Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on September 10th, 2022
A good erotic movie is actually harder than it sounds. Sure, you have to have skin, word play, arousal, and yes, that other kind of play. But the good erotic films like Basic Instinct, 9 1/2 Weeks, and Embrace of the Vampire (You thought I was going to say Fatal Attraction, didn't you?) are very entertaining and have a story that draws you in to keep you there even when the spicy bits aren't on the screen. Today's erotic film is Curiosa, which certainly hits all of the skin elements, but does it have a story that I would want to watch again and again? Let's check it out.
A curiosa is an erotic object, book, or photograph. We start the movie with a little photography as we watch our two main characters, Pierre Louys (played by Niels Schneider), who is taking pictures of Marie de Heredia (played by Noemie Merlant). Marie is set to marry Henri de Regnier (played by Benjamin Lavernhe), but she does not love him. She is actually in love with Pierre, who is Henri's best friend as well.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 13th, 2022
Nelson Mandela once said, “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.” Most people, even in today's society, think of prisoners as lower than the ground they walk upon. Prison abuse is as old as Greek and Roman times. Heck, true prison reform didn't start in the United States until the 1960's. But what about other countries? In Caged Birds, we explore the Switzerland of the 1980's and how one lawyer named Barbara Hug tried to change that very system.
1980's Switzerland: a protest and all sorts of commotion in the streets. One of the signs reads, "Put the State on a Dinner Plate." However, this protest has turned violent. There are cops beating women, and a man is tortured by a female officer. Meanwhile, a young lawyer named Barbara Hugs (played by Marie Leuenberger) stands by and watches as she lights up a smoke. Elsewhere, a car is hot-wired by an escaped prisoner named Walter Strum (played by Joel Basman) who has just escaped a jail for the seventh time.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 8th, 2022
Some of my favorite movies are ones where they use the "author" as the focal part of the story. Films like Secret Window, Misery, and The Ghost Writer are ones that immediately come to mind for me. However, Westerns tend to be somewhere down on the list of genres for me, and only ones like Tombstone or Unforgiven tend to spark any interest. So when I received Jesus Kid, which features a Brazilian author who likes to write Westerns, well, you can kinda understand my apprehension. However, my curiosity was also piqued at the same time for the very same set of reasons.
Eugenio (played by Paulo Miklos) brushes his teeth late one night. He follows it up with a mouth rinse ... and a cigarette. Then a swish with some whiskey and some pills. Seems like a typical night for the author. Eugenio writes western tales about a cowboy simply known as Jesus Kid (that's Geesus, not Haysous). In fact, he's published twenty books about the character, and his latest manuscript entitled Ballad of the Nerves is ready for publication.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 26th, 2019
Bakugan was originally a toy first envisioned by an inventor named Aldric Saucier, who thought he could fit a small action figure inside a marble. He then presented the idea to Spin Masters, who accepted it eagerly, as they were in search of a marble for the 21st century. Ultimately they sent the idea to Sega Toys in Japan, who came up with the concept to turn it into a game complete with cards and miniatures. From there it was only a matter of time before Bakugan became a cartoon show as well. Today, we are reviewing Bakugan: Battle Planet, the newest series to feature these bio-mechanical creations in their animated form.
There are strange events going on on Earth. A Bakugan battle is about to start, and it could change the fate of the world. Dan, of the Awesome Ones, has been challenged by the dastardly Magnus, who has unveiled his Bakugan, a two headed dragon named Nillious. It's now or never, and will Dan and his Dragonoid stand up to the threat?
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on October 11th, 2018
When you have done movie reviews for a very long time such as I have, you acquire knowledge about certain films and movies that in a normal life span one would probably never come across. One of those for me has been the Power Rangers series. I have reviewed several of the American adaptations for the site, and while they are not my cup of tea, I am familiar with how they work and operate. Last week, I received one of the Japanese original Super Sentai series, Chojin Sentai Jetman, and I was eager to check it out. Let's see how this all unfolds.
The year is 199X, Sky Force's Earth Ship orbiting the Earth are the guardians of peace on the planet. Suddenly an emergency is detected. It appears a robot has gone rogue and is terrorizing the ship. Ryuu Tendoh (played by Kotaro Tanaka) and Rie Aoi (played by Maho Maruyama) jump into action. Rie saves a baby, and Ryuu is able to turn off the robot which restores order to the ship.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on February 14th, 2018
New cartoon series these days are a hard watch for me. Gone are the days of classic shows like X-Men, Batman: The Animated Series and even newer favorites like Regular Show which ended about a year ago. Now we get shows where it seems like it is one cheap joke after another including Teen Titans Go and that show about some kid named Steven. So, I wasn't too thrilled to get the newest incarnation of Ben 10 on my review desk a couple of weeks ago. That's when I decided to employ the talents of my 2 year old son, Keaton and see if he can offer some insight.
