Admission
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 22nd, 2013
“What’s the secret to getting in…There has to be one, right?”
You will probably never look at Princeton University in quite the same way again after you’ve seen Tina Fey’s latest film, Admission. Under the guise of a poorly-played-out romantic comedy, the film offers us much more comedic insight into the mysterious world of college admissions than it does about relationships. The film was actually based on a novel written by Jean Hanff Korelitz and takes us deep into the labyrinth of how a prestigious college goes about accepting its future students. Of course, it’s a romp and not intended to depict the actual process.
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Olympus Has Fallen
Posted in The Reel World by J C on March 22nd, 2013
It’s like I always tell people, the only thing better than one gloriously over-the-top action spectacle centered around an attack on the White House is TWO gloriously over-the-top action spectacles centered around an attack on the White House. Lucky(?) for us, Hollywood is happy to oblige in 2013. Channing Tatum gets a chance to protect Jamie Foxx from a very hostile takeover in June’s White House Down, but they’ve been beaten to the box office punch by Gerard Butler and Aaron Eckhart in the junky, wildly entertaining, and more mythical-sounding Olympus Has Fallen.
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Day of the Falcon (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 21st, 2013
Day of the Falcon is a photogenic, lavish reminder that violence and strife in the Middle East existed well before it could be broadcast on CNN. The film — set in the early part of the 20th century — also works as a throwback to the sort of rollicking, epic-scale adventure films David Lean was making at the height of his powers and that no one seems terribly interested in making anymore. Don’t get me wrong: Day of the Falcon is no Lawrence of Arabia or Bridge on the River Kwai, but it’s an accetable 21st century substitute.
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Father Dowling Mysteries: The Third and Final Season
Posted in No Huddle by Gino Sassani on March 21st, 2013
The third season would end up being both the longest season and its final one on television. It was the only year that the show enjoyed the opportunity to spread its wings over a complete run of episodes. It aired an entire season from September to May in 1990/1991. That meant we got a lot of good episodes that are available in this release. Father Dowling and Tom Bosley are both gone now. I can safely say they haven’t been forgotten.
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Exclusive Interview With Matthew Arnold Writer/Director Of Shadow People
Posted in Podcasts by Gino Sassani on March 20th, 2013
Shadow People is out from Anchor Bay this week. It’s a most unusual horror film that blends real documentary information with a standard horror film. At issue is something called Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome. If you want to know more about the syndrome and/or the film, you’re in luck. I had a chance to speak with Director/Writer Matthew Arnold. Check out what he has to say about this interesting experience. Bang it here to listen to my chat with Matthew Arnold
Ghost Hunters: Season Eight – Part 1
Posted in No Huddle by Jonathan Foster on March 20th, 2013
Something strange in your neighborhood? Who ya gonna call? Well, if Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are busy and you don’t mind being on TV, you call SyFy’s Ghost Hunters. For eight seasons, the team from T.A.P.S. (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) has gone to various spooky locations to investigate claims of paranormal activity. Led by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, T.A.P.S. takes on a variety of cases in the first part of this season that send the team from a WWII aircraft carrier and a haunted amusement park to Providence’s City Hall.
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Men at Work: The Complete First Season
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on March 20th, 2013
Well, would you look at that: the sidekicks from previous popular primetime series after each of their shows have ended, banded together to form their own television series. Though it is not uncommon for the supporting cast of a TV show to try to break out on their own either right before or right after their former show receives the axe, it is rare that said show makes it through its first season, let alone gets renewed for a second season; the exception being Men At Work (not to be confused with the film by the same name starring the Sheen family, with which it shares no relation as far as I can tell).
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House Arrest
Posted in No Huddle by J C on March 20th, 2013
Sometimes you really can judge a book terrible movie by its cover. Beyond the awful Photoshopped shot of the film’s stars, the cover art for House Arrest boasts that the movie comes “From a Producer of You Got Served.” That set off a bunch of questions in my curious mind. Why just one producer? Is this really something a person would brag about? Most importantly, where are all the hip hop dance battles?! Worse than all that, the film itself completely muddles a worthwhile message about faith and the importance of family with shoddy storytelling and a steady stream of substandard performances.
