Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 8th, 2008
Why god must you do this? Why does Hollywood in all its limited wisdom try to remake any and everything with the hopes that it will be good, when it just winds up becoming another EPIC FAIL? They’ve done it with The Grudge, they’ve done it with The Eye, and now I hear they might be remaking Oldboy and The Host. We’re coming up on sacred cow territory here, and quite frankly, I don’t know why these films have to be “Americanized” to appeal to the unwashed masses; I thought the whole point of them was to be appreciated on their own merits. But sure enough, the horror film genre is guilty of cannibalizing product like anyone else. See what I did there?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 8th, 2008
"Space...The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on August 8th, 2008
For as much as I might viscerally disagree with the creation of a film or its sequel, I lay much of the blame at you, the viewer and movie-going public. You created the furor around the Step Up series of films. You all went in droves to the first film when it was released in August 2006, when movies were winding down in the blockbuster season and thus helped it make $65 million domestically and more than $110 worldwide. It’s your fault that another film was inevitable, so in the down-turn of this past February, we got a second one. That one made about the same domestically, but made $30 million or so more and almost brought in $150 million worldwide. Count on the fact that another 90-minute film about teens dancing will be made and that the Step Up trilogy (I threw up in my mouth a little when writing that) will be complete.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 8th, 2008
Family Ties is likely remembered most as the series that launched the career of Michael J. Fox. There’s no question that he owes a great debt to Alex Keaton. It’s almost a bit awkward now to watch him as this young, extremely conservative teenager after Fox has spent so much of his life as a liberal poster boy in the last couple of elections. Politics aside, it’s hard not to credit his performances in Family Ties and the Back To The Future films
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 1st, 2008
The first huge mistake this new film on The Boston Strangler makes is in the casting. If I were to mention to you The Boston Strangler and Bundy in the same sentence, who would you think about for the latter reference? I’d bet most of you would be thinking about Ted, the infamous serial killer finally electrocuted here in sunny Florida a few years back. Unfortunately that’s not who I’m talking about here. It’s none other than Bud Bundy, that hapless young pervert from Married With Children. That’s right, folks. David Faustino plays Albert De Salvo, the suspected killer.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 1st, 2008
In the business of reviewing films you will definitely have your ups and downs. This week has absolutely been a downer. It seems that I can’t get a break. There are just too many bad movies out there. When I settled down to view Mama’s Boy there was a little hope. Looking at the cast you see some pretty solid names. Two veteran Godfather film actors in Diane Keaton and Eli Wallach make for a pretty good start. Jeff Daniels might not be the best out there, but he certainly has range playing plenty of fair to good comedic roles
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on August 1st, 2008
“Can you take the dump of death”, or What’s the fastest way to get drunk”. These are the types of questions and answers that make up the Spike TV series Manswers. The idea is that the show answers those pressing questions that you guys out there might have been to afraid to ask. On first look you might get the mistaken idea that this is a copy of A&E’s far superior Mythbusters. On the surface the premise appears the same. Both shows appear to tackle the oddball question and attempt to find the truth behind the BS.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on August 1st, 2008
John Leguizamo needs his own kind of wing in some Movie Hall of Fame. I would not say it is a typical wing, but a varied and interesting one nevertheless. He’s done mainstream movies like Ice Age, Moulin Rouge, & the Happening. John has also found himself in roles you just don’t see everyday. He’s been a Clown (Spawn), a Drag Queen (To Wong Foo), and even a Mario Brother (You really think I would fail to mention that John was Luigi in Super Mario Bros?). In The Take, he has a different character to portray. It’s a serious role and requires him to make quite the transformation and bring home an award winning performance.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 31st, 2008
Cult Epics continues its erotic archival work with these two collections of short films. Volume 1 consists of pieces from the 1940s (with at least one from 1938 thrown in), while Volume 2 deals with the 50s. The former has such amusing “documentary” shorts as “They Wear No Clothes” (*gasp*) and various comedy routines. The latter has the inevitable Irving Klaw shorts. None of these films are by any definition “good,” but they are fascinating records of the state of American sexuality at that time. Watching all of these at one sitting would be quite the chore, but then, when was the last time you read an encyclopaedia straight through? There is a similar documentary value here.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 30th, 2008
Campy blood & horror movies have always been a sore spot for me. I’m not talking about funny horror films with character like Shaun of the Dead. I’m talking about those movies that have a high amount of gore and little story to back it up. A movie that is played up for lack of acting and focuses more on how gruesome they make the average murder. Troma films immediately come to mind. However, there are times films that from their campy behavior create a story and scenes that are bearable to watch and a good ride on the couch. Perhaps we have found such a film in Botched a 2007 film directed by Kit Ryan. Just as long as it doesn’t turn into another Tripper, I think we will be alright.