"Thomas"...no son, we can't watch Thomas (The Train) right now. We have to review Ben 10, there are twenty episodes on this thing, see if you like it or not. "BeNNN." Yep, I hand my son the dvd case. He breaks open the stark white case and gives me the disc. "Thomas" Used to this exchange, I go ahead and put the dvd in the player and it brings up the menu. I select English subtitles, and then go to play the first episode. My son blinks at the opening and decides to sit down on the couch with his thumb in his mouth. He points, "Elmo?", he asks inquiringly. "No, BeNNN." He doesn't say anything else at this point and keeps sucking his thumb while looking at the screen.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 28th, 2017
Honestly, looking back at my life I can't say I really have acquired any heirlooms from my father. I do have a picture from when I was a young boy in a railroad hat with my dad holding me that I always keep in plain sight, but that's very different from what most people know as a heirloom. I certainly don't have a special watch (though I imagine I will inherit a grandfather clock when my father passes on), especially one with an inscription. However, if I did have one like Tzanko Petrov did in our movie, Glory, I certainly can imagine the emotional toll that would take on a man.
08 hours, 29 minutes, 10 seconds.
08 hours, 29 minutes, 20 seconds.
08 hours, 29 minutes, 30 seconds, a watch is winded by Tzanko Petrov (played by Stefan Denolyubov). He eats a small meal while listening to the local news. He then proceeds to get ready for work which includes carrying a very large wrench. After completing these tasks, he turns off the television and heads out the door.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on December 19th, 2017
Like most people my age (I'm not telling), I watched my fair share of Full House. I wished I could be as cool as John Stamos, be as funny as Dave Coulier and wished Bob Saget was my dad. Then I grew up and realized I wasn't as cool as John Stamos, didn't find Dave to be quite as hilarious (sorry Dave), and still wished Bob was my dad (Actually, even more so when I found out he was quite the dirty comic). Fast forward about twenty years and the Full House theme has been brought back into the present with some familiar faces and a few new ones. Let's take a look at Season 2 of Fuller House.
If you are one of those people like myself who have never seen an episode of Fuller House and need a quick rundown of characters, well here you go. We have DJ Tanner-Fuller (played by Candace Cameron Bure) who is widowed, a veterinarian and has three kids. The three kids are Jackson (played by Michael Campion), age 13, Max (played by Elias Harger), age 7 and Tommy Jr (played by Dashiell & Fox Messitt), age barely out of the womb (probably around 2). In addition, we have DJ's sister, Stephanie Tanner (played by Jodie Sweetin) who has moved from London to help DJ raise her kids. Also, she is ridiculously hot. (There I said it, I'm sure it will come up again).
Posted in: Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on June 25th, 2014
Detective Carrie Wells (played by Poppy Montgomery) and her former boyfriend/current crime fighting partner Al Burns (played by Dylan Walsh) have been noticed because of their uncanny crime solving percentage in the upper 90% (a fairly common thing in TV crime shows, but nearly unheard of in the real world) and get promoted to the NYPD's Major Crimes unit. With this move, and the fact that this program bounced in and out of cancellation quagmire between the first and second season, all of the supporting cast (except for Jane Curtain as Medical Examiner Joanne Webster) and we are offered a new team of token (read: stereotypical) character types filling the void; including a sassy black female cop, an asian tech guy, and uptight yet quirky boss.
I was coming into this series with no prerequisite viewings of the first season, nor any knowledge of the characters. This was a major annoyance for the first episode as would discover that they had removed the opening narration that explained that Wells has a very rare (and very high functioning apparently) condition called hyperthymesia which grants her the ability to recall everything she sees and hears since she was a teenager. This is both an incredibly convenient ability for someone gathering evidence at crime scene as well as an incredibly convenient gimmick for this show as it takes all of the tough solving out of the police procedures and turns it into Well having frequent pregnant pauses to lay out all of the minuet details she recalled. Said condition would be eventually explained as episodes progressed but it made me wonder what the show title was for a decent amount of time.