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The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on March 18th, 2013
“My dear Frodo, you asked me once if I had told you everything there was to know about my adventures. Well, I can honestly say I’ve told you the truth, but I may not have told you all of it…”
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a decade since Peter Jackson last brought us to the fantastic lands of Middle Earth. It was one of Hollywood’s most ambitious projects ever. Jackson took on the perilous journey of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous Lord Of The Rings trilogy, perilous because of the beloved place the works hold in the hearts of those who have read them over the years.
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Cirque Du Soleil – Worlds Away (Blu-Ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by William O'Donnell on March 18th, 2013
Worlds Away is the tale of a young woman named Mia who happens across a debilitated circus, where she is enchanted by the performance of an Aerialist. Mid-performance, both she and the aerialist are sucked into a parallel universe that is littered with strange, seemingly supernatural circuses. Both are lead from performance to performance in an attempt to escape, or at least find each other.
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Zero Dark Thirty
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on March 18th, 2013
I remember the exact moment I learned about this film. I was at the movies; it was the first trailer on the film, and I immediately felt my intrigue build. The trailer didn’t give much away; at the time it felt like a disassembled puzzle joined together by multiple voiceovers, and then the question that tied it altogether was asked: “When was the last time you saw Bin Laden?” After that everything became clear, and I had my first inkling of how important this film was going to be. Once I learned that Kathryn Bigelow would be in the driver seat, I was certain of the film’s importance.
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The Mob Doctor: The Complete Series
Posted in No Huddle by J C on March 15th, 2013
If the last few decades are any indication, TV viewers can’t get enough medical shows, while mob dramas seem to develop some of the most fervent followings. The Mob Doctor — the Fox drama canceled shortly after its debut last fall — suggests those two great tastes don’t necessarily taste great together. The network wound up airing all 13 episodes, and now Sony has released every installment of the watchable, uneven drama on DVD.
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The Call
Posted in The Reel World by Brent Lorentson on March 15th, 2013
Some movies have a way of simply sneaking up on you and leave you exiting the theater with a multitude of thoughts and emotions. When a film comes along where you are able to forget your troubles or the stresses of the real world, and long after the final credit has rolled you still can’t shake certain images or lines of dialog from your mind, this is usually the best sign of a good film. The Call I must confess snuck up on me and managed to suck me into “the hive” of the Los Angeles 911 dispatch center and has kept me in its clutches as I write up this review.
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The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 15th, 2013
“Welcome to the wonderful world of magic.”
They say that the hand is quicker than the eye. Through the art of misdirection and skillful manipulation we have been awed by magicians ever since Glog made Ooof’s club disappear somewhere in Mesopotamia circa 20,000 BC. It’s not all skill, really. The truth is we’ve always wanted to be fooled. We’re begging for “magicians” to tamper with our sense of reality. I don’t know how fast the hand happens to be, but today we’re fooled at the speed of 24 frames per second (unless you happen to be Peter Jackson).
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The Hardy Boys: Season 3
Posted in No Huddle by Brent Lorentson on March 14th, 2013
I think it would be safe to say that ever since Edward Stratemeyer penned The Hardy Boys he has garnered a legion of loyal fans of the popular young adult book series. For many young readers these books are what planted the seeds for them to later become private investigators or join some form of law enforcement. Then there were the casual readers like myself who became obsessed with the crime genre and would later move on to edgier writers. Whatever direction readers may have taken, it’s safe to say that the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew deserve the same respect as other classic characters in fiction like Sherlock Holmes.
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24-Hour Love
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on March 13th, 2013
I believe a title change is in order for this movie. For starters, it’s generic and has no appeal; a title should grab you, entice you, and intrigue you. 24 Hour Love does none of that; I understand the title, supposedly time-lining and emphasizing how a single day can alter or destroy the love that exists between two individuals, but after watching the movie, the premise and the title appear to be contradictory. Better titles would have been Love Trials, Unconditional, or my favorite, Commitment.
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Real Vikings Collection
Posted in No Huddle by Archive Authors on March 13th, 2013
The Real Vikings is a DVD collection put out by the History channel and is comprised of three separately-produced programs about the reign of the Vikings.
The last one is the best and is part of the Warriors series hosted by Green Beret Terry Schappert. Schappert delves into some of the key battles of the early Viking invasions and the methods that made them such effective warriors. In the late 8th century A.D. the Viking state is disorganized, and the easiest route to fame and glory is through conquest. Conquests then would lead to a rallying behind a leader. In 793 A.D.
