or arrests in real life tends to elicit “awws” from moviegoers and earns the romantic hero a kiss in the end. The Right Kind of Wrong is one of the more egregious examples I can remember, which is a shame because the Canadian romantic comedy has a likable lead and dares to give its characters multiple dimensions.
“Writing and the pursuit of a woman — like any impossible dream — are not about immediate results. They’re about telling the truth.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on May 19th, 2014
“If we act like we belong, they'll think we belong.”
You never know who could be watching when you post something online. Sophia Grace Brownlee is a perfect example of how to become a “star” in this decade. In 2011, the 8-year-old Brit starred in a video of herself singing Nicki Minaj's “Super Bass” alongside her silent, hype man cousin Rosie McClelland. The clip went viral and caught the eye of Ellen DeGeneres, who has repeatedly featured the diminutive duo on her daytime talk show over the last few years. I suppose it was only a matter of time before Sophia Grace and Rosie jumped to the big screen; well, the straight-to-DVD screen anyway.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 15th, 2014
"This is the story of a man who won by choosing love over fame, fortune and countless adventures..."
Danny McBride managed in inhabit the role of Kenny Powers to such an extent I do appear to have trouble keeping them separate. Now the countless adventures continue for McBride who is going to have to get us all to see him in a new light as he leaves troubled Powers behind and moves on to other things. For fans it's a bittersweet goodbye to Eastbound & Down. The final episodes have aired and now they are available on this 2-disc Blu-ray swansong.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on May 14th, 2014
"I was cast into being in the winter of 1795 a living corpse with a soul, stitched, jolted, bludgeoned back to life by a madman. Horrified by his creation, he tried to destroy me..."
We all know the story told by the young teen wife of a poet: Mary Shelley. Told to entertain guests on a stormy night, it has become the stuff of legend. Brought to life by Colin Clive's mad scientist in the shape of Boris Karloff in the Universal Golden Age of horror, the monster has had a face. Since that time studios from Hammer to Paramount have left their own marks and scars on the creature that often mistakenly bears the name of his mythic creator. The name of Frankenstein.