The opening episode I found very deterring and I'm glad I was obligated to power through the entire season. All of the characters where very smug in this season opener and it made the show very unattractive to me. Those that watch shows like NCIS or CSI may be more accepting of such cocky attitudes but I personally find those shows hacky and am never charmed by those that are flippant in the face of victim's deaths and would sooner puff up their egos or flirt than be aware of the fact that they are dealing with violent criminals.
As I mentioned before, the episodes do get progressively better and I credit much of this to the humbling of the lead characters when the story-lines get more personal. This is especially true by the episode entitled “Memory Kings” where Wells must deal with the murder of an academic who first therapeutically helped her deal with her condition, that may have driven her insane had he not done so. The plots of each episode are not exactly subtle. Our heroes deal with serial killers, nuclear bombs, hacker terrorists and globe trotting assassins. I can appreciate the almost campy level of how much is at stake in each tale. Though I should note that, although the stories do improve, there is still a lot left to be desired with some of the corny dialogue and character relationships throughout this season.
In my reviews I tend to send out kudos to any show that brings aboard certain actors and/or make reference to another program or film I enjoy. Here I'd like to said such kudos to Unforgettable for the episode “East of Islip” which featured guest appearance by Wayne Knight who works alongside his former 3rd Rock from the Sun cast mate Jane Curtain as a small town coroner/potential love interest. They have a playful energy and charm that stole the episode from the stars.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by William O'Donnell on April 1st, 2014
Six seasons (and several fictional years) in and Hank Moody (David Duchovny) is still drinking, snorting, womanizing and procrastinating from doing anything productive with his writing. Hank is still riding on the success of his first book and the subsequent money he received after it was adapted into a motion picture. Hank seems like the type of character who is incapable of any personal growth (aside from around his trousers...which is just the kind of joke he'd try to make) but with his daughter wanting to live abroad, which threatens his chances at reuniting with his on-and-off girlfriend, perhaps this season he'll mature.
Right off the bat I should state that I am not a big fan of shows (and movies) that depict self-destructive people who are living incredibly privileged lives while contributing nothing to the creative word they claim to be a part of. I understand that Hollywood is inherently phony, therefore I should not take any of their actions seriously...but it can still be grating. To help emphasize the puffy, fake California life contained in this series, we have the introduction of a woman named Faith as a new love interest for Hank. Faith is a groupie but she calls herself a “muse,” which is a concept borrowed (stolen) from Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous. What could be more frivolous than romanticizing the notion of existing without responsibility, in the forever childlike state of living the rock n roll life without actually making any actual music, just sleeping with the musicians (or now, a has-been writer)? This show has essentially shoehorned in the hooker with a heart of gold tale...but more pretentious.
Speaking of Rock and Roll, there have been frequent nods to rock and metal music peppered throughout this show's history. In previous seasons this could arrive by way of celebrity cameos by the likes of Zakk Wylde and Tommy Lee , or with acoustic covers of 80s metal tunes (this season continues that tradition and I highly suggest you seek out Ryan Adam's version of Iron Maiden's “Wasted Years”), but this season has the most overt references to date. Championing this effort is Tim Minchin as Atticus Fetch, a lazily developed, two-dimensional rockstar stereotype who has hired Hank Moody to compose a rock opera based on his book (what did I say about riding off of that book?). The situation is preposterous but thankfully Tim Minchin is the best possible candidate to bring extra life to the thin writing (seriously, look him up on Youtube, it is a far better use of your time than this series and is the crux of my distraction from finishing this review).
I've spent a while in this review seeming to chastise these characters for being so “fake” and yet this show never set out to be realistic. There is a sequence towards the end of the season where Hank's agent and his former wife are kidnapped, tortured and he is nearly castrated with a pair of hedge trimmers, and yet no police get involved...it is played off as a comic mishap that ends well after they repeatedly taze the unconscious body of their captor. After hearing such an example,you can imagine this show is not aiming for any grounded realism. But my gripe is not truly about “realism,” but with the general sense of uselessness I get from all of the characters (and the many rewards they receive for it). The promiscuity levels run on the same story logic as most pornographic films, in that, any and all situation s can and often will lead to consequence (and disease) free sex.
Saying your cool is a surefire way to expose that fact that you aren't. And Californication is doing just that with its leading characters and his leather coat and cigarette dangling unlit from his lip. His five-o-clock shadow is as manicured as his girlfriends cuticles. Though the performers are very talented people, this show is soulless.
