Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 11th, 2008
Arthur Kennedy and wife Teresa Wright are an older childless couple who discover a young man (Tom Happer) living in the crawlspace of their basement. Though they are initially alarmed, he seems harmless, and they take him under their wing. What seems to be a nice, if bizarre, solution for everyone becomes tense when Happer, tormented by locals, shows a potential for great violence.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 9th, 2008
Back in the summer of '89, a popular action flick was calling my name from the shelves of the local video rental store. It was Young Guns, and I'd heard it was wild, gun-toting ride from start to finish. Problem was, I was eight years old and there was no way my folks were going let me see such a violent movie, for fear two hours with Billy the Kid would make me a career criminal.
Boy, have times changed. Granted, Young Guns wasn't the baddest film on the block 18 years ago, but it was reflective of the then-current action standards. In 2007, we've got stuff like Shoot 'Em Up, a film so over-the-top violent that the tables have turned — I wouldn't let my parents anywhere near it, for fear they'd have simultaneous, massive myocardial infarctions.
Think you can handle a taste of the old ultraviolence? Read on.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 8th, 2008
In the late 1960’s
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on January 8th, 2008
Nathan Maguire (David Leon) is having a very bad day. The boneheaded bully at school has it in for him. Jessica (Samantha Mumba), the girl he loves, doesn’t show up for their meeting where he was finally going to declare his feelings, and then he sees her in the car of one of the local studs. Plus he gets soaked in the rain. And just to cap things off, he is accidentally hanged, and his distraught mother performs a voodoo ritual to bring him back from the dead, only the manual was missing a page and he returns as an infectious zombie. Oops.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 8th, 2008
The only place that I think anyone would really know Andy Samberg is as the brains behind some of the hilarious Saturday Night Live digital shorts over the last couple of years. The most notable being a Christmas gift that you can give your beloved. A gift you can make yourself, using three easy steps. Step one, cut a whole in the box…
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 8th, 2008
The big thing that gave Captivity the anticipation leading up to its release was a less than studio endorsed billboard showing its star Elisha Cuthbert (24) being tortured before getting killed. The main thing about the film was that Cuthbert had sunk so far downhill after renouncing her dad Jack Bauer. But holy crap, Roland Joffe directed this film! For those who don’t know, Joffe is a two time Oscar nominated director for The Killing Fields and The Mission. But since then, his success arc seemed to fall off the table completely since the mid ‘80s, with contributions like Super Mario Brothers and The Scarlet Letter, even directing an episode of an MTV sitcom. So I guess it’s only natural that he come into the torture horror genre much too late in the game with Captivity.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 8th, 2008
As the Harry Potter franchise heads into the home stretch of films, some of the film’s young cast members are attempting to break out into other roles, or at least employ a little bit more emotional depth in the roles that they’ve made into small cottage businesses. And of course, the biggest one in the bunch is Harry himself, Daniel Radcliffe. He’s appeared in a London played named “Equus”, in which he appeared nude in and got a lot of notoriety for, but received some praise based on his performance. He also appeared in the Ricky Gervais show Extras where he played himself in a role where he really really wants to break out from his childhood perception. But in December Boys, he plays a bit of a loner of sorts, though people seem to label the film for the sensationalist things Radcliffe does in the film. Look, Harry Potter smokes and gets it on with a girl, wow! But looking beyond perception, it’s a decent film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 7th, 2008
HBO’s
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on January 5th, 2008
When warner Brothers decided to start their Raw Feed line of direct-to-DVD horror films, Daniel Myrick was brought in to Produce. The choice of Myrick was a no-brainer, as he (along with his partner Eduardo Sanchez), was the creative force behind the "Blair Witch" phenomenon. While the team Directed the first film, they served as Producers on the second. Admittedly, "Blair Witch 2" was not as well received as its predecessor, but it was exactly the type of film that would be successful as a direct-to-DVD release.
Myrick Produced the first two Raw Feed releases ("Rest Stop" and "Sublime", which both received high marks on this web site), and he has moved back into the directing chair with the third film in the series, "Believers". Truth be told, this is really Myrick's traditional Directorial debut, as the faux documentary style of "Blair Witch" was not a typical feature. I had high expectations for this film, but unfortunately, it looks like Myrick is better wearing the hat of a Producer than that of a Director.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on January 4th, 2008
Mel Gibson has had a bit of a rollercoaster life these last couple of years. He has apparently given up on the mainstream films that have made him such a hot property over the years. His DUI arrest and subsequent anti-Semitic rant have caused many to look less favorably upon the man himself. It doesn’t help that his last two films have been less accessible and in obscure ancient languages. These films have not come without their own controversies. Still, no matter how you view Gibson or his work today, it can’t be denied that he has created one of the more compelling films of our day in Braveheart.