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Border Run (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 13th, 2013
“The border between the United States and Mexico spans 2,000 miles. It’s also the most frequently crossed land border in the entire world. And that just refers to legal crossings…”
Hundreds of thousands of people — we’re told at the start of Border Run — try to cross that boundary every year, and each of them has a unique story. Unfortunately, the filmmakers botched a great opportunity to explore the thorny issue of illegal immigration in a thoughtful and stimulating way by choosing to tell the most ridiculous and off-putting story they could possibly think of.
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Motorway
Posted in No Huddle by Jeremy Butler on March 12th, 2013
“Don’t let other cars distract you. Take control of your car. Focus on your own lane. 8000rpm, 2km/h. Give it all you got. Steer now. Thinking will only slow you down…If you lose your drive; you are worse off than a broken car.”
Of course none of that quote is spoken in a lick of English in the film. Thank goodness for subtitles; they allow us to enjoy a film despite not knowing the film’s original language, and Motorway is precisely that: an enjoyment.
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Smashed (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 12th, 2013
“I don’t know if I’m an alcoholic, really, I just drink. I drink a lot.”
Movies that deal with alcoholism tend to either be relentless downers (Leaving Las Vegas, When a Man Loves a Woman) or use drunkenness as a catalyst for Hangover-style shenanigans and tipsy laughs (Arthur; Dean Martin’s entire act). In other words, drunks on film don’t usually look like Mary Elizabeth Winstead in Smashed, the brisk, well-acted dramedy from writer-director James Ponsoldt.
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Ultramarines (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by Jonathan Foster on March 11th, 2013
“I am steel. I am doom. I march for Macragge, and I know no fear!”
The above quote is the motto of Ultramarines, the best of the best of the Space Marines from the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The popular miniatures star in their first movie, a CGI action/adventure tale from Anchor Bay films. I admit — as nerdy as I am — I’ve never had any interest in the Warhammer figurines. Because of that, I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy this movie. I was pleasantly surprised, then, when the story of the Warhammer universe and the Space Marines’ place in it was succinctly presented in the opening voiceover.
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The Marine 3: Homefront (Blu-ray)
Posted in Disc Reviews by J C on March 11th, 2013
On paper, pro wrestlers are the perfect action movie stars. Their beefy frames and larger-than-life personalities should make them naturals at kicking butt on the big screen, plus the performers are certainly familiar with choreographed combat. (This is the part where I planned to mention that wrestling is fake, but I don’t want to make anybody cry.) Even though Arnold, Sly and their brawny brethren have struggled at the box office recently — and are about 20 years past their heyday — WWE Studios has a sneakily clever thing going with its Marine franchise.
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Oz The Great and Powerful
Posted in The Reel World by Gino Sassani on March 8th, 2013
“You’re capable of more than you know.”
Perhaps it’s been a long time coming. The MGM version of The Wizard Of Oz has been captivating audiences for over 80 years, introduced to new generations of admirers, first through frequent re-releases in movie houses. Then it was annual showings on television, where I first encountered the classic film. Finally, the many phases of home video have made it a popular choice and a staple of any truly complete film library. The film is memorable for so many reasons.
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Dead Man Down
Posted in The Reel World by J C on March 8th, 2013
Revenge has rarely looked as tedious or absurd as it does in Dead Man Down. (Unless you count the current, underwhelming second season of, well, Revenge.) Despite the fact that it boasts a title straight out of Steven Seagal’s IMDb page, Dead Man Down features a talented cast and is the American theatrical debut of Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, best known for making the Swedish adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It’s a shame everyone came out to play for a project that doesn’t even achieve “Enjoyably Preposterous Thriller” status.
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Emperor
Posted in The Reel World by J C on March 8th, 2013
The most interesting thing about Emperor — the stately, bloodless post-World War II drama from director Peter Webber — is that it begins where most war movies end. The messy, complicated business of picking up the pieces of a shattered country after a hellacious conflict tends to happen off-screen. Granted, war crime tribunals are inherently less cinematic than epic military battles, but Emperor still managed to leave a lot of dramatic possibilities on the table.
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